


Small Fry

by TheSarcasticKnight



Series: The Defenders Series [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Multi, Sibling Bonding, underground illegal fighting, universe jumping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-05-29 13:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 454,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15074453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSarcasticKnight/pseuds/TheSarcasticKnight
Summary: Babysitting. Debts. Cancer. Living toys? Aimee's life went from pathetically simple to downright ridiculous in the span of a week. Now she has to watch her nephews and niece for two months while their mother is away while also trying to help a group of alien robots get back home. It doesn't seem too hard, but if Wheeljack touches the microwave one more time...





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy hey, my fine folks. This is a story I originally posted on Fanfiction.net, but thanks to a suggestion from one reader I'm gonna slowly start moving it over to this site while also touching up on some of my older chapters.  
> But yeah send me some messages. Lemme know if you got questions or concerns.

  
_"I love family reunions. Maybe next year we can pass out samurai swords." -Doug Solter_

* * *

 

The house was massive. Granted, my judgment was a bit skewed considering I lived in a closet sized apartment with the view of a dirty alley in New York City. So in comparison, this two story light blue paneled house with a sprawling back lawn and decorated front looked like a mansion.

I quickly glanced down at myself self-consciously. A worn out light brown leather jacket over an equally worn out red plaid shirt, dark skinny jeans with holes in the knees that weren't there when I originally bought them, and a pair of scuffed up brown boots to complete the hobo trash look I was rocking. My attire alone made me stand out like a sore thumb in this upscale, suburban neighborhood and that didn't even include my various bruises and busted knuckles.

It wasn't as cold down here in the south as it was up north right now, but it was still chilly enough that when I heaved a defeated sigh my breath showed in a fog of warm air. The heavy book bag on my back filled with a week of clothes and essentials weighed me down as much as my rotten spirits did.

What was I even doing here? I hadn't seen or spoken to my older sister in years. Why start now all of a sudden? The urge to pretend like I had never even attempted to visit became more and more appealing with each passing second. I could always act like the mysterious letter and plane ticket from Aubrey had gotten lost in the mail. I'm still not even sure how it had found its way to my apartment in the first place. How the hell had she gotten my address?

The sharp sound of a car horn cut through the air not only making me lose my train of thought, but also making me jump. I whipped around with a confused glare. The taxi driver was glaring holes into my figure as he impatiently held his hand out and over the passenger seat beside him.

"You gonna pay or what?"

"Oh, right." I mumbled and stuffed my hand into my jacket pocket pulling out a bunch of ones and fives to pay. He eagerly took the money and paid no mind to the crumbled and blood splattered condition they were in. The window snapped back up and the car took off down the road. There went my last chance of escape. No going back now.

I took in a deep breath and turned back around to face the monster of a house. Determination began to fill my body and settle in my gut. My hands clenched into fists by my side. I've faced bigger moments than this and survived. I've been in tougher, more dangerous, situations and come out mostly unscathed. This was just another obstacle in my hellish life. I refused to be scared of seeing my sister for crying out loud. At least, I refused to let anyone see it.

Before my mind could go back to pathetically trying to find a way out of this, I pushed forward down the small brick path toward the front porch. Three white steps up onto the wooden porch, four steps to the matching white door, and suddenly my thumb was pressing down on the doorbell. A minute or so passed by where I just awkwardly stood at the door not moving when I heard the sound of running footsteps. They sounded small and light, but my questioning was cut short when the door was yanked open.

My eyes had been focused straight ahead at eye level, but when I didn't see anybody they gradually drifted downwards to land on the small girl who had opened the door. She couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 based on her height. She was a petite thing with dirty blonde hair that fell past her shoulders in loose, natural curls. The little girl wore a light pink dress with small darker pink hearts and a wide grin on her face. Her dark blue eyes looked way too familiar and it was unsettling.

"Hi." She chirped innocently.

It was silent as the girl waited for me to reply to her greeting. After a few more seconds of not finding a response I finally managed to blurt something out, "Um, hi. Is this…I'm looking for Aubrey Williams, do you know-?"

"Mom!" The girl turned her head to yell into the house, "There's a stranger at the door looking for you!"

" _Mom_?" I choked out in surprise. I knew Aubrey had one kid, a boy who was probably around ten years old now, but where the hell had this girl come from?

She ignored my statement and smiled, "What's your name?"

"I'm- I'm Aj, who are-?"

"Her name is Aj!" She yelled again then snapped her gaze back to me, "She'll be here soon."

The girl sprinted back into the house off to the right leaving the door wide open. Didn't anybody ever teach her about stranger danger? Slowly, I took a step into the house and glanced around. I was in a wooden floored foyer with cream colored walls. There was a staircase against the wall to the left that led to the second floor. Straight ahead was a sliding door that led to the back porch and back lawn. A glass chandelier hung from the high ceiling ahead. It was in the position where someone could've stood on the second floor railing, jumped off, and swung onto the chandelier. To the left was a large, open archway that looked like it led into a dining room with the same floors and the beginnings of a tiled kitchen area. Through the archway to the right, where the girl had run off, was a carpeted area that looked like a living room. I could hear the sound of a TV playing along with small voices.

"Aimee."

My head snapped to the left where a tall, frail woman stood in the archway. Her dirty blonde hair was stick straight at the moment and stopped a little past her shoulders. Her big, dark blue eyes were bright and began to collect tears. She wore a regular t-shirt and jeans, but still managed to look elegant and beautiful. I got the stubborn attitude and competitiveness from our parents, but Aubrey got all the redeeming features.

Aubrey crossed the room and pulled me into a tight hug. Unsure of how to react I just let my hand pat her back occasionally until she let go. Ten years had passed since I last hugged my sister. I had been sixteen, her eighteen, and it had been just as uncomfortable as it was now. She set her hands on my shoulders, she was a good five inches taller than me at 5'8, and smiled, "Look at you. Your hair is so long now."

"Thanks, I grew it myself." I replied dryly. My light brown hair was much longer than Aubrey's now and went to about my mid-back. I actually planned to cut it soon, I just hadn't found the opportunity yet.

"Aimee, I-"

"I go by Aj now."

Aubrey let her hands fall to her hips as she chuckled, "Since when?"

"Since I was 18." I couldn't hold back the bitter tone in my voice. Aubrey flinched at my words before reaching out and taking my hand.

"Come on, let's talk."

I let Aubrey drag me through the archway she came through past the dining room into a medium sized kitchen. The light tan tiled floors were spotless and matched the dark wood counters and light marble countertops. The appliances were stainless steel, though you couldn't even see the color silver on the fridge due to all the papers and drawings hanging from the front by magnets. Large windows let in enough sunlight to brighten the entire kitchen and most of the dining room.

Aubrey motioned for me to take a seat at the kitchen island barstool. She noticed that I hadn't taken my bookbag off, but it probably wasn't the only thing she noticed about me. I saw the way her eyes glanced over my healing knuckles and bruised hairline. My lip was still a little busted as well and I'm sure that wasn't lost on her.

"Would you like something to drink? I have water, milk, juice, coffee-?" Aubrey opened the fridge.

I shook my head, "No thanks. Not thirsty."

She let the fridge close before coming over to stand across from where I sat. She leaned against the counter with her hands clasped in front of her. Aubrey gave me another one of her bright smiles, "So how have you been?"

"Less busy than you apparently." I answered, "You have another kid?"

"Twins." Aubrey glanced down at her hands before looking back up softly, "Taylor and Tyler. I wanted to tell you the news, but…getting in touch with you has always been a little hard."

I raised an eyebrow, "You managed to do it this time. How'd you get my address?"

"I…" She paused uncertainly, "I may have hired a private investigator."

"You _what_?"

"I'm _sorry_ I just needed to get in touch with you Aimee."

"It's Aj." I snapped. This had been a mistake. Why hadn't I just hopped back in the cabbie and run away? Because I wasn't a runner, that's why. I took in a deep breath and moved back to the twins, "How old are they?"

Aubrey looked relieved at the questioned and quickly replied, "They just turned six. Tyler is the older by four minutes."

"Who's their dad?"

My sister blinked and a look of insult passed her features, "They have the same father as Peter."

The sound of laughter carried into the kitchen from across the house. Peter. That was what the oldest kid's name was. I was a bit ashamed to say I had forgotten it, but I never had forgotten his age. How could I considering the last conversation I had with my sister before she up and vanished was about her being prego with the kid.

"Right." I carried the word out, "Mr. Mystery. The one who pays for this huge house and all your living expenses, but won't stick around for you or his kids."

Aubrey shook her head with a defiant look in her eyes, "That isn't fair. You don't know Wes like I do."

"Thank God." I muttered under my breath. Aubrey looked away as her slim fingers clenched around each other. A part of me knew I was being a brat. This was an opportunity to reconnect, but all I was doing was mouthing off sarcastic remarks to her. I couldn't help it though. Sitting across from Aubrey after all this time was bringing up all sorts of bad memories. There had been a time in my life where I would've done literally anything for the woman across from me. Despite being two years younger, I played the role of older sister my entire life. I protected my petite, frail Aubrey from the bullies and the big bad world and what was the thanks I got? Abandonment.

That left a scar much deeper than any of the superficial ones I wore these days.

"Aimee- Aj." Aubrey began, "I'm sorry. Back then-"

I quickly stood up with a shake of my head. The last thing I was interested in was going down a walk on memory lane with her, "This was a mistake. I should go."

"Please, wait." Aubrey threw her arm across the counter and grabbed my wrist. I glanced back at her as her hand tightened around me, "I'm- I'm sick."

That's when I really noticed how much older my sister looked. The exhaustion alone made her look much older than her age of 28. Growing up, she had always been a sickly kid. Aubrey was weaker than the others, always catching colds, which was why I picked up the mantle of protective sister in the first place, the one who was quick to throw fists.

Aubrey opened her mouth and she said another word, but it didn't click in my mind right away. Did she just say cancer? No. No. No. That wasn't supposed to happen. Not to Aubrey. Aubrey was too good, she was too soft and kind hearted for something as destructive and evil as cancer. I was the one with the crappy, going nowhere life. She had something to live for, she had kids for crying out loud, young kids at that. I didn't realize I had been shaking my head until she came around the counter and softly cupped my face.

"Aimee." Aubrey gave a comforting smile, "I've already accepted it."

That didn't set me at ease. Not in the slightest. I pulled away from her with a glare, " _Accepted it_? You don't _accept_ something like that, Aubrey!"

She chuckled, "Always a fighter."

"How long have you known?"

"About six months now."

"And your…the kids, do they…?"

Her warm smile melted away and a look of heartbreaking concern and pain filled her eyes. Aubrey's answer was soft, "N-No. No they don't."

I sat back down, letting my bag fall to the floor. Aubrey sat down in the stool beside me this time. Words failed me at the moment. I never considered myself a communicative person, but I usually at least had something sarcastic to shoot out, "When do you plan on telling them?" I was answered only with silence and a guilty look, "You do plan on telling them right?"

"That's kind of why I asked you to come."

"What? You want _me_ to tell them the news?" I scoffed, "Hey kids, I'm your long lost aunt Aj. Nice to meet you guys and oh, by the way, your mom has _cancer_."

Aubrey set her hand on mine, "I don't want to tell them. They've been through so much with their father and I…." She paused, "The doctors said it probably isn't fatal."

"Probably." I repeated in disbelief.

"They caught it early on. I just have to go through the treatments and I should be fine." Aubrey nodded, "I sent you that letter and ticket because…because I don't want them to see me go through that. I was hoping you could watch them while I go through the treatment." I pulled my hand away from hers, but this didn't seem to faze Aubrey who continued, "The treatment should last two months-"

"Watch your kids?" I cried.

"Aimee-"

"I told you its Aj." I replied, not knowing what else to say. She wanted me to watch her kids? Two twin six year olds and a ten year old? I could barely take care of myself. I killed the goldfish I won at the fair last year after two days. There wasn't an earthly way possible I was capable of taking care of living and breathing children.

"Aj, please."

"No you- you're making a huge mistake. You gotta have someone else who could do this. A neighbor or- or- or a family friend or something!"

Aubrey straightened her posture as a look of bewilderment flashed across her features, "Maybe if it was only for a couple days or so but…these are my _children_ , Aj. I don't trust them with anyone else for that long."

"But you trust me?" I cried motioning toward myself with my hands, "You haven't seen me in ten years, Aubrey. _Ten years_! Listen to me when I say you do not want me to do this."

She reached forward again to grab my hands in a calming motion, "But I know you, little sister. I know the type of person you really are and that's why I know you are the only person who can watch my kids."

I pulled my hands away from her and crossed my arms tightly so she wouldn't be able to grab them again. If she really knew the type of person I was, if she truly understood how much trouble I had gotten myself into, she wouldn't be asking me to do this. I wasn't the babysitting, mom type. I was a walking disaster. A lump formed in my throat, after all these years and this big discovery, I didn't want to lie to my sick sister, but…

"I have school." I blurted trying to find something that would keep me from having to say yes, "My Christmas break only lasts a couple weeks."

Did she already know that the whole school thing hadn't worked out? That I had never even walked through the front doors? That I didn't even have the self-motivation to try for a different career or option? Based on the look of absolute guilt on my sister's face I figured she didn't know that. The private investigator had apparently only tossed her my address and bailed.

"I know." Her voice broke. Aubrey's guilt began to eat me alive. Only she would make me feel guilty about making someone feel guilty, "I know, and I feel _horrible_ for even asking. I know how much school means to you." My eyes broke away from her gaze. It used to mean the world to me. "But like I said…you're the only person I trust and- and I'm desperate."

I sank in my seat. It killed me a little bit to be this close to my sister and not be able to fix anything in her life. I couldn't knock cancer's teeth out with my fist. Life was so much simpler back in the day where her issues were just school bullies, back when we were two peas in a pod. Call it an old habit, but I wanted to make the worry, pain, and desperation disappear again. For that reason alone I knew at that moment that there was no physical way I could say no to her request.

"Mama!"

The sound of a young boy's panicked cries made me jump in my seat and whirl around to face the problem. Whereas I was tense and alert, Aubrey still seemed relaxed and at ease. The look on her face, a small smile peeking through, made me realize that she recognized the fact that this panicked tone wasn't anything serious. Her child wasn't in any danger.

A few seconds later a six year old boy whipped around the corner clutching something to his chest. His dirty blond hair was messy and short. The front strands were pushed up into the air and away from his eyes. He looked a lot like his twin sister obviously, with the same eye color that reminded me of Aubrey. He wore a red t-shirt and jean shorts with mix matched socks.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Aubrey questioned.

The kid paid me no mind as he held the toy clutched to his chest up for his mom to look at. My eyes focused in on a toy robot. It wasn't a small action figure, but rather more of a large model. It had a white and dark gray body with a red and blue stripe going down its chest area. The number four sat on top of the stripes. The toy was a couple inches short of being a foot tall and it was missing its arm.

"Jazz's arm fell off again!" His eyebrows were scrunched up in worry for his toy. Aubrey took the toy from him. He dug an arm out of his pocket and handed that to her as well.

Her attention darted to me with a smile, "Tyler, this is your Auntie Aj. Can you say hi?"

Tyler's eyes widened as he quickly looked to me, "This is your sister?" Aubrey nodded and he immediately looked hopeful, "That means you're a doctor! That's what mama always says!"

I'm pretty positive I felt my heart stop at that moment. She had told them I was trying to be a doctor? How much did she talk about me to them?

An awkward laugh escaped my lips, "Well I uh, I'm not actually a doctor. I don't-"

"Can you fix Jazz!?" He cried. "He needs a medic now and Ratchet is too busy!"

"Can I- _Jazz_?" I blurted in confusion. Most of his sentence had been nonsense to me. Aubrey handed the toy to me and I took it hesitantly. The toy was actually made of metal rather than a cheap plastic. It was probably aluminum or something. My eyebrows furrowed in thought as I gazed at the robot in my hand. A black helmet thing covered the top of its head with a visor over what I assumed were eyes. The thing had a human like face somewhat. Lips. Chin. Nose. I glanced back up at Tyler who was staring at me. "Oh. Jazz."

"Can you fix him? Please?"

Tyler clasped his hands together in a begging motion that matched his pleading eyes. Who knew a kid's eyes could be so big and blue? This wasn't the first time I had seen a look like that though. In that moment he looked just like his mom so many years ago and my heart skipped a beat. My jaw clenched in resolve, "Lemme see what I can do, kid."

Aubrey handed me the toy arm and I took a moment to see how it would fit in. At least it was a cleanish break, the arm socket didn't have any screws or anything. In fact, it looked like the arm should be able to just snap back into place so I did just that. There was a small click as it settled in, but I could tell that it wasn't much of a permanent fix. I glanced down at my bag. Around the strap of my bag was a dark green ribbon I had tied on a couple months back. It wasn't anything significant, I just hadn't felt like getting up to throw away the random ribbon and instead tied it to my bag.

I reached down and pulled it off with ease then began to tie it around the robot like a makeshift sling. To my utter surprise it actually came out looking like an actual sling for the thing's arm. A smile came to my face in victory as I handed the toy back to Tyler, "There we go. Just be careful with it."

He held it in his hands with a look of pleasant surprise written all over his face. It was silent a moment as I uncomfortably sat under both his and his mother's gaze. Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and began to pull me forward calling out that I needed to follow him. My eyes widened in panic as I looked back to Aubrey for a sign or help or something. She just gave me an amused look.

My attention went back to Tyler who was pulling me out of the kitchen and into the living room. I was vaguely aware that Aubrey was following the two of us at a distance.

The living room was just as nice as the kitchen. The ivory colored carpet seemed like a poor idea to have with kids, but I digress. The walls matched the rest of the cream colored walls. On the far wall was a dark wood entertainment dresser with a large TV playing a colorful cartoon and a collection of music and movies. The coffee table that was situated in front of the TV was the same color wood. There was a long couch that sat behind the coffee table, a matching love seat, and a single seat couch as well.

" _Not my paint_!" Taylor cried out in her best impression of a male voice. She held a golden colored robot in one hand moving it around like it was the one speaking.

"Tay! Tay! Tay!" Tyler let go of my hand and rushed over to where his sister was sitting on the floor surrounded by a wide variety of robotic toys. She paused in her play to look at her twin, "She fixed Jazz!"

"Who? The stranger?" Taylor pointed at me. I should've expected the stranger part. They began to talk quickly and quietly to each other. I glanced over at the couch where an older kid sat. He had light brown hair that was a little longer than his younger brother's. He wore glasses over his gray eyes. This was obviously Aubrey's older kid, Peter. He glanced up from the comic book he was reading to look at me before burying his head back into his book. The title on it was 'Transformers'. Recognition filled my mind at the summer blockbuster that had come out a couple years ago about robots that turned into cars and stuff. A new movie had just come out too hadn't it? I remember it now because I had been invited to go see it in theaters with a close friend, but refused because I hadn't seen any of the ones that came before it.

"Stranger-" Taylor called out bringing my attention back to her.

Aubrey shook her head from behind me and corrected her daughter, "Aunt Aj."

"Aunt Aj." Taylor repeated slowly before continuing, "Can you fix Bumblebee? Starscream hurt him."

I blinked in confusion. Were these just more robot names? What the hell was a starscream? She lifted a yellow and black robot up for me to see. I had gotten lucky with the first robot. What if I couldn't fix this one and they hated me?

"Ummm…" I said dumbly.

"Did you guys finish your homework?" Aubrey asked with a light, scolding tone.

"Yes." Peter answered without looking up while the twins remained silent.

Aubrey put her hands on her hips and looked so much like our mom that I couldn't help but smile. The twins groaned and slowly began to stand up. She smiled, "And put all the bots away. Understood?"

They began to pick up the many toy robots. I chuckled at the sight of the small twins trying to hold them all in their arms. I always thought toys like these were supposed to be small, like fit in your hand small. The biggest one, which was also strangely shaped like a T-Rex of all things, reached a little above my knee.

"Why are they so big?" I asked aloud.

"They're technically collectible items which is why they're also made of metal, but that hasn't stopped them from playing." Aubrey chuckled. She opened her mouth to speak more when her phone began to ring. She pulled it up to her ear quickly, "Hello?" A smile came to her lips as she looked to me, "I have to take this. I'll be right back."

I curiously watched her leave me alone in the living room with the kids. Peter still paid me absolutely no mind, but the twins took this as an opportunity to play a little bit longer. They settled on the floor by my feet again.

"Mama said you're staying with us for a while, right?" Tyler asked innocently.

My lips formed a frown, "Um. Yeah, probably."

"Yay! Doctor aunt Aj, sit down!" Taylor tugged on my hand.

I slowly sat down in front of the twins, "You can just call me Aj. It's less of a mouthful."

"You can call me Taylor or Tay or Starlight." She beamed and I could feel my eyebrows rise in confusion.

"Starlight?" I asked, "Is that on your birth certificate?"

Taylor giggled, "It's my designanon, silly."

"Designa _tion_ , Taylor." Peter corrected his sister without even looking up from his comic book.

Taylor nodded, "Mama came up with it for when we play!"

"Mine is Lightspeed." Tyler announced proudly. I chuckled to myself. These kids were kind of cute. Man, did I miss the days where I could just play make believe with my sister and not have to worry about anything else. I reached forward and picked up the toy closest to me. It was taller than the one with the broken arm that I fixed and slimmer. It was bright, cherry red with a couple accents of white here and there on its legs and arms. It also wore a black helmet thing but this one had no visor. Instead it had two solid, light blue eyes. On its chest was the black robot insignia face thing that was always on the movie posters. I couldn't remember if it was the good guy one or bad guy one though. Blue eyes were good guys right? Maybe I should've seen those stupid movies, it'd make befriending the kids much easier.

"That's Sideswipe." Taylor scooted over so she was sitting on my right and Tyler moved so he was on my left. "He's an autobot."

Tyler picked up the toy Taylor had been playing with when I walked in. It looked an awful lot like the red one except it had more metal pieces around its shoulders and a yellow vent looking things coming out of the side of its helmet, "This is his twin, Sunstreaker. They're front liners which means they fight a lot and they used to be gladiators. Right, Pete?"

"Yupp." Came Peter's not so enthusiastic reply.

"Twin, gladiator robots-" I began.

Tyler shook his head, "Mechs. Twin, gladiator mechs."

"Right." I nodded as if I had any idea what that meant. I set the red one down, "So are they y'all's favorite then? Since they're twins too?"

"No." Taylor shook her head, "My favorite is Bumblebee."

I watched her pick back up the yellow and black one. This one had doors coming out of its back making it look like it had wings. I remembered what she had said about Bumblebee needing fixing, "He's broken?"

Taylor turned the toy around to show how one of the doors sticking out of its back was loose and nearly falling off. This looked much easier to fix though. In fact, it looked like the screw was just loose or something.

"Looks like an easy fix, honey." I voiced nonchalantly. Her little face lit up in excitement and I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"My favorite is Bluestreak!" Tyler said firmly holding up a toy for me to look at. It was a collection of red, dark gray, and light gray colors with the only blue being his eyes. He had the same symbol on his chest and doors on his back like Bumblebee.

"He isn't blue." I thought aloud.

"Well, duh. Pete says they call him Bluestreak because he likes talking and he does it a lot." Tyler blurted.

I nodded, "I see why he's your favorite."

Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Peter smiling, but when I looked over to him the smile was gone. Tyler continued on, "Blue's my favorite because he's a sharpshooter and I think that's so cool."

"Who's your favorite, Peter?" I asked trying to drag the kid into the conversation. He glanced up at the sound of his name, but the look on his face told me he didn't plan on answering my question.

Taylor didn't notice her older brother's glare and answered for him happily, "Pete likes Wheeljack."

That answer didn't hold much weight in my mind since I had no idea who the hell Wheeljack was and Aubrey came back into the room before the twins could point out the toy.

"Sorry about that." Aubrey walked back in. She noticed the twins and their shared 'deer in the headlights' look. " _Guys_."

"Sorry!" They chirped together and began to pick up all the toys again at a faster pace. Tyler shifted all the ones he held to his right hand and then picked up one with a noticeable life line on its forearm. He shoved it into my hands without warning, "You should hang onto Ratchet for us."

Ratchet. Wasn't that name tossed into a conversation earlier? I glanced down at the bulky white and red robot. When I looked up to Aubrey she wore a growing smile so I just looked back to Tyler, "Why are you giving me…Ratchet?"

"Because he's the CMO." Tyler replied in a 'duh' tone, "I cant remember what that stands for, but it means he fixes all the other bots just like you fixed Jazz."

"Well, I mean-"

Taylor grinned, "Keep a good eye on him! The team needs him."

"Thanks." I nodded with the toy still in my hand, "Good luck with your homework. Lightspeed, Starlight."

The twins noticeably beamed at me calling them by their robot nicknames and it made me lightly laugh to myself. They turned and took off for the stairs in the foyer to head to what I assumed would be their rooms.

"Hey, Pete." Aubrey called out making the give her his attention, "Do me a favor and help them out, please?"

He nodded and closed his comic book before walking off in the same direction. I watched him go with my arms crossed tightly across my chest. "He doesn't like me much. Not that I blame him."

She shook her head and set a hand on my shoulder, "Peter just takes a little to warm up to new people. By the end of the week he'll adore you." I held back a scoff of disbelief and tried to hand her the toy the twins had given me. Aubrey held her hands up, "Oh, no. They trusted you with Ratchet, not me."

"Right." I sighed and let my hand drop to my side, "Guess I'll be keeping an eye on the big ass collector item slash toy."

Aubrey glanced at the toy with a warm smile, "Wes sent a few of them to Peter before the twins were born. Peter just fell in love with them. Then he just kept sending more and more and now the twins adore them too."

For a second, I completely understood. I knew what it was like to latch onto something and hold onto it. For Peter, this was all he had of his absentee father. The hatred I had for this Wes guy just seemed to grow every day. The only sound in the room was that Disney cartoon playing on TV until I finally found the nerve to speak up, "What type of cancer is it?"

"Breast cancer." Aubrey answered softly. I bobbed my head up and down but dropped my gaze so it was on the toy in my hand again. My mind was still reeling at the fact that Aubrey had talked about me to the kids at all. If she had known that I had given up on the doctor option in my life would she have told them that too? "Can I show you something?"

My eyes locked onto hers and I nodded again. She led me into the foyer and then up to the second story where the kids had just run off to. The hallway on the second floor was wood with pictures hanging on the cream walls. Aubrey motioned down to the left of the hall, "The kid's rooms are on the right. The twins share and Peter has his own, but they all share a conjoining bathroom. My room is across from theirs." I glanced down there at the three shut doors. Aubrey led me down to the right of the hallway, "The first door is our gym slash office. The second is the bathroom with a shower, and then the door across from them is your room."

I opened my mouth to question why Aubrey would have a gym in her house. It didn't make much sense considering my sister wasn't exactly know to be the physical activity type, but my mind quickly jumped to the topic of me having my own room. Had she set up a room for me?

"My room?"

"It used to be storage, but I fixed it up so you could stay here. If you decided to watch the kids or if you just wanted to…you know, visit." Aubrey shrugged, but the sadness in her tone made me want to punch myself in the face. I pushed the door open and stepped in while she stood in the doorway nervously.

The room was medium in size and matched the rest of the house wall and floor wise. There was a double sized bed pushed up against the wall in the far left corner with a light blue bedspread and a thick, white comforter on top. There was a dresser against the wall in the far right corner and a matching dark wood nightstand by the bedside. I assumed the door to the left was a small closet. To my immediate right was a small desk and to my immediate left was a huge pile of cardboard boxes and random junk.

"After dad died we lost all our stuff, remember? Turns out they got moved to storage and after I…after I got this place. They sent it all to me." Aubrey explained.

I took a step toward it and peeked at all the box labels and items that were already pulled out. My eyes landed on a familiar light blue item resting between two rather large stacks, "No way." I carefully pushed the first stack to the side to reveal the item more. A light blue and white softball bat lay on the floor. Next to it, in an open box, was a volleyball, two yearbooks, and a few other items from my high school years.

"You were always so good at sports." Aubrey chuckled, "I know you could've gotten a softball or volleyball scholarship if you kept playing."

Her words made me turn around and ignore the items. I didn't want to think about sports or why I had stopped playing altogether, "I'll watch the kids."

"You- You will?"

"Yeah, but-"

Aubrey didn't let me finish. She rushed across the room and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. This is what I missed. I missed Aubrey's hugs, I missed her in my life, and it felt so good to be in this nice house talking to her again, but I couldn't. I couldn't just hug her back and let things go back to the way they were. I slowly pulled myself away from her.

"Aubrey, I'll watch them, but this doesn't…doesn't change anything." I said carefully, "I love you. I realize that even after all these years of being so…so angry at you, I still loved you. You're my sister and I…" I stopped myself and shook my head, "I'll always love you. I'll always be here to help you and support you as best I can, but we can't be what we used to be. We'll never be that level of close again."

"Aimee." Aubrey breathed.

"Mom died and my heart broke." I bit my lip, "Then it was just the three of us and things slowly got better again. I didn't feel whole, but I felt not so broken. Then dad was gone. He just disappeared and left us on our own and it killed me on the inside." I shook my head, "You were the only person in the world I trusted and you abandoned me. Wes showed up, you turned 18, and then it was just me. Me alone in that stupid foster home for two years."

Tears built up in Aubrey's eyes. I could see her regret, her pain and remorse, "I'm so sorry. I had to. You don't understand."

"I don't." I agreed, "I don't understand how you could ditch me after everything."

"I want to fix this. I want to fix us."

I sighed as my thoughts drifted to her sickness. If I left things unsaid I could never live with myself, but in my mind I knew the end game to this. Aubrey was going to get better. I knew it in my heart and soul that she'd beat this. "Consider us fixed. It's all in the past, forget about it. Just know that I can't…I can't give you my trust again."

"I understand." She replied after a moment.

"So, now what?"

Aubrey wiped a stray tear away as I averted my gaze, "Well, my flight leaves late tomorrow morning-"

"Tomorrow morning?" I blurted in surprise, "What if I had shown up late? What if I hadn't shown up at all?"

Despite the sad look lingering in her eyes, Aubrey chuckled, "I know my little sister. Come here."

She left the room. A sigh escaped my lips as I glanced at the desk. The thought of leaving the toy here crossed my mind, but I decided to bring it with me just in case the kids popped up again and wanted it back. I followed her out of the room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where my bag still sat on the floor ribbonless.

"Is that really all you brought?" She questioned.

I shrugged, "I didn't know it was going to be a two month trip."

Aubrey pulled out a folder from a counter drawer and set it down on the island in front of me. I set the toy down on the table top and picked up the folder curiously.

"Inside there's a list of all the numbers you might need. They still have school for another two weeks before their Christmas break begins. I'm leaving the car for you, keys are hanging by the garage door." Aubrey explained, "Taylor has dance lessons every Thursday but they won't start again until after Christmas. There's a map in there too that shows where the school is and-"

"I know where everything is." I interrupted her, "Maybe it slipped your mind, but this isn't just your hometown. I was born and raised here too. I can't believe that after ditching this place at 18 you came back to settle down."

Aubrey just shrugged, "Summerbrooke, Alabama will always be home. It's where my best memories are." The same went for me which is the exact reason why I picked a college in upstate New York and fled like the devil was on my heels when I turned 18. I wanted to get as far from here as physically possible. I would've moved to China if the possibility had been open. "You know, I think some girls from your graduating class live in the neighborhood a few streets down."

I made the mental note to avoid exploring the area a few streets down from here. The last thing I wanted, or needed, was to run into an old high school classmate who had settled down here.

"Anything else I need to know?"

"Nothing comes to mind." She replied. I picked up my bag and slung one strap over my shoulder with the folder tucked under my arm. Aubrey smiled, "Tonight I wanted to go out and eat with the kids. Would you like to come?"

I quickly shook my head, and this time I wasn't saying no just for my own selfish reasons, "Go out with your kids. Have a good night with them, I'll get settled here."

Aubrey seemed to understand that I was giving her one last normal night out with her kids before she left. She gave me a thankful nod before I turned on my heel and went to leave the room.

"Wait", She called out making me turn, "Don't forget Ratchet."

I raised my eyebrows, "Right. Can't forget the doc bot."

With a sigh I picked up the toy and continued on my way back to my new room. The entire time I had been in this house so far, my mind had been focused on seeing Aubrey and her new illness. I hadn't even let my mind wander to the fact that I was back home in Alabama. The stress that came with that thought process made me roll my eyes and force it out of my mind. I stepped into the room, but came to a halting stop when I noticed Taylor sitting on the desk chair swinging her legs with a toy in her lap.

"Umm hi?"

She beamed at me and jumped off the chair, "Finally! I was wondering where you and Ratchet went."

"What's up, kid?" I questioned and let my book bag fall to the floor. Taylor took the yellow and black robot in her hands and set him on my desk in a seated position.

"Bumblebee needs to be fixed so I brought him to the med bay for you and Ratchet to fix him."

"The…med bay?" I questioned and walked over to the desk. I set the folder down by the seated Bumblebee. Talking to these kids made me realize I was gonna have to google some transformers information before I lost my freaking mind.

Taylor nodded as Aubrey called for her kids to come downstairs, "This is the med bay now. You and Ratchet share. Bye Bee!"

The little girl ran by me, ignoring my looks of confusion, and took off down the hall. I lifted the red and white toy in my hand, "Hear that, Ratchet? We're sharing."

I scoffed at myself before tossing the toy onto the desk. If I was going to actually stay here for the next two months, I'd have to clear up a few things back in New York. I sat down at the desk and used my foot to pull my book bag towards me and then began to dig through the thing for my cellphone. The bulky pre-paid slip phone from Walmart was nearly dead, but it had enough life in it for me to make one call. At least I hoped it did. My mind sent up silent prayers for the thing not to die while I typed the phone number in from memory.

It rang three times before a husky, exhausted voice answered, "What?"

"Kyle", I chuckled, "Did you just wake up?"

"I had a fight last night. Didn't end well."

Worry instantly flooded my systems at the thought of an injured Kyle, "What? Are you ok?"

"Peachy. It'd be better if my favorite doctor didn't up and leave the state though."

I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my seat, "I'm not a doctor."

"Close enough." Kyle grumbled. I could picture him lying in his small bed with messy, ruffled blond hair and his green eyes closed. The fact I didn't want to picture was the injuries and bruises he was probably sporting now.

"Actually, my lack of a medical degree means I am not a doctor nor am I even close to being one." I replied. He mumbled something over the line again sleepily, "Listen, I need to ask a couple favors from you. Two actually. First, I need you to go to my apartment and pack up all my stuff. Well, not all, but like I need my clothes and anything essential you might see. Pack it all up and then send it to me. The address is-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kyle sounded more awake now, "Send you stuff? I thought you would be back by this weekend?"

"Change of plans." I glanced around the room.

There was a pause before Kyle spoke up again, "Aj, boss is not going to like that. You're scheduled this Saturday for the arena. He already gave you your loan!"

"I know! I know." I sighed, "That's my second favor. I need you to return the 20k to him."

"He gave you 20k for that fight?" Kyle asked in surprise.

"You know how it works, Kyle. He gave me 20k to bet on myself. If I win I get to keep 10%, if I lose I fall even further into debt." I shifted nervously, "Kyle, I really need you to get him that 20k. I'm already so far in debt to boss. If I lose that 20k he'll have my head."

Kyle sighed on the other end, "You know I have your back, Aj. I'll get him the money. Where is it?"

"Duffel bag under my bed."

"How long are you going to be gone?"

"Two months." I answered, "I'll text you the address I'm at so you can send me my stuff.

"Sure. I'll get on that now." Kyle replied, "Is everything ok?"

"I…I don't know. I'll talk to you later."

"Later."

The line disconnected and I opened a new text to send Kyle the address. Kyle Osborne. He was the one good thing I had going for me at the moment. He was best friend and probably the greatest guy on the planet. Not to mention he was easy on the eyes. He was the one who introduced me to boss and got me started in the New York fighting ring. If it wasn't for him I'd probably be living on the streets.

The text sent so I dug out my phone charger and plugged it in. A confirmation from Kyle was received by my phone, but I had my attention elsewhere. The yellow and black toy was staring me down from the desk. All it needed was a screw tightened. I pulled out my bathroom bag and found my nail clippers. Attached to the nail clippers was a nail file that would be perfect for the small screw. I knew it would work because this was the same nail filed I used to tighten the small screw on my sunglasses.

It literally only took a minute before the door wing thing on the toy's back was as good as new. Based on the way I saw the kids playing with the toys though, I was sure this wouldn't be the last time I fixed one or two of them up. I tossed the nail file onto my desk and walked out of my room with Bumblebee in hand.

The house was quiet already so I assumed they had already left. Down the hall, the twin's room door was already open so I just walked over and stepped in. The room was obviously split between a girl and a boy and it was decorated almost in a stereotypical function. The left had a twin sized bed with rocket ship bedsheets and was surrounded by a mess of lego blocks, toy cars, and little army men. To the right was a twin sized bed with Disney princess sheets and surrounded by coloring books and barbie dolls. I chuckled and glanced over at the window against the far wall and the door on the right side of the room. I assumed that was the adjoining bathroom door.

Sitting on Tyler's bed was the same toy he had called his favorite. It was the one that wasn't actually blue, but had the word blue in his name. The thing sat against the pillow and I was surprised to see it was the only visible transformer toy in the room. Where had they put all the others? I set Bumblebee down on Taylor's bed just like the other was on Tyler's and then left the room. My set path was to my own room, but I couldn't help but pause outside of Peter's room. Curiosity got the better of me and I pushed the door open to peek in.

The room was smaller than the twins, but it was perfect sized for a ten year old boy. His bed was pushed against the wall in the center of the room under a window. He too had a desk with books on it, there was a math book open to a random page. To my left was a small wooden shelf where all the transformers stood. I let a low whistle out as I studied one that looked like Tyler's favorite except its doors read 'POLICE' on them. So it turned into a police car? It stood next to the one with I fixed with a sling. What was that one's name? I should've been paying more attention, I knew it had something to do with music. My eyes continued to trace over the room until I turned around and jumped, "Shit."

Eye level with me was another one of those toy robots, but this one wasn't fun looking in the slightest. Its gun metal gray body looked menacing, and its face was twisted into a sneer while its red eyes looked angry. This toy along with a few others with red eyes were kept in a glass case and looked to be in slightly better shape than the toys I saw today. I wondered why these were kept separate from the others. The wooden shelf had all the blue eyed ones whereas this glass case tower stored all the scary red eyed ones.

Without much thought I opened the case and pulled out the one I had come eye level with. However, the moment I picked it up the leg fell out of its socket. My eyes widened, but I remained calm. This wasn't an issue. I could fix this creepy toy before Peter and the others came back and everything would be ok. No need to panic.

"What are you doing?" I spun around to see Peter glaring at me. Ok, now I could panic.

"Shi-oot. Shoot." I blurted. "Um, what are you doing here?"

"This is my room. What are you doing here?" His eyes landed on the legless toy in my hand, "Other than breaking my stuff."

I glanced down at my hands, "I can fix that."

"Don't bother." He pulled the robot body and leg from my hands and stuck it back into the case before closing the door.

"You didn't go with your mom?"

"She forgot her wallet." Peter replied and held up the small clutch, "I ran in to get it for her."

"Right." I nodded, "Good. Well, I'll just…leave."

I quickly exited the room and Peter came out behind me closing the door behind himself. Awkwardly, I gave him a tight smile before rushing toward my room. It would be my luck to get caught by the kid as I snooped in his room. Honestly, I was such an idiot. Peter called out to me making me stop and look back at him.

"I don't like you, and I don't want you to stay."

After stating his piece, the boy walked down the stairs leaving me in the hallway alone. I let my face fall into my hands and a groan come from my throat. This was going to be a long two months.


	2. Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same deal. Moving things over slowly but surely. Hit me up with some messages, brah.

_"How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised by anything in life." -Marcus Aurelius_

* * *

 

_The crowd was deafening. Their cheers and hecklings filled the basement like room as did the heat from their bodies. Every inch of the room was packed, but nobody dared pass the white ring drawn on the concrete floor that signified where the pit began. The pit was just as it sounded, it was a hellish indent in the ground where people fought, cried, and bled. It wasn't too deep, only going about a foot down into the ground but it was just right for keeping the spectators out of the fight and keeping the fighters in the ring._

_That's where she was right now, circling the outer edge of the ring as sweat poured down her face. It didn't matter that she only wore a tight sports bra and spandex shorts, she still felt like she was on fire. The heat burned in her chest as she glared at her opponent. Tall, thick, and scary as hell was a good way to explain the large, obnoxious woman._

_"What are you going to do now, small fry?" The woman mocked and waved her forward._

_She didn't need to reply. She loved to talk, to shoot off snarky replies, but during a fight there was no need. It only distracted her from what she needed to do. A quick breath and she was moving. A punch was thrown out, but she was quick enough to duck under so she was behind the behemoth of her enemy. Two kidney punches and the woman stumbled forward in pain._

_The woman spun around shakily and suddenly was no longer the same opponent. She was no longer in the pit fighting for money._

_She was ten again with pigtails and a sister she loved more than life. The older boy in front of her taunted and mocked said sister along with the crowd of children around the three of them._

_"Leave my sister alone." She demanded in a squeaky voice._

_"What are you gonna do about it, small fry?"_

_She rushed forward and threw all her weight on the boy. He didn't expect it and fell to the ground with a cry. The hits that came weren't well orchestrated and consisted of a flurry of flailing arms aimed toward the boy's face and random bites._

_Nobody messed with her older sister. They were a team until the end._

_"I'm leaving, Aimee. I'm sorry, but I have to go."_

I startled awake with wide eyes and a mild headache. For the first few seconds, I had no idea where I was. The room was clean and smelled fresh. There were no odd stains on the wall or ceiling and sunlight streamed through the window to my left filling the room with a soft light.

Alabama. I was in Alabama at Aubrey's house. I was safe. My body relaxed as I let out a sigh and my hands drifted to rub the sleep away from my eyes. There was an alarm clock on the nightstand to my right. The date and time flashed at me in a neon green color.

Monday, December 8. 8:14 AM.

My eyes narrowed at the clock. How long had I been asleep? I went to bed rather early at around 7:30-ish, which meant I had for a freaking long time.

"I never sleep that long…" I murmured to myself rubbing my face with my hands. It had been a pretty stressful day overall.

A knock on the door made me glanced over just as Aubrey peeked her head in, "Good morning, sleepy head."

"Hi." I replied simply.

She stepped further into the room. Aubrey wore a turtleneck shirt with jeans, boots, and a winter vest over it, "So, I just dropped the kids off at school. You were asleep before we got back last night, but Taylor was just beside herself when she saw Bee on her bed."

It took me a couple seconds to connect her words to my memory, but I shrugged and nodded my head nonchalantly, "Yeah, no problem. It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing." Aubrey smiled warmly. There was a beat of silence before she clasped her hands together, "I have some breakfast left over downstairs if you're hungry. My taxi should be here any minute now. Oh, and remember that school ends at 3:10."

"Got it." I nodded and crawled out of bed. I made my way to the desk where my phone was plugged in and charging. There was only one unread text message and it was from Boss so I had no issues leaving it unread.

Aubrey leaned against the doorframe as I tossed my phone back down, "Aim- Aj, I don't meant to pry, but…is everything ok?"

"Well, my long estranged sister has cancer." I replied dryly.

"I meant with you."

I just shrugged, "I'm peachy."

Aubrey obviously wasn't convinced by my answer. Her eyes darted to the fading bruise at my hairline before snapping back to my gaze, "What happened?"

The tone suggested that she already knew the reasons for the bruise, but she didn't want to confirm it herself. I gave her a tight smile and let my fingers brush against the bruise, "Slipped in the shower. Those faucets are a bitch."

It wasn't a total lie I suppose. I had really slipped, it just hadn't been in a shower. It was in a small concrete fighting ring and it wasn't a spot of slick soap that sent me sprawling to the floor. Rather, it was a 200 pound mass of muscled woman looking for my blood.

"Alright", Aubrey conceded, "Just…be more careful in the shower, hmm?"

I could hear the double meaning behind her words and the worry in her eyes that I would scorn her concern. The care she showed for me though was nice. It felt good so I just nodded with a small smile, "So, breakfast?"

One thing that hadn't changed over the ten years of no contact between me and my sister was her cooking skills. In fact, she may have even gotten better. French toast, warm syrup, a non-burned egg, and those little sausages made me feel like I was eating a breakfast fit for royalty. I was more of a 'throw a hot pocket in the microwave and run out the door with it' kind of breakfast person. As I ate, I actually began to pity the kids. They had to go from this five star home cooked mom food to my amateur level cooking. I knew how to make pasta and…cereal. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should go out and by a 'Cooking for Dummies' book or something.

It didn't take long for me to inhale my food, so as I placed the dishes into the sink with the plans to wash them later I heard the sound of a car horn outside. Without much haste, I strolled into the foyer where Aubrey was checking her bags one last time beside the front door.

"Here, let me." I stepped forward and grabbed the heavier of the two bags. It was her dark blue duffel bag and by the weight of it I think she might've packed rocks. She smiled as I slung it around my shoulder and then exited the house pulling her small suitcase behind her. Aubrey parked her suitcase outside of the cab by the trunk and turned to look at me.

"Thank you again, Aj." She began as I dropped her duffel bag by her suitcase. The cab driver got out of the car and began to pack the bags into the trunk for her.

My hand rose to rub the back of my neck sheepishly. Goosebumps had risen on my skin from the cold morning air. It didn't help that I only wore sleep pants and a baggy v-neck shirt, "No problem. You just…You just get better, Aubrey."

She closed the space between us and pulled me into a quick, tight hug. As Aubrey pulled away she forced an envelope and plastic card into my hand.

"What is this?" I tore my gaze away from her to look at the items. The letter had my name written on the front and the paper looked a bit aged. The plastic was a credit card with Aubrey's name on it.

"Use it to pay for groceries and anything else. Gas, clothes, whatever you need." She pressed.

I shook my head, "I can't use your card."

"You can and you will. Wes makes the payments."

I bit back a scoff, "Well if it's his money I'm spending…Is he- Is he paying for the treatments?"

"Yeah." Aubrey nodded.

"Is he going to be there for you?"

She paused before replying, "He's going to try."

This time I didn't bother hiding my scoff. If I ever met this guy, I'd break his nose. I feel like I have more than enough justification to do so without feeling any remorse. The taxi driver cleared his throat grabbing both our attention, "Whenever you're ready, ma'am."

"Thank you." Aubrey nodded then glanced back to me, "The letter is for you to read. I wrote it…a while ago."

"Sure thing." I mumbled under my breath.

"I'll try to call as often as I can." Aubrey pulled the cab door open. I rested my hand on top of the door as she climbed into the back. My mouth opened to say something, anything, but no words seemed to form. Instead, I gave her a tight smile and nod before shutting the door for her.

I remained standing at the end of the lawn until the taxi was gone and out of sight. My eyes drifted to the two objects in my hand one last time before turning around and heading back into the warm house.

Luckily, last night, before I passed out in my bed from exhaustion, I was unable to unpack the items I did bring with me. My weeks' worth of clothes were hanging in my closet and all my bathroom items were tucked away where they were supposed to be. I still didn't have any soap, but I planned to go into Aubrey's bathroom and steal hers. I had also managed to explore the house a little more which is why I found out that there was another bathroom downstairs connected to the living room and if one went through the kitchen the hall at the back of the house led to two things. To the left was the door into the garage and off to the right some, but still on the wall in front of you would be the laundry room. It'd be nice to have a washer and dryer in the house rather than having to go to a Laundromat.

Still, even though I was personally unpacked there was still some things I needed to get done. A shower topped the list forming in my mind, my greasy hair was proof of that. Also, those dishes still needed to be washed in the kitchen and the leftovers from breakfast put away. On top of all that, a small part of me wanted to sort through the mountain of boxes in the corner of my room and put some things away just so I wouldn't have to stare at the ugly brown containers.

It took me all of a minute to get up the stairs to my room and place the credit card into my wallet beside my ID. I stared at the letter for a few seconds before stuffing it into my empty book bag under my new desk.

"Out of sight, out of mind, right Ratchet?" I said aloud. Unsurprisingly, the red and white toy didn't reply to my statement. I was talking to the kid's robot toy. This had to be a symptom of losing my mind, right? Quickly, before I could question my sanity any further, I grabbed a change of clothes and headed toward the bathroom. There had been a towel closet inside the bathroom so I didn't bother looking anywhere else for one.

I stepped out of my room, but instead of going straight to the shower I paused and stared at the door beside it. The office with a little gym was behind that door. I hadn't bothered peeking in yet, but what would be the harm? When I opened the door and peeked my head in, I was pleasantly surprised.

The floor was hardwood just like the hall and bedrooms. To my right was a corner desk nestled beside a tall shelf lined with books. The desk itself had a desktop computer on it and a couple folders as well. My eyes were drawn to the left corner of the room where a small weight set sat beside a treadmill and a punching bag hung from the ceiling. It made absolutely no sense for Aubrey to have this mini gym in her home. The kids were way too young for this stuff and Aubrey was never the working out kind. I tossed my clothes into the desk chair and stepped further into the room.

My feet automatically drifted to the bright red punching bag. It was a bit worn down in some places meaning it wasn't brand new. Someone had faithfully used the bag. I lifted my hand and used my knuckles to push the bag forward. The bag swung back and forth lazily as my lips twitched up into a small smile. I could feel the itch form in the back of my mind as my hands craved contact. My eyes drifted down to my fists to see the fading coloring of my knuckles. What would a few more bruises hurt?

The first few punches were light and held no weight behind them. It was just me going through the motions, but each time my skin brushed against the bag the itch grew. Anger began to settle in my gut. Anger at the world. It didn't blind me or fill my head with a suffocating fog. It was clear. Concise. It put every inch of my life into a perspective I could understand.

That was the thing about fighting. At first, it had just started as a way to protect the ones I loved. How many times had I gotten in trouble for hitting a kid that mocked Aubrey? Geez, how many stars were in the sky? Then it became a sport. I was taking lessons, kickboxing being the first, and it just became another sport to me. I put it on the same list as softball and volleyball. Then out of nowhere, dad left. Suddenly, I didn't feel like swinging a bat or spiking a ball, but I never stopped feeling like I wanted to hit something. Aubrey hated when I would fight, but it was still controlled. I was mainly just sparring people in my class. I had to though. Fighting had become my only protection against the world and I needed to be strong. Mom and dad weren't there to protect us anymore which meant I needed to be the shield between frail Aubrey and the rest of the messed up world.

Then Aubrey left and fighting was no longer just the only protection I had.

It was all I had, _period_.

My heart was broken, my soul had been shattered, and my mind had become a jumbled mess. Yet, when I was thrown into a fight things became clear. The haze would lift and my thoughts became manageable. Fighting was my drug of choice, it was my crutch, and my addiction. Thinking was easier when my body was in motion.

I took in a sharp intake of breath as I began to pound into the bag harder. My body found a rhythm as sweat formed at my hairline.

Aubrey was sick. She was sick, but I couldn't fix that.

Her kids were now my whole responsibility. They needed me now more than they even knew.

I wouldn't let them down. I was determined not to.

One last right swing of my arm then I came to a halting stop. Deep breaths filled my lungs with air as I slowly pulled my right arm back to my body. Fighting took the mental pain away. It made things easier to work through for me, but at what cost? I opened and closed my hands looking over the broken skin across my knuckles. The small spots of red alerted my mind that I should be feeling pain, but I had grown used to this feeling. This physical ache was nothing compared to the mess upstairs in my mind. I would take broken and bleeding hands over a jumbled thoughts any day of the week.

* * *

 

_'3:11'_ was the time on the dashboard. I had gotten to the elementary school eleven minutes ago in an old blue pickup truck that had seen better days. A part of me was thankful that the car wasn't anything flashy or high priced. Also, the car wasn't a minivan which was a miracle in itself. This seemed like the kind of car I would drive with old leather seats, a small front seat, and even smaller back seat, and the type of windows you had to crank to roll down. However, it didn't seem like the kind of car Aubrey would drive with three younger kids so I didn't understand that.

My eyes glanced at the dashboard again. It was '3:13' now. The school looked like it was emptying out so I wasn't too worried. Holly Hill Elementary school housed kindergarten through 6th grade. It was decent sized and placed in a decent neighborhood about four miles from the house. It was also the same elementary school I went to as a kid. A small part of me wanted to go into the school and see what had changed over the many years, but the fear of running into a familiar faced parent I had gone to school with kept me locked in the car.

Finally, my eyes landed on a group of three searching the area. I leaned out the already open window, put my fingers to my mouth, and let out a loud whistle. The kids, and a few other curious bystanders, glanced over in my direction. I forced a smile and waved for Peter, Tyler, and Taylor to come over.

"Hi Aj!" Taylor greeted when they got close to the car. The twins wore matching grins whereas Peter looked a bit downcast. Was this kid allergic to smiling or something?

"Hey guys, how was school?" I asked. That was what you were supposed to ask a kid after school right? I distinctly remember being pounded with that question for years in my youth and hating it every single time. Now, ironically, here I was asking it.

"It was good." Taylor answered as all three climbed into the car.

Peter sat up front with me while both Taylor and Tyler crawled into the back. Should they have car seats? How old were kids when they didn't have to sit in a car seat anymore? Oh God, I was not prepared to take care of these children.

Tyler glanced around, "Where are Bluestreak and Bumblebee?"

All eyes shot to me. Taylor and Tyler had a curious look drawn on their face while Peter had more of a 'Now you did it' look that made me cringe. Day one and I had already screwed it up. To be fair though, Aubrey never mentioned to me that the twins liked having their toys pick them up from school.

"Uhh, well, you see", I dragged each of my words, "Ratchet…It- He wanted to…give all the other robots a checkup. Soooo Bumblebee and Bluestreak had to stay home. Yeah."

"Oh ok." Tyler nodded and leaned back in his seat. They all buckled up as my eyes darted over to Peter. He still wasn't wearing a smile, but the kid had a look in his eyes and it kind of looked a little bit like respect. I was totally counting that as a win for today.

The first half of the drive home was filled with Tyler telling me about what him and his sister did in school, and then immediately after he was done Taylor jumped in with a round of questioning that lasted the rest of the trip.

"Why do we call you Aj?"

"It stands for Aimee Jane."

"Why Jane?"

"It's my middle name."

"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

"Chocolate chip."

"Do you have a favorite movie?"

"Maybe Back to the Future?"

"I don't know what that is. Do you like cats?"

"Nope."

"Dogs?"

"Yeah, dogs are pretty cool."

"Do you drink milk?"

"All the time."

"What's your favorite color?"

"I like red."

"Do you like dancing?"

"I'm not the best at it."

"Do you have a best friend?"

I pulled the car into the driveway and parked it. Did I have a best friend? Kyle briefly crossed my mind, but I wouldn't call him a best friend. Just a really close friend that I would love to make out with someday. I thought about the question for a moment before glancing back at Taylor's innocent look.

"Um, no. I guess not."

We all got out of the car, Peter was already heading for the door with his own key in hand and Tyler beside him, but Taylor latched herself to my side and slipped her hand into mind, "Why not?"

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"I'll be your best friend." She gave me a huge smile that I chuckled at, "I mean, technically I already have three best friends. Sam and Leslie at school and then Bumblebee of course, but you can't not have a best friend so we can be best friends too, ok?"

A real smile slipped onto my lips and I just nodded my head at her, "Sounds good. Thanks, kid."

Taylor nodded before letting go of my hand and running ahead of me into the house. I slowly followed them and closed and locked the door behind me. The sound of the TV turned on and I peeked into the living room to see a cartoon playing. Peter was sitting on the couch and the twins were nowhere to be seen.

"No homework?" I asked curiously. The cartoon had a talking blue cat and an orange fish, but I wasn't familiar with it at all.

Peter shook his head, "We do our homework after dinner."

Taylor and Tyler ran down the stairs, past me, and then jumped onto the couch beside Peter. Both had Bumblebee and Bluestreak with them.

"Right." I replied, "After dinner."

For all I knew he could've been tricking me. Maybe Aubrey made the kids do their homework as soon as they got home. How would I know? Doing it after dinner sounded like a decent enough plan though. Then it hit me.

_Dinner_.

I had to make dinner.

While the kids did their own thing I walked into the kitchen to look for my game plan. The fridge and pantry were both stocked and fully ready to be used, but was I ready to use them? There was macaroni and cheese. That shouldn't be too hard to make. She had bought the Easy Mac kind where all I had to do was throw it in the microwave. I was a pro at stuff like that. What else? I couldn't just feed them macaroni and cheese, they had to have like a meat or some form of protein. Maybe a vegetable too. I could do this. _I could do this_.

* * *

 

Two hours later, about thirty minutes after five, I was sitting in a McDonald's booth across from all three kids as they ate their fast food. I thought I could do it, but come to find out I just honestly didn't want to. The fact that parents could get themselves to cook each night for their family was beyond me. Starting tomorrow I would actually cook things for the kids. I needed a night to get myself in that mindset though.

Peter looked content as he ate his burger, Taylor was happily munching on her fries while pretending to offer some to Bumblebee who was in her lap, and Tyler was devouring his food as if he had been starved for weeks. In fact, the kid might not have been breathing as he stuffed chicken nuggets and fries down his throat.

"The chicken is dead already, Tyler. It isn't going anywhere." I joked.

The kid didn't slow down, but Peter actually chuckled at my statement. I was gonna win this kid over if it killed me.

"Thanks so much, Aj." Taylor smiled.

I nodded, "My pleasure, guys."

"Mama never lets us eat McDonalds for dinner." Tyler grinned.

Great. That's just great. I gave them a tight smile, "Well, let's just keep that to ourselves then. Hmm?"

The rest of the school week went just about the same as that first day. Minus the McDonalds trip though. I actually managed to feed the kids real food the next few days. Granted, they weren't gourmet meals, but they hadn't died from food poisoning or anything so that's a win.

Aubrey hadn't called the first night, but every night since she would call to talk for a little while. She had gotten to the hospital alright, and so far the treatments were going ok. I would usually talk to her for a minute or two letting her know the kids were doing well and the house was still in one piece then I would toss the phone off to the kids and they would talk to their mom for around an hour.

"Socks into the laundry room, not the coffee table." I called when I spotted the polka dotted clothing articles lying about.

There was a pause before Tyler called out, "Starlight can't put her socks away, Megatron took her prisoner!"

"Well when she's rescued, tell her to put them away." I replied before entering the kitchen.

" _Autobots, roll out_!" Tyler called in a mock deep voice from the living room. I laughed to myself before setting upon the dirty dishes from dinner. It was Friday a little after eight and I was trying to figure out what the lot of us could do over the first weekend. It just felt like this being the first weekend with them and all I should do something fun.

I thought about asking Aubrey when she called earlier, but it just didn't come up. There was always the movie theater, but I didn't know if any good movies were out at the moment. The park could be enjoyable. A sigh escaped my lips as water and soap sloshed onto my shirt from the bowl I was washing.

"Tyler is standing on top of the coffee table again." Peter said as he walked into the kitchen making a beeline for the fridge.

"Tyler! Get off the table!" I yelled loudly. Peter raised his eyebrows briefly as he pulled a Capri sun juice pack from the fridge's drawer. "Hey, come here."

Peter stuck the yellow straw into the pack and took the few steps over to stand beside me at the sink, "What?"

"So, Pete."

"It's Peter." He replied bluntly and set his juice on the counter. In hindsight I should've taken that as a sign to not continue the conversation, but then again being thick headed tended to be one of my larger personality traits at times.

"Right. Peter. I was thinking maybe we could do something fun this weekend." I shrugged and turned the water off. The kitchen towel was on the island behind me and I used it to dry off my dripping hands, "I was just wondering if you could help me out and all. Like what would your mom do? Would she-?"

Peter's eyes narrowed, "You're _not_ our mom."

My eyes widened, "I never- I wasn't _trying_ to be, Peter."

"Hpmh." He huffed and turned to leave. I, of course, couldn't leave it at that and began to follow him out until both of us were in the middle of the foyer.

I caught his arm, "Peter, listen-"

"Leave me alone." He pulled away with a glare.

My own eyes narrowed, "Kid, what have I done to you? I'm just trying to do my best and you're shooting me down each time I try. I see you laugh at my jokes and try and hide smiles. Is it too much to just call a truce?"

"Why?" He replied with a frown, "It's not like you plan on sticking around."

"Wha-"

"Dad left, mom's gone, and you'll leave soon too." Peter crossed his arms, "No one stays."

I shook my head, "Hey, no. Your mom isn't gone. She is coming back. You just talked to her on the phone, kid."

"You didn't say anything about yourself." He replied softly.

My face fell slightly as he turned around and headed up the stairs. I planned to follow, I wasn't going to let this settle on that note, but a soft voice stopped me.

"Aj?"

I glanced to the side to see Taylor and Tyler standing in the archway staring me down. Both had this broken, worried look on their faces that threatened to break my own heart.

"Are you really going to leave?" Tyler questioned.

It had been a week, not even a week. It had been five days and these kids had me wrapped around their little fingers. Maybe that's why I never even considered visiting Aubrey back when she first had Peter. I knew there was no way I wouldn't care about her kids. I stepped toward them and knelt down onto one knee.

"You guys listen to me." I said firmly, "I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Promise?" Taylor pressed.

I nodded and gave them a smile, "I promise."

The last thing I was expecting was a hug, but that's exactly what came from the both of them. They rushed forward and wrapped their arms around me nearly knocking me to the floor. I was touched though. The twins wanted me to stick around. Maybe, just maybe, deep inside them they understood how small our family was and this was their way of latching onto all they had. All I really knew though was that I was never going to just walk away. I wasn't going to do to them what my dad had done to me and Aubrey, what their father had already done to them.

"Alright, how about you guys go get ready for bed?" I said.

The two of them nodded before running back to the living room to grab their toys. I followed them and helped them gather the rather large amount of toys. Ten blue eyed ones and six red eyed ones in total. Luckily, the kids usually didn't play with many of the red eyed ones. It had something to do with Peter liking to keep those in the glass case because they were his oldest ones. They were some of the first ones that their dad bought him.

"Can the autobots sleep with us tonight?" Tyler asked.

I motioned them toward the stairs with toys in arm. I didn't take the time to look over the others in my arms and try to figure it out who was who. I still mixed up the autobot twins with each other and the decepticon jets with each other.

"I'll ask Peter, ok?" I nodded.

The kids headed to their room with most of the blue eyed ones, but I still had a few of them in my arms along with two red eyed ones. I paused outside Peter's door before using my foot to knock on his door. There was a moment of silence before the door opened.

I stepped in just as he turned back around to sit on his bed.

"So, the twins were hoping to sleep with the autobots tonight. Is that ok?"

Peter shrugged, "I don't care."

I sighed and set all the toys down on the end of his bed before moving to put some of the red eyed ones away. Apparently, he didn't like the way I was doing it because he heaved a groan and stood up to correct the way I put them. I chuckled lightly to myself and let him finish it up.

"I can leave Wheeljack in here if you'd like." I suggested. Wheeljack was the red, white, and green one with things on the side of his face and this mask thing over his lower face. It was kind of sad how proud I was at the fact that I was slowly figuring out what the hell these kids talked about.

"No thanks." Peter replied in a bored tone.

I took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I know what it's like to not be able to…put your trust in someone, but I want you to know that I'm not gonna bail out."

Peter didn't reply, but based on his gaze I had his attention.

"And I know just saying that doesn't make it any easier for you to trust me, but I'm gonna do the best I can to prove it to you kid." I said firmly, "I aint going anywhere. In fact, it might get to the point where you're so annoyed at me that you want to leave, but guess what. You're stuck with me."

I could see the corner of his mouth twitch up slightly and took comfort that maybe this was the first step to making things right. He gave me a small nod and I set my hand on top of his head to ruffle his brown hair.

"Now get to bed."

I quickly grabbed the blue eyed ones I had set down and left his room to go to the twin's room through their main door. Jazz was in my arms, I recognized him because of the green ribbon sling, I also had Wheeljack, the T-Rex one that I still couldn't remember the name of, and Optimus Prime. It was easy to remember his name because of the movie trailers and everything. He was one of the more well-known robots after all.

"Can they stay?" Taylor asked excitedly.

"Yupp." I smiled, "Autobots are sleeping over."

Tyler ran over to take the toys from my arms and settle them in the middle of the room with the others. I smiled at their little setup before giving them a glance over. Their pajamas were on.

"Teeth?" I questioned. Rather than answering they just gave me big smiles to show off their teeth. I chuckled and gave them a thumbs up, "A plus job. Now, to bed."

"Wait!" Taylor ran over and picked up Ratchet, "Here you go."

I shook my head, "Don't you think he wants to be here with the others?"

Taylor rolled her eyes of all things making me laugh, "Then you'd be by yourself silly."

"Right. Can't have that." I took Ratchet from her then watched them crawl into bed and under the covers making themselves comfortable. Tyler spoke up first, "Night, Aj." Taylor quickly followed, "Good night."

"Night kiddos." I replied hitting the lights and closing the door behind me.

My room looked the same as it did when I moved in. I still hadn't unpacked any of those boxes, mostly out of fear of digging up old memories. Also, none of the stuff Kyle had sent me arrived yet. I closed the door, set Ratchet onto the desk like usual, then began to change into my own pajamas. It only took me a few seconds to turn off the light and crash onto bed to sleep.

* * *

 

I wasn't a deep sleeper. Never had been. So it wasn't unusual for a sound to wake me up from my sleep. This specific sound was like a shuffling, a thumping, and then a creaking. I slowly sat up and glanced around the room that was dimly lit by the rising sun from outside. I was groggy and didn't see anything out of place. My door was open, but I couldn't remember if I had closed it all the way earlier.

I tilted my head to see the clock by my bed. It was a little after six in the morning. I could sleep another hour at least and with that thought I fell back into bed with my eyes closed.

* * *

 

"Aj."

Maybe if I ignored them they'd go watch Saturday morning cartoons or something.

"Aj."

Someone shook my shoulder.

"Aj."

I let out a sigh and replied with my eyes closed, "What's up, guys?"

Tyler and Taylor were standing by my bed. Peter could've been there, I wouldn't know with my eyes closed, but he hadn't said anything yet.

"The autobots woke us up." Tyler said.

I let out a soft hum, "Oh yeah? Well tell Optimus Prime to…" my voice faded and I didn't bother trying to finish my sentence. I needed another thirty minutes to sleep at the least.

"Aj, they're fighting downstairs." Taylor pressed.

"How about in an hour I-" I was interrupted by the sound of something crashing and a faint male voice crying out. It wasn't Peter. It wasn't Tyler. My eyes shot open and I sat up quickly. Someone was in the house. Another crash. "Stay in here. Lock the door behind me."

"But Aj-" Tyler began. I rushed across the room and grabbed my old softball bat.

"Lock the door behind me and don't open it for anyone but me." I said firmly. "Where's Peter?"

"We tried to wake him, but his door was locked. Both of them." Taylor replied.

That meant the guy downstairs maybe didn't know about any of upstairs. Peter was locked in his room safe and the twins would be locked in mine safe. I gave them a quick nod before leaving the room and closing the door. I waited until I heard the sound of the lock being engaged before moving down the hall.

My steps were silent and measured and I was equally as silent going down the stairs. Another crash and more voices. Shit, it sounded like a lot of voices. At least three distinct ones, but they were distorted and whatever they were saying definitely wasn't in English. My attention wasn't on those details though, they were already trying to form a plan. I was confident in my fighting skills, but I couldn't take on a huge group alone. If I went down then nobody would be there to protect the kids and these guys wouldn't get their hands on them. Over my dead body.

My grip tightened around the bat, there was one more crash that sounded like a pan hitting the floor. I took a deep breath before peeking around the corner.

Suddenly, I was convinced that I was still asleep. That or I was finally losing the remainder of my sanity. Maybe my eyes were just going bad? It had to be one of those things because it definitely wasn't the kid's robot toys walking, talking, and fighting in the kitchen. It couldn't be.

"No way. The autobots."

My head snapped back to see Peter beside me. We both had wide eyes, but mine were focused strictly on the boy beside me at the moment. His eyebrows rose and I spun back around to see all the toys staring at us with glowing blue eyes.

Please, _oh please_ , just let me be losing my mind.


	3. Unbelievable

* * *

_"_ _I wish you'd help me look into a more interesting problem- namely, my sanity."_ _-Kurt Vonnegut_

* * *

Peter was staring at the toys in star struck awe.

The toys were staring at us with concern for their situation.

I was spinning my head back and forth from Peter with a look of surprise that he was able to so skillfully sneak up behind me without a sound, to the toys with a look of absolute confusion. At this rate I would get whiplash.

"Aj, the autobots are _alive_." Peter breathed as a slow smile began to creep onto his features. _Now_ the kid decided to use those facial muscles? At a time like _this?_ When I was fully questioning the universe and my sanity? "Look at them! Optimus Prime, Jazz, Wheeljack, Ratchet, Prowl. Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! Even Grimlock and look, look! Bee and Blue! Tay and Ty are going to freak out."

"Yeah, I know that feeling." I mumbled.

The toys glanced at each other. Their facial features scrunched up in a variety of increased worry, frustration, and distrust. Although, I feel like I was the winner of the most absurd facial expression at the moment. Then again, I wasn't even sure what my face must have truly looked like at the moment. How does one look when everything they thought they knew was possible was proved wrong?

I'm sure whatever my features expressed, it was nothing like Peter's. Saying the kid was beside himself in excitement was the understatement of the century. I hadn't heard him rant like that, or even speak for that long, since I freaking got here. For crying out loud, I was pretty sure he was about to pee himself.

"How the frag does the squishy know us?" The red twin held his arm out toward the two of us. His look was more of a confused _'what the hell was going on_ ' whereas the yellow look-a-like beside him just looked pissy and annoyed. I was so absorbed in what their faces looked like I didn't even realize the thing was now speaking in English.

Peter, however, caught on immediately, "Whoa! So you guys can speak English? Does that mean you're the G1 versions? Did you come from the Ark?"

My gaze had focused solely on him at this point. Was this actually Peter beside me? Like Peter Williams? At this point I was beginning to think that he and Tyler had a freaky Friday moment or something along those lines. Based on the length and speed at which he was talking, you'd think a taller, darker haired Tyler was standing by me instead.

"Wheeljack, what in Primus' name did you do this time!?"

I snapped my attention back to the scene out of toy story in time to watch Ratchet threaten Wheeljack with a little wrench in his red hand. The red, white, and green robot was on the kitchen floor holding up his arms in a feeble attempt to protect his face. Where did the little wrench even come from? I didn't remember the doctor robot coming with any accessories.

"Ratchet, I'm _sorry_! _Stop_!" Wheeljack cried as the other robot landed a blow onto his arm. None of the other toys even blinked an eye at the attack or moved to help him. In fact, I'm pretty sure they took a few steps away from the scene. "It was a small error in the timing portion! I set it- _ow_!- With enough time for us to get out of- _ow_! _Primus that hurts_!- of the blast radius but it must have- _OW, Ratchet, please!_ \- malfunctioned!"

"You're a malfunction, you slagging, bucket of-" Ratchet replied but the rest of his sentence leaked into partly the other robotic language and a bunch of unintelligible yelling.

"My thought is", Jazz with his green sling still intact was speaking now, in English, but with a heavy accent, "Why didn' Jackie's bomb just offline the whole lot of us?"

Wheeljack was dragging himself across the floor trying to escape from a fuming Ratchet, "He has a _solid_ point!"

"Hold on, timer?" Bluestreak perked up as if hit with a thought. The door wings on his back twitched into an upright position and continued to move as he spoke with his hands, "I didn't see a timer on the thing Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had. I mean, normally it's easy to see because Wheeljack puts the timer on the front left where we can all see it. Remember? He started doing it after that one time where the timer was set, but no one knew how long it was set for, and we couldn't figure it out because the timer was hidden."

All the robots turned their gazes to the back of the group where the twins lazily stood. The yellow one kept his arms crossed over his chest and the red one held his hands up in innocence, "We just grabbed the thing on the left like Jack told us to."

" _Left_? No, not left!" Wheeljack cried, " _Right_! _I said right_!"

"Me, Grimlock, _tired_ of this!" The T-Rex robot began to stomp in place, but nobody moved to placate it.

Optimus Prime narrowed his glowing, light blue eyes, "Then what exactly did the twins grab?"

"I don't know!" Wheeljack shrugged in horror, "It could've been anything!"

"Me, Grimlock, want to go _home_!"

That, of course, was when the dinosaur robot began to breathe fire into the air.

I grabbed Peter by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back so he was behind me. The toys jumped into action, trying to calm the dinosaur down, but that didn't stop the thing from scorching the cabinet with flames.

" _Shit, move_!" I forced Peter out of the kitchen with the plans to get him out of harm's way. The twins were still upstairs hiding which meant they were safe for the moment, but my goal was to get all of them out of the house. At this point, maybe even out of the state.

Peter tugged against my grip on him trying to break free, "Wait, Aj! I want to see them fight!"

"Hell no! Your toy is breathing fire!" I barked back. Peter apparently didn't understand the danger associated with an out of control, toy breathing fire, and continued to fight against me

"Aj!" Two light voices chimed from upstairs. My gaze snapped to the top of the stairs where Taylor and Tyler stood in their pajamas. The dinosaur was still roaring in the kitchen, and I could hear the other toys screaming and arguing as well.

I pushed Peter towards the front door and quickly began to climb the stairs to grab the twins, "Come on, we're getting out of here!"

Tyler didn't move and just pointed down the hall to their rooms, "Aj, I think the decepticons are waking up!"

"What the hell did you just say?" I blurted and came to a halting stop midway up the stairs. The fact that I had cursed in a direct statement to Tyler didn't even register in my mind at the moment. _Decepticons_. Those were the bad ones. The red eyed ones. New voices filled the air, closer to us, and suddenly there were three jets zooming through the air. They banked right in our direction and flew right past the twins' heads then over mine. Taylor hadn't been expecting their closeness to her and stumbled forward down the stairs. I lunged forward to try and stop her fall, but she still landed on her hands and knees and slid down a few steps. Tears collected in her eyes, but the little girl tried to bite them back with a quivering lip.

I tucked the softball bat under my arm and picked her up off the stairs noticing the bright red blood beginning to seep through her pajama pants over her right knee. Taylor immediately wrapped her small body around mine and tucked her face into my shoulder.

"What do we do?" Tyler cried as he ran down the stairs toward me.

I could barely breathe with Taylor's arms tightening around my neck, but I was already moving down the stairs with Tyler right by my side, "Get to the- _ack_ , the front door."

We reached the foyer and I wasn't surprised to see that Peter hadn't stayed put like I told him to. The kid was probably in the kitchen cheering on the toy violence. The jets had disappeared into the kitchen as well, but as it turns out, the kitchen mayhem wasn't enough for one of them. A white jet with red and blue accents came barreling out of the kitchen overhead.

"It's Starscream!" Tyler cried as he pointed at the jet.

The jet didn't reply and instead opened fire directly at Tyler. I swung around so I could cover Tyler from the hits and took the brunt of the attack on my back so it wouldn't hit Taylor either, but a couple still managed to catch Tyler right on his cheek. The hits weren't super painful, more annoying than anything, like small little stings, but it sent the little boy right over the edge. The little stings had managed to irritate his skin and the stress of the entire situation on hand had this twin in tears too.

The jet cackled loudly before flying back into the kitchen.

_Oh, hell no_.

I set Taylor down and she began to cry harder. Before she tried to crawl back up my body I forced them both to look at me, "Run into the bathroom in the living room. Lock the door, understand? I need to get Peter."

"Aj-"

"I promise everything is going to be ok, alright? Trust me." I said firmly. They nodded their small heads lightly making their bed head bob messily. Tyler slipped his hand into his sister's before the two of them ran into the living room like I told them to.

I pulled the bat out from under my arm with a glare and stormed into the kitchen. The first thing to grab my attention? The kitchen towel was aflame. It burned in the middle of the kitchen floor like some kind of ridiculous campfire. The second was that there was a new robot in the brawl. It was the red eyed police car from upstairs. How the hell it got down here, I had no earthly clue. Everyone in the room was fighting, Peter was hiding under the dining room table watching the chaos, and I was beyond pissed.

The white jet circled the room, shooting at the other robots from the air, before making a beeline towards me. The toy was shooting at me, but I ignored the pelts against my skin.

"Starscream! Leave the humans be!" Optimus Prime roared from across the room. He was one of the three still trying to get the dinosaur under control.

The jet laughed again and I lifted my bat. On the softball team, back when I played years ago, I was known primarily for two things. The first being, I was fast. Running and stealing bases was my forte. Secondly, I might not have been an over the fence homerun hitter, but my aim was impeccable. When I was up to bat, I didn't miss.

I swung the bat with a form that had been ingrained in my muscle memory and I could feel the bat reverberate as it connected with the jet. The sound of metal crunching metal made the fight pause as everyone stopped to watch the now dented jet go careening backwards into the far wall.

Although the fight may have momentarily paused, I did not. I rushed over to the sink, turned the water on, and used the hose to put out the kitchen towel that was still brightly burning. The water also hit the red eyed police cruiser due to his close proximity and he growled at me in response.

I shut the water off and glared right back at him, "Don't think I won't punt you across this room, buddy!"

Taylor's favorite, Bumblebee, leaped out of freaking nowhere and tackled the police car to the ground as they began to fight. The sound of jets made me turn just in time to the two jets that were still in the air firing at me. One of the two, I couldn't tell which one, had shot off something bigger than the last round of ammunition and this one actually hurt when it hit me under my eye.

" _Mother fuc_ -" I began only to stumble back, trip over something (probably one of these impossible toys), and land right on my back. A cry of pain slipped out, but before I could try and get up the dinosaur robot jumped onto my stomach and began to shoot flames up into the air at the jets that were now soaring away. The area under my eye was burning like a bitch, and the dinosaur toy stomping around on my gut wasn't exactly making me any happier.

"Grimlock save you, human." It roared in triumph. Save was an overexaggeration. I let out a groan and pushed the bot off me making it roar in displeasure. Without a word, I jumped to my feet with the plan of crushing all three of the jets into a fine dust.

"Aj!" Peter called out. My eyes snapped over in his direction just in time to see him frantically waving me over. He used his other hand to hastily push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. I made my way over to him, trying not to step on the toys at my feet. Mostly because I knew stepping on the moving, metal objects would be freaking painful with my bare feet and all. I was forced to stop as the red twin leaped off the island counter in front of me and landed onto the back of the purple jet who screamed and began to roll in the air frantically. The red one clung on tightly, laughing as the jet rolled, and I could only wonder how the barely a foot tall robot even got on the counter in the first place.

I slid across the floor on my knees to talk to Peter, "What? You ok, kid?"

"You need to separate the 'cons from the others!"

"How about I just beat them to death with my bat?" I pointed back to the softball bat that had been abandoned on the floor where I had fallen.

Peter let out an exasperated sigh, "Aj!"

"What?" I questioned innocently. The sound of metal hitting the floor made me glance back in time to see the red twin jump off the ground and race back behind the counter. I turned back to Peter, "How will separating them help? It doesn't stop the T-Rex from trying to burn our house down."

As if on cue a trail of fire shot into the air from behind the counter. I motioned toward the area with an _'I told you so and now we're all screwed'_ look. Peter shook his head, "If you can separate them, then you can calm them down and talk to them."

The kid had a point. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to settle my mind. This crowd from toy hell needed to be settled down if I ever wanted to get control over this house again. So separate them I would. Never mind the fact that some of them are perfectly fine shooting things at me and breathing fire in my direction. I had to be stuck in the twilight zone or something. This was still too unreal.

"Alright. I'll handle this, you get to the bathroom downstairs and sit with your brother and sister."

"But Aj-"

"Kid, don't start with me." I held up my hand. Peter realized he had lost and heaved a heavy sigh before crawling out from under the table and running out of the kitchen. Now came the more difficult part. I forced my gaze back to the brawl.

Across the room, the white jet I had crushed with my bat was slowly beginning to sit up. He was now in the shape of a robot rather than a flying machine, but he was still dented in some areas and wore a rather pissed off look. The last thing I needed at the moment was the third jet back in the air. Without pausing at the gunfire, I rushed across the room and grabbed the thing off the floor.

"Release me now, you filthy human!"

"No problem." I replied and burst into the laundry room. With quick movements, I opened the washer door, threw him in, and slammed it shut.

The toy immediately moved to the thick glass and began to bang on it, "What is this!? Let me out, I demand it!"

I smirked triumphantly and the demon spawned toy, "How about no?"

One down, three to go.

When I stepped back out into the mess of a kitchen the red eyed bot I was looking for ran over my foot to tackle Bumblebee who was on the other side. It didn't actually hurt so the cry I let out was one from surprise. The monster of a police cruiser had his hands wrapped around the yellow toy's door wings tightly.

"I just fixed that, you _asshole_!" I barked at him before scooping both toys up. It took a minute or two of trying to untangle the two bots while cursing at the same time, but finally I had a bot in each hand. Almost immediately, the black and white robot began to claw and stab my hand, " _Ow_!"

I set Bumblebee down a little harder than I meant to and stormed back into the laundry room where the jet was shooting the inside of the washer. If that damned thing broke my washer I'd rip him into two. The next part of my plan took a bit of timing, but I swung open the washer door and threw the police car in before the jet could escape. The whole thing worked out because the car robot collided with the jet knocking them both over. I slammed the washer door shut and went out to get the other two toy jets from hell.

"Fighting at the moment is useless."

I could hear Optimus speaking and that actually sounded like the only sound coming from the room. Hesitantly, I stepped into the kitchen to see the autobots had the two jets grounded and surrounded as well. The dinosaur bot had stopped spewing fire and was now walking around the kitchen looking at different things. It noticed me and narrowed its eyes.

It. Things. Those were the terms for inanimate objects right? Well these damn things definitely weren't inanimate no more. He? She? I don't remember the twins mentioning any girl toys.

"What did you autobots do to us?" One of the robots that turned into the light blue jet demanded.

" _Us_? This is all _your_ slagging fault. If you cons hadn't been attacking-" The yellow twin stepped toward the jets threatingly, but I didn't let him finish his little rant of doom. I marched across the room, picked up the two robots who were complaining profusely, and walked back to the laundry room. The others were following me, I could hear their metal footsteps, but they didn't speak and I didn't pause.

The robots were squirming in hands. I tucked one under my arm briefly, opened the dryer door, and then tossed them both in slamming it behind them. The washer still had enough room for some more metal prisoners, but I wasn't about to risk the other two jumping out when I tried to put these two in. A sigh of relief left my body at knowing the red eyed monsters were contained. I spun around only to jump at the sight of ten pairs of blue eyes staring me down.

The tallest, not counting the towering dinosaur, was Optimus Prime and he only came up to my knees. Yet, being stared at by these small…beings was absolutely unnerving. Maybe it was because of the whole ' _shouldn't be alive thing_ '. Yeah, I'd just chalk it up to that.

"We thank you for your help." Optimus nodded his head in my direction. He had a mask over the lower half of his face that suddenly slid back to reveal his mouth. The bot was still red and blue, though a bit scuffed up in places, with flame decals decorating his limbs. Tyler said he was based off the movie version not the cartoon version which I also didn't understand. Why were there so many different versions of how these guys looked?

Standing by his side was the stone faced, blue eyed, police car. He looked a lot like Bluestreak in some ways, but was a bit taller. The others fell in line behind them with the dino in the back.

The shock, the aches, and the impossibility of these living toys running around in the house hit me all at once as my adrenaline faded to nothing. I collapsed rather ungracefully onto my butt in front of the washer. My back was pressed against the machine with the door to it being right behind my head. I could feel the jet and car banging against the glass and that did not help my precarious situation.

"This isn't happening." I breathed, "This isn't real. This can't be real. There's a gas leak in the house and we're all hallucinating. Yeah, that's it."

I buried my face into my hands. There was the sound of shuffling as the group of mini robots came closer to where I sat. It remained quiet for a couple more beats before one of them groaned, "Great. We slagging broke it."

My head shot up again and they all jumped in surprise at my sudden movement, "You're real. You're alive and you're talking. To me."

Before any of them could reply to my rambling I reached forward and picked up the closest one which just so happened to be the police car I had been looking at seconds ago. The bot remained stiff as I brought it closer to my face to look at. Their eyes were actually glowing with life. _Real life_. There was no off switch hidden on his back. His mouth opened and he spoke in a calculated tone, "Please release me."

I dropped the bot like he had spontaneously combust, but he had no issues landing on his feet gracefully. Optimus made a noise that sounded a lot like someone clearing their throat before taking a step toward me so he was only an arm's length away.

"Perhaps introductions would make bridging this gap of confusion easier?" I opened my mouth, but nothing came out so I just pathetically shrugged. He seemed to take this as approval and continued pointing at the police car first, "This is my second in command Prowl. Beside him is my third in command and also head of special operations, Jazz." I recognized the grinning Jazz. Optimus motioned toward Ratchet, who still looked wary, and Wheeljack, who actually gave me a small wave as the fins on the side of his head glowed blue, next, "Ratchet our Chief Medical Officer and Wheeljack our Chief Engineer."

"I knew those names." I blurted, "Well except the Prowl dude, but I mean I've heard it before I just never thought I really needed to learn it because you guys were…"

"Inanimate?" Wheeljack chirped.

I nodded pathetically, "Um yeah. I know…I know Bumblebee and I know Bluestreak, but I can't remember the condiment twin's names or the dinosaur."

" _Condiment twins_?" The yellow one seethed. I had successfully made him angrier apparently by opening my big mouth. It wasn't my fault him and his brother were the same color as ketchup and mustard.

The red one was lazily leaning against his brother who looked ready to throttle me despite being much smaller, "I think I'm more insulted that she doesn't remember our names."

"The dinobot's designation is Grimlock. The twins are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe." Optimus finished. I was going to assume Sunstreaker was the yellow one based on the word 'sun' in his name. Sideswipe smirked at me of all things while Sunstreaker let out an annoyed huff and leaned into his brother slightly.

My eyes snapped to Ratchet next who pushed past Prowl and stopped in front of me, "Don't move."

I didn't move. Not an inch. However, I was fairly positive that was because of shock and not my expert listening skills. A tingling feeling brushed against my skin making my eyes widen in alarm. The red and white bot let out a huff of frustration, "Scrap. My scans still come out inconclusive on these humans."

"Do they still work on us?" Prowl questioned.

Ratchet turned to Jazz who suddenly jumped, " _Whoa, warn a mech_!"

"Indeed." He turned back to me, "Now, you are injured are you not?"

Was the little robot doctor assessing me for injuries? I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again to answer with a shake of my head, "What? I- no- I mean, a little, but- gah, _it doesn't matter_!"

Ratchet narrowed his blue eyes, "I can see the burn on your face and I'm sure the injuries do not end there, and do not tell me what does and doesn't matter."

I used my foot to push the little robot back an inch or two. He looked appalled at my action before angrily grumbling to himself and moving on to check Jazz's arm. The situation wasn't keeping these guys back in shock like it was me though. They were looking around, assessing the issue at hand, and figuring out the next step.

"Is my comm the only one down?" Bumblebee asked glancing around.

Bluestreak nodded, "No, mine is down too. It has been since we got here. I was going to mention something then but Grimlock started freaking out then the seekers flew in. Where did Barricade and them come from anyways? Are they the only decepticons here?"

"-speak to the decepticons. We need to also find a base of locations for the time being while we wait-" Prowl was having his own conversation with Optimus who listened thoughtfully.

"-the jetpack is working like a charm."

"I wish we could say the same about your processors." Sunstreaker replied to his brother.

Ratchet was focused on Jazz, "-how did this even happen? Your entire fragging arm is falling off! And I- _Wheeljack_! Don't touch that!"

My eyes glanced at Wheeljack who stumbled back and away from the vacuum sitting in the corner with a sheepish look. It seemed like all the bots were in their own world and I had no idea what was happening.

" _Hey, hey hey_." I said loudly making all other conversations pause. Ratchet continued his work on Jazz's arm though. "Ok. So…ok. I need to fix this. I need you guys, to fix this. Just- Just go away. Like, now. Go back to wherever the hell you came from and let my life revert back to it's normal state of boredom. Please."

Sunstreaker scoffed, "You think we'd still be here if we could. Fragging organic."

"I will step on you, daffodil." I replied with a neutral face and dead tone. My breaking point had been about five minutes ago. The twin growled at me and only remained where he stood because Sideswipe wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

It didn't last long though because unlike the last time the red one draped himself across him, Sunstreaker immediately shrugged out of the red, lanky twin's grasp. Sideswipe didn't take insult to it, he didn't even bat an eye, "But seriously, can you send us home, Wheeljack? I had plans."

"I was thinking about that." Wheeljack chirped, "You see, I was trying to remember what was on the left side and I'm fairly positive it was just a storage container of some of my more random chemicals. That doesn't make too much sense though because then why did it explode?"

" _Why_ did it explode?" Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes, "It came from _your_ pit of a lab, that's _why_!"

Wheeljack shook his head, "What did you two see on the field?"

"We were carrying it when the seekers showed up and started dropping bombs." Sideswipe answered in a nonchalant tone, "We managed to hide _your_ bomb-"

" _Not a bomb_." Wheeljack interrupted.

"-Under this white out cliff thing and take cover." Sideswipe continued, "Before we could retaliate your thing went off with a flash of white."

Wheeljack shook his head, "That doesn't make sense. I don't understand how that explosion occurred at all let alone made us jump into a dimension where the humans are larger than us by a significant amount, but I do know I had nothing to do with it."

" _This time_." Ratchet grumbled.

"But _jumping dimensions!_ " I could tell Wheeljack was beginning to get more and more excited even with the facemask he was wearing, "Can you imagine the prospects of this finding? What could come from this? If only Perceptor was here and maybe-"

The entire time I sat on the floor listening to the robots in front of me speak, the robot behind my head had been yelling and cursing the entire time. I had managed to ignore it for the most part, but it suddenly reached a point I couldn't stand anymore.

I turned around on my knees so I was eye to eye with the jet, "We are having a _mature_ conversation about getting the whole lot of you back home. Now _shut up_!"

"How dare you command _me_ , human? I am Starscream, second in-"

"If you don't stop talking I will turn this washer on."

"Is that a threat!? You think I am scared of this human contraption?!"

Starscream just wouldn't shut up. So, I lifted my arm to reach the top panel where all the buttons were. It was easy to find and start the rinse cycle. The clicking sound of the washer door being locked made the jet stop his yapping. Suddenly, water began to fill the washer from all sides. Both toys began to protest and bang against the glass door in anger. The washer slowly began to move and they both cried for me to stop.

I pressed the cancel button and watched as all the water drained out. With an air of smugness, I raised an eyebrow at them, "You were saying?"

"Continue your meeting with the autobots. I will allow it." Starscream replied.

I rolled my eyes and sat back down with a groan. Jazz grinned at me and opened his mouth to speak when Ratchet made something click in his arm and he let out a surprised cry of pain. He wasn't the only one amused by my threat, Sideswipe was chuckling but his attention was on his stoic looking brother.

"Me, Grimlock, go home now?"

That growling statement filled me with panic. I highly doubted anyone in this room had an answer that the dinobot was going to like and the absolute last thing I wanted was the laundry room being set on fire. Luckily, the dinobot was distracted a few seconds later. Unluckily, he was distracted by three kids racing toward the laundry room.

My back straightened and my eyes widened, "I told you guys to stay in the bathroom. It's dangerous."

Tyler shook his head at me before letting his eyes roam across the room again, "Peter said you were helping the autobots fight the seekers and Barricade!"

"It could still be dangerous I haven't-"

"You have the seekers and Barricade trapped though, Aj." Taylor argued, "Plus, the autobots can protect us."

At that statement, Jazz turned his head to the little girl and gave her a thumbs up sign with the arm not in a sling. Her little face broke out in a huge grin as she squealed and bounced in place. That made Jazz chuckle to himself. Ratchet forced him to turn around again and then ripped off the green ribbon sling without much ease. Jazz, apparently, was used to this rough handling and just smiled as he moved his arm around. The doctor toy held up the ribbon with disgust, "Who wrapped this… _thing_ around him?"

"Oh, Aj did that! She fixed him." Tyler answered.

I could tell that both twins weren't as shaken anymore, and I wondered if their older brother had anything to do with that. Either way, the two of them were now on the same level of excitement as Peter was earlier. Unsurprisingly, they didn't question the fact that their once toys were now real robots walking around and talking. I guess I was the only one stuck on that little tidbit.

Ratchet let out a huff and dropped the ribbon, "Adequate at best. Nowhere near well enough to consider an actual fixed job."

"I don' care wha' the docbot says", Jazz spoke up in my direction, ignoring the heated look Ratchet shot in his direction, and smirked, "It held up tight in battle. You can play doctor for meh anytime, girl."

Ratchet shook his head and moved toward the twins to check for injuries. Optimus grabbed my attention again, "May we know your designations?"

I realized that after their little introductions, I never actually told them my own name. My mouth fell open to give him an answer when the twins beat me to it by shouting out their…designations.

"Starlight!"

"Lightspeed!"

I inhaled a sharp breath as all the bots just stared at the twins in confusion. More likely than not it was because they were expecting names that didn't sound like somebody they might've known. Peter took control of the name situation, "My real designation is Peter. These are my siblings Taylor and Tyler, they're twins. That's our Aunt. Her designation is Aj."

"Earlier, you were aware of our designations without our saying. May I inquire as to why?" Prowl asked Peter in that same calm voice he spoke in before. Maybe that was the only voice he could talk in. I glanced at Peter who sat down with the twins and began to get into the _'fan of your lives which also happen to be movies and cartoons'_ story. All the bots were zoned in on Peter as he spoke. Me, on the other hand, decided to get my shit together. I took in one last deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. I had my panic attack already, I freaked the fuck out, but now it was time for me to knuckle down and get my hands on this situation. First things first. _Injuries_.

I stood up making everyone glance at me, but I ignored it and left the room. Nobody tried to stop me, which saved me time considering I didn't have to explain myself. I headed toward the stairs so I could grab a first aid kit. Did Aubrey have one? I'm almost positive she did somewhere around here, but like hell I knew where that was. I certainly wasn't about to call her and ask.

_'Hey Aubrey, your kid's toys came to life and attacked us. Where's your first aid kit?'_

Yeah, no thanks. Polite pass.

Besides, I had my own little kit upstairs under my bed. I brought it with me from New York because I knew that with the way I lived my life, I couldn't go anywhere without that thing. It took me only a couple seconds to bound up the stairs. When I got to the top I turned to head to my room, but I suddenly came to a stop as one thought hit me.

There were only four red eyed toys downstairs meaning that two were missing in action. I cautiously began to head toward Peter's room where the door was already flung open. There was a small bit of fear that a toy was going to jump out and attack, but I pushed past it and peeked into the room. There wasn't any movement. Part of the glass case to the side was shattered and broken leaving glass on the floor where the four had been. My eyes landed on the big, bad guy. Gray body, creepy red eyes, and mean frown. What the hell was his name? Meg-something wasn't it? Under him on a lower shelf was another toy with no face, just a screen. No way was I gonna remember that one's name.

Both of them were unmoving and lifeless. I nodded before peeling out of the room and taking a step toward my own before stopping again. The seekers hadn't come to life immediately. If they had, Peter wouldn't have been able to calmly leave his room and sneak up on me. What if those two jokers in there decided to jump to life?

I spun back around at a startling speed and burst back into the room as if the two were going to come to life at any second. Scary as hell Meg still had a broken leg so when I picked him up it fell off. I rolled my eyes and shoved the leg into my pajama pants pocket and grabbed both robots before booking it out of Peter's room and making my way to my own.

I need something to put the robots in. I wasn't about to just keep them on my desk so they could come to life in the dead of night and kill me. There wasn't anything I could use that I brought from New York which meant I had to do some digging. I threw the toys ono the bed and moved toward the stack of boxes. Digging through them was messy. Memories and junk went tumbling to the floor as I ripped through the boxes like there was no tomorrow. Finally, I came across a large, clear box with a lid that held a bunch of office junk from my parent's office. I dumped it all out onto the floor and then moved back to my bed. It was a tight fit, but I managed to stick both toys in. I tried to stick the leg in there too, but it wouldn't fit so I just shoved it back into my pocket with a sigh.

The lid went on and just for good measure I also stacked my old yearbooks on top of the box then set it on my desk. Now to get back to what I was originally trying to do. Injuries. I grabbed the small first aid kit under my bed and rushed back down to the laundry room. As I went through the kitchen I tried not to look at anything except what was ahead. Cleaning the kitchen was phase three and I wasn't there yet.

I stepped into the laundry room where it looked like the kids had finished telling the robots what was going on here. My eyes narrowed at the sight of Prowl lying on the ground motionless with dark eyes. What was happening? Were they turning back into toys?

"We told them about the cartoons and Prowl crashed." Tyler shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in all of the universe. Ratchet was standing over him with Jazz beside him.

"Sunny", Sideswipe elbowed his brother, "We're _stars_ here."

"Don't call me that, slagger." Sunstreaker mumbled and rubbed the spot where his brother had hit him.

I shook my head and put on my blinders. My focus was on the kids right now. The kids were phase one, robots were phase two. My eyes darted to Peter, "You alright?"

"I'm fine." He replied with a nod.

I opened the kit and sat down between Tyler and Taylor turning to Taylor first. The blood stain over her knee wasn't too large so I figured the scrape wasn't too bad. I rolled up her pants leg to see the wound. It was already beginning to scab over and like I guessed it wasn't too bad. Luckily, she was too absorbed in watching the robots speak to each other to even notice what I was really doing.

"You have to clean her wound to remove any and all foreign and harmful bacteria."

" _Shit_." I jumped and glanced over to see Ratchet standing by my side and by Taylor's feet.

Taylor beamed, "Aj is just like you, Ratchet. She mainly helps humans though, but she fixed Bee's door wing just like she did Jazz's arm."

"Patch jobs at the most." Ratchet grumbled.

I ignored the grumpy robot. Phase one. Focus on phase one. I began to clean Taylor's wound with a small pad of alcohol. She let out a small cry of pain bringing all attention to her. I tried to give her a small comforting smile, "I'm sorry, sweetie. I just gotta clean it up."

I stuck a small band aid over it and began to turn to Tyler when Taylor spoke up, "But wait you didn't…"

Her sentence trailed off and her voice got quiet. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she avoided my gaze and just stared at her knee. An old memory hit me of Aubrey. Of her putting band aids over my small bloody knuckles and…

I leaned forward making Taylor look back up at me and quickly placed a small kiss over the band aid on her knee. When I made eye contact with her again I took pride in the smile drawn on her features. Tyler was next on my injury list, the broken skin under his eye wasn't too bad. I began to clean it with a new alcohol pad. Ratchet was still standing by me watching me work on Tyler as the other robots held a small little meeting by the doorframe.

I finished cleaning his cut. Neosporin. Band aid. Small kiss. The kid was good to go.

"They're from the G1 universe." Peter said to me, "That's why they know English and recognize us as humans. Even the ones that look like they're from the movies or transformers prime."

My shoulders slumped as I let my fingers gently brush the burn under my own eye, "G1, G2, G93. _I don't care_. They _need_ to go back."

" _But Aj_!" All three kids yelled at once making me jump.

I narrowed my eyes at them, "I've heard ' _but Aj'_ a little too much today."

"We apologize on any trouble or grief we have laid onto your shoulders, Aj." Optimus said making me glance back at him, "We will do the utmost in our power to return home as soon as possible. Wheeljack, what is your estimate?"

The toy in question pulled his attention away from a power outlet and to the group. His head tilted slightly as his fins lit up, "Weeeeeell, first I would need to find out some way to pinpoint where exactly our own universe lies in correlation to the one we are in considering we were somehow blown into another one entirely. Then of course, with the right tools, perhaps I can create a device that can throw us back into our own world. Best case scenario, I can use the same type of technology as the space bridge? Then again…" Wheeljack began to ramble to himself using words I didn't recognize.

"How _long_ , Jackie?" Jazz clarified.

" _Oh_!" Wheeljack nodded, "Hmm, maybe a stellar cycle or so. A solar cycle at the most."

The robot twins groaned at the sound of that, but I just shook my head, "I don't know what that means."

Peter gave me a look like he was embarrassed to be related to me. How dare I not know what a solar and stellar cycle are. He sighed, "Stellar cycle is around 7 and a half months, solar cycle is 12 months."

"That's a long time." Taylor hummed.

Tyler pumped his fist in excitement, "You guys can live with us!"

Meanwhile, I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole _'7 and a half months to a year'_ thing. I shook my head in denial before rubbing my face with my hands, "Wait a minute, wait a minute."

"They _can't_ stay with us?" Tyler pouted, "Where else can they go?"

"I don't know, but do you see the outcome of them being here for ten minutes?" I replied, "And you're suggesting they stay here for", I scoffed, "Basically a year!?"

The twins immediately latched onto my arms and began to beg and plead for the toys to stay. As they tugged on my arms, and heart strings, they even teared up a little bit with their big blue eyes. Good Lord, his wasn't fair in the slightest. I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn't form any words. Geez, I couldn't even say no to these two when they asked for extra dessert and the looks they wore now were ten times worse than that.

"We would be in your debt and would stay as far out of your way as possible." Optimus added.

All eyes were on me and that made saying no even harder. The toy robots did need help afterall, Tyler was right. Where would they go? But how was that my problem to deal with? They had, unfortunately, fallen into my life which made me feel slightly responsible for them. Plus, it felt like if I said no I would be kicking a puppy dog while it was down.

I let out a sigh, "Let me get all this straight first. The toys are from the H1 universe-"

"G1." Peter corrected.

"And we are _not_ toys." Sideswipe interrupted, "We're mechs. _Mechs_."

I held the bridge of my nose with my hand, "Ok, ok, ok. You _mechs_ , are from the G1 universe and you don't really know how you ended up here, only that it had something to do with ketchup and mustard over there and-"

" _Hey_!" Sunstreaker growled.

"But it'll take nightlight nearly a year to _maybe_ make something that'll get you guys home?"

Jazz shrugged, "Sounds 'bout right."

"I'm gonna need therapy after all this." I closed my eyes in defeat as the twins cheered in excitement. What had I just gotten myself into?


	4. Energy

* * *

_"Coffee, because crack is bad for you." -Unknown_

* * *

 

You don't understand persevering annoyance until you've had a foot tall jet turning robot banging against the inside of the washer demanding to be let out in a high pitched voice. It seemed like the moment I finished agreeing that they could stay the decepticons decided to open their mouths and immediately make me want to change my mind.

"Come on, can you let us out already?" One of the jets in the dryer whined while the other just stared at me with unblinking red eyes.

"I _demand_ it!" The high pitched one yelled again.

I turned and set my hand on the dryer door first, "Do you little monsters promise to control yourselves?"

"Wait, you're not going to let them out are you, Aj?" Tyler gasped.

"I can't leave them in there." I shrugged. "Now are you going to liste-"

"You have no power over us, human!"

"Look here." I narrowed my eyes at them while pulling the metal leg out of my pants pocket, "The mega- ' _whatever the hell his name is'_ guy does though, right? Because guess who has power over him right now."

The autobots seemed just as surprised at my statement as the decepticons. Bluestreak's voice spoke up first, "Is that Megatron's leg?"

"Yupp. Now-" My statement was interrupted by the red, white, and blue jet throwing up his arms and letting out a celebratory cackle.

"Finally! The strongest has prevailed!" He cheered while the other three decepticons looked bored, "I am Lord Starscream, leader of the decepticons!"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I glanced back at the autobots and kids, "I…That wasn't the reaction I was expecting."

Sideswipe crossed his arms, "All of us expected it from that slagger."

This was taking longer than I wanted it too. I groaned in irritation before turning back to _'Lord Starscream'_ and all his annoying glory. "Alright, as your first action as leader you can promise me that no decepticon is going to start any fights or tear up our house. This entire house is now a neutral zone."

"And if I don't?" Starscream sneered.

I gave him a big smile, "Then I tear off your wings and bury you in the backyard. M'kay?"

He looked taken aback and gave me a quick nod, "Agreed, human. Now release us!"

The autobots tensed as I opened the dryer door then the washer. All four of them hopped out with ease. I didn't stand around and wait to see what would happen next. Instead, I turned and walked out of the laundry room to head toward the kitchen. Injuries were taken care of and I've handled the bots, mostly, so now it was time to take on the war zone.

One word to describe the kitchen would be scarred. Small bullet holes littered the cabinets along with charcoal black scorch marks. I stood there in thought. How was I even supposed to clean this? Maybe I could rub away some of the black from the flames, but I couldn't exactly wipe away the holes.

"Are you sure it was ok to let them out?" Taylor whispered to me. The kids had caught up behind me and stood close to my back. They were eyeing the decepticons warily and I honestly didn't blame them.

I nodded, "They're gonna be on their best behavior. _Right_?"

My eyes cut to Starscream who walked a few feet from my right side. He gave me a sickly sweet smile and bowed in my direction, "Of course. I give you my word."

The urge to roll my eyes was almost too hard to bite back but I managed. The sound of transforming filled the air as the two other flying robots jumped into the air and took off.

"Come on, TC!" The mainly purple one called as he zoomed out of the kitchen with the mainly light blue one right on his tail.

"Be careful!" I yelled in fear that they would knock something over, but the only reply I got was a round of laughter. I closed my eyes as a pressure filled my head. A headache was forming right behind my eyes. My pills for it were upstairs with all my junk. Usually the cause of these headaches were stress. I wonder what could possibly be stressing me out right now.

The other robots began to scatter throughout the house to explore. In fact, the only robots who remained in the kitchen were Wheeljack who had opened the cabinets under the sink and was now looking at the piping and Optimus Prime who stood a few feet away.

"Alrighty." I clapped my hands and focused my attention on the kids, "Upstairs, now. Get cleaned up, new clothes, and be careful around the robots."

"They _aren't_ robots." Peter crossed his arms with defiance, "They're _sentient beings_."

"Kid, you're ten. Do you even know what the word sentient means?" I replied.

Peter narrowed his eyes at me, "Of course I do."

"I don't wanna go upstairs, Aj." Tyler shook his head, "I wanna talk to the autobots."

Taylor bounced where she stood, "Yeah, me too!"

I massaged the bridge of my nose, "Will you just listen to me? I want you upstairs and-"

"Why are you being so bossy and uncool?" Peter questioned.

There was a pause of silence as I let my gaze drift from each kid. They stared at me in return with a look of questioning and confusion. Ok, so I had been a bit bossy this morning, but could you blame me? I needed to be bossy to get things done and to keep them out of the gunfire and literal fire.

I took a knee so I was closer to eye level with them, "I know… I know that I'm being a little more tight strung right now, but… You guys have to understand. New things, things that I don't understand, they make me nervous."

"Nervous?" Taylor asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah." I admitted, "It makes me feel out of control and I worry. I just want to keep you guys safe is all. I promised your mom I would."

Tyler smiled and set a small hand on my shoulder, "Now you have the autobots to help though. You don't have to worry anymore."

I chuckled at the kid's innocence, "I'm sure. Now, how about you guys go get cleaned up like I said before. Then you can come down and make conversation with whoever. Cool?"

They agreed before bounding out of the room and up the stairs. I stayed on one knee in thought. When Aubrey asked me to stay and watch over her kids I highly doubted that she had anything like this in mind.

"Aj." I startled some at the deep voice and glanced over my shoulder to see Optimus Prime staring at me, "May I speak to you?"

"Uh." I opened my mouth and couldn't form words. It was as if my mind suddenly disconnected from my mouth. Eloquent as always, Aj. "Sure thing, just let me…"

It felt really weird talking to him on one knee, but if I stood up to talk it would feel even weirder. He stood there patiently as I internally struggled with how to make this a little less awkward. Finally, I just muttered a quick apology and picked him up off the ground from around the waist. He seemed surprised as I stood up and set him on the island countertop. Now we were just about eye level.

"I didn't mean to manhandle you like that." I said sheepishly, "I do need to talk to you too though…Mr. Prime?"

Optimus nodded, "I don't mind, and Optimus is fine. I just wanted to thank you again for your hospitality. My mechs and I will do everything in our power to make this easier on you and the younglings."

"Right, right." I nodded. I wasn't familiar with the word younglings, but from context clues I figured it was their equivalent of kids. I could've been totally wrong, but I didn't care enough to continue pondering it. "Don't think of this as me taking back my hospitality, but is there anyway we can turn that year into, I don't know, say two months?"

Optimus narrowed his blue eyes in confusion. The amount of emotion I could see on their metal faces was astounding and a little unbelievable.

" _Two month_ s!?" I jumped and glanced down at my feet where Wheeljack stood with glowing blue fins.

"I need to put bells around y'all's necks or something." I mumbled before reaching down to pick Wheeljack up. I set him down on the counter beside Optimus. "It's just, my sister is going to be home in two months and I need you guys gone by then, ideally."

Wheeljack tilted his head, "Why?"

The last thing a newly recovered Aubrey needed was a bunch of living toys running rampant through her home. I was in perfect health and I could feel it wearing me down already. I opened my mouth to explain that but immediately stopped myself. What if one of the bots let it slip and accidentally told the kids?

"Because she's allergic to alien robots from different universes." I replied. Optimus seemed to understand that I was being sarcastic and didn't want to talk about it. Wheeljack, on the other hand, didn't fully get it for the first few seconds and just seemed utterly lost. "So let's just make that our goal, hmm?"

Optimus nodded, "We understand."

"Well, I guess I should get started then." Wheeljack shrugged. I helped Wheeljack down to the floor and watched him walk out of sight.

"So", I turned back to Optimus, "Should I be worried about the rogue cop car and the jets from hell?"

He nodded in determination, "We will keep Barricade and the seeker trine from causing trouble."

Seeker trine equals jets from hell? I'd add that to the list of things I needed to ask the kids about. I reached back into my pocket for that metal leg and held it up for Optimus to see. "What about Meggy? He hasn't woken up yet and neither has the screen faced one."

The battle mask on his face was still retracted so I saw his lips twitch up in amusement briefly before returning to its more stoic state, "I suppose we will cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed.

The remainder of the weekend was somewhat successful. Meaning, there were only three more fires throughout the entire house thanks to a grumpy Grimlock and I only had to separate two brawls. The first was between Skywarp, the mostly purple seeker, and Sideswipe while the second was a battle of Barricade versus Jazz and Bumblebee. For the most part, I didn't see the bots at each other throats all that much. The autobots had claimed the office as their base of operations late Saturday afternoon while the four decepticons mainly just roamed the house. Saturday night, the first night they were alive, Aubrey didn't call. With the craziness that was yesterday, I hadn't even given it that much thought. At the beginning of today I had finally realized it and considered it kind of a blessing in disguise since it gave me one more day to deal with everything. As the day progressed though and I hadn't heard from her I got more and more worried.

It was 6 PM, Sunday night, and I sat at the dining room table staring at the cordless phone in front of me. Dinner had ended about an hour ago and I had just finished cleaning up and putting away dishes. I could hear the TV playing in the living room, but I couldn't hear what was playing over Taylor and Tyler's loud voices. Both of them had been even more attached to the hip to Bluestreak and Bumblebee than before, but that wasn't exactly surprising. The two bots seemed taken to the kids as well so I didn't interfere. They might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

I wasn't entirely sure where all the other bots were. Peter had been jumping back and forth between helping Prowl with the base setup and Wheeljack with getting them home. Grimlock was currently curled up in a mass of metal on top of my feet under the table like some sort of robotic pet. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the T-rex robot was so chilled out. He was usually wreaking havoc whining about going home. I have burn scars on my hands to prove it.

The sound of someone climbing up into the dining room chair beside me greeted my ears, but I didn't turn to look at who it was. A couple more beats of silence and then a grinning Autobot came into sight. He took a seat right by the phone casually.

"Hi Jazz." I said without much enthusiasm. I was actually beginning to remember all their names and match it to faces. Turns out, all it took me to learn them was for them to magically come to life. Go figure.

Jazz crossed his arms, "Wha'cha doin' in here all alone?"

"I'm waiting for a phone call."

"From?"

"The kids' mom."

"Where are the younglins' carrier?" He questioned. I was assuming carrier meant mother? I really needed to start a list of these terms. I didn't answer his question and Jazz seemed to catch on that I didn't plan to. There was shifting at my feet and a grumpy moan. Jazz stood up, "Was tha' Grimlock?"

I pushed back my chair, momentarily forgetting the phone, and peeked down at the dinosaur. He remained curled up on the floor in his dinosaur mode, but his eyes were a lot dimmer than I was used to. My own eyes widened in surprise as I reached down to scoop him up into my lap.

"Jazz?" The alarm was evident in my voice, "What's wrong with him?"

The bot stood on the edge of the table staring at Grimlock, "Better get 'im to the docbot."

I reached out to grab Jazz and set him on my shoulder so I could hold the dinobot in my arms. Jazz didn't mind me picking him up. On the few other occasions I did, he had no complaints and was all smiles. Wheeljack also didn't mind it as well as Bluestreak and Bumblebee. However, there was also a list of bots that did not like it. Prowl and Ratchet had their own spots on that list. After that first hour they were alive, I hadn't tried to pick up Optimus again mainly out of respect. He was like some sort of autobot general or king, right? You don't manhandle guys in his position whether he was a foot tall or not. Nobody had tried to pick up either condiment twins yet, and I certainly didn't plan to. Especially not Sunstreaker. I automatically put the temperamental daffodil on the _'don't pick up'_ list right next to the decepticons. However, the bot on top of that list was none other than Grimlock himself. The fact that I didn't hear a word of complaint from him as I pulled him to my chest was sign enough that something was seriously wrong.

Jazz took a seat on my shoulder so he wouldn't fall and rested his hand behind my ear for support. It didn't bother me so I kept moving out of the kitchen area. The moment I stepped into the foyer my foot bumped into a bright yellow body.

"Hey, watch it!" Sunstreaker growled after regaining his balance.

I ignored him and looked to his more manageable twin, "Have y'all seen Ratchet?"

"He's upstairs." Sideswipe replied, "What's going on with Grimlock?"

"Out of my way, yellow." I breathed and hopped over Sunstreaker to get to the stairs. Jazz held on a little tighter as I rushed up the stairs.

Sideswipe called after me, "What's going on?"

I didn't hear them following us, but didn't pay too much attention to it. Jazz slipped slightly as I turned quickly around the top of the stairs and marched into the office. He didn't complain though and instead just readjusted himself.

The office looked the same for the most part except the office chair had been moved across the room and books were stacked in front of the desk so the bots could stand on the desktop. Most of the books came from the large shelf downstairs in the living room corner. Currently standing on the desktop was Prowl and Optimus. They had been speaking to each other, but when I came storming in they stopped.

"Aj", Optimus stepped toward the edge, "What happened?"

Jazz didn't jump off my shoulders onto the desk which is what I was expecting. He did stand however to speak to Optimus, "Grimlock ain't lookin' too good, OP. Where's the Hatchet?"

I hadn't heard anybody call Ratchet a hatchet yet, but from the nearly two days I had gotten to know him I could see why he would be called that. Apparently Prowl was familiar with the nickname because he answered without a pause, "The med bay."

"Med bay?" I questioned with a furrowed brow. Suddenly, realization hit me and my eyes narrowed, " _Med bay_."

I turned on my heel without waiting for the other two bots and walked out of the room. Optimus and Prowl were following behind us as I walked down the hall to my room or rather the new med bay.

This morning when I had left my room it looked the same as it had the day Aubrey showed it to much just with less boxes and a little more mess. Now, however, half my room had been converted to a med bay. Someone had taken all the boxes in the corner and stacked them in levels coming to a little under mid thigh level. Books sat on the floor like a staircase and make-shift cots made of more books and blankets sat on top of the boxes. All that took up the left corner by the door. My desk had been cleared and it seemed Ratchet had taken that space as his own with another staircase of books to my desk chair.

The CMO was organizing things on my desk working around the plastic box pushed to the back corner where Megatron and the other bot, who I learned was Soundwave, still lay inanimate.

"Good, you're here." He spoke then looked up from what he was doing. His blue eyes widened, "Frag it all. I knew this was going to happen. Put him on the berth over there."

Ratchet jumped onto the desk chair and then jogged down the books to cross the room. I shook my head, "You knew this was going to happen?"

"Set him on the berth." Ratchet ordered motioning toward one of the cots. I bent over and set Grimlock down on one of the bigger ones. Optimus and Prowl walked up the book staircase to join Ratchet as Jazz jumped from my shoulder onto the boxes as well.

Prowl spoke up first, "How is he?"

"He's close to falling into stasis." Ratchet continued to look Grimlock over. I had never seen a robot checkup before so I was a bit on the lost side. For example, I had no idea what the hell a stasis was but it didn't sound good. "He needs energon, and soon."

"Don't we all." Jazz commented.

Ratchet looked up from Grimlock, "What are your current energon levels?"

"37%."

"29%."

"18%."

All the bots answered their medic. Jazz had the highest level while Optimus had the lowest. I let my eyes travel over them all before speaking, "So, what? The bigger the bot the faster you…fall into stasis?"

"It's a…coma like state in human terms." Ratchet grumbled, "We need energon, Optimus."

There was a thoughtful look on Optimus' face as he pondered their current issue. I took a seat with my legs crossed and my arms resting on the boxes. The bots were taller than me like this. I finally spoke up, "Don't judge me, but what the hell is energon?"

"Our lifeblood, our fuel. We need it to survive just as you need food and water." Ratchet answered as he scanned Grimlock one more time.

Optimus continued, "Is there any sort of that in your world? Even as an unrefined ore?"

"Energon? Here?" I scoffed. "Yeah, lemme just run down the road to our local energon mine."

I was shocked when Ratchet suddenly lashed out and whacked one of the knuckles on my left hand with his wrench. It was more startling than it was painful, but I still pulled my hand away with a small cry of pain and matching glare. He pointed the wrench at me, "Watch it, youngling. That mouth will get you in trouble."

"Not the first time I've heard that." I mumbled. I didn't add that it probably wouldn't be the last. Although, I wasn't expecting Ratchet to call me youngling. That's what they called Taylor, Tyler, and Peter. It meant kid, right? I was not a kid, but I didn't press on the topic. I pulled my hands into my lap, "Maybe we can find a replacement."

"If finding a replacement were that easy, the war with the decepticons would be very different." Prowl shot down my plan.

I shrugged, "But that was like, your forreal bodies."

"Wha'dya mean?" Jazz pressed.

"I just mean, you showed up and you guys became the toy action figures." I tried to explain. It was something I thought about briefly last night while I lay awake in bed. "And the toys weren't actual robo- er, _mechs_. Sorry."

"She has a point." Ratchet backed me up, "Wheeljack and I have been thinking about the fact that perhaps it wasn't us that came to this world, but rather our minds and sparks. It would explain why some, like Optimus and myself, do not look like we usually do. It also accounts for why we can't access our commlinks, or holoforms, or even connect to the human's source of information."

Prowl grew even more rigid, which I didn't think was possible for the stoic bot, and his blue eyes flickered for a moment. All eyes were on him as he slowly began to relax again. Jazz was grinning to himself, "You good, Prowler?"

Prowl gave a curt nod, "So this… _replacement_?"

"Let's see." I shrugged and got up off the ground and left the room. I didn't wait for them as I waltzed out of the room with the intention of heading to the kitchen first. What could they use instead of energon? It was their food, they were machines, machines took gas…

Aubrey probably didn't have a spare tank of gas in her garage, but I could siphon some from out of the lawn mower or the truck. Just enough to test and see if it worked that is. What other options were there? As my mind wandered, my legs carried me into the kitchen. Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, and Ratchet were all following me, but they were a few feet behind. I stepped into the kitchen to see the fridge door already open.

"Hey." I called out.

The door shut quickly to reveal Taylor with her mess of blonde curls and a pout on her lips, "I'm hungry, Aj."

"Still?"

She nodded her head sending the loose curls bouncing around her shoulders. A bright smile quickly grew on her features, "I want chocolate cake!"

"You guys ate all the cake." I replied, "Besides, sugar is the last thing you need right now, kiddo. How about an apple?"

"Mmm", Taylor thought to herself, "Orange?"

I nodded and walked across the room to stand beside her and open the fridge, "I can do that."

The palm sized tangerines were in a drawer to the right below the yogurt. As I grabbed one and began to peel it the bots walked in. Taylor's eyes brightened, "Hi guys!"

"Well 'ey there, darlin'." Jazz grinned. Prowl and Ratchet nodded at her in greeting, but they were already at the lower cabinets digging through them for anything that would work as an energon substitute.

Optimus replied to her, "Are you well, Taylor?"

"Oh, yeah!" She chirped and took the peeled orange I offered her, "Bee and Blue are showing us how to fight!"

My eyes widened, "Bee and Blue are doing _what_ now?"

"Bye! Thanks, Aj!" Taylor waved nonchalantly and skipped out of the room. Should I be concerned? Probably, but one issue at a time. I'd handle the hand to hand combat lessons on a different day.

I clapped my hands and leaned against the counter, "So, any idea what type of thing I should be looking for?"

"No." Ratchet grumbled, "Let me see inside there."

"The fridge?" I clarified and opened the door so Ratchet could peek in. He began to scan things near the bottom. "I'm gonna grab something from the garage that might work."

Jazz jogged the few feet over to walk by me, "Lemme tag along."

"Sure." I shrugged and kept moving.

"So wha' were we talkin' 'bout earlier?" Jazz spoke up. My eyes narrowed in suspicion. I didn't mind Jazz. He seemed like a pretty relaxed bot, but I was starting to notice something about him I hadn't noticed before. My original thought of him was nonchalant. He was the type of guy, well robot mech, that went with the flow. Relaxed in every definition of the word. Yet, every time he popped up and started asking me questions about Aubrey or me I got suspicious. It reminded of when Boss would act all buddy buddy to get what he needed to know.

So I played dumb, "Earlier? Hmm, cant remember. Maybe the weather?"

Jazz's lips twitched up in the corner, "Maybe. 'Cept, the weather aint all too special up in ya office."

"If you'd like I can pump up the A/C in there. Make it _really_ feel like Christmas."

" _Christmas_?" Jazz questioned.

We passed the laundry room and I reached for the garage door knob, "Do alien robots celebrate Christmas?"

"I'm gonna have to say nah." I pulled the door open and let Jazz enter first. The garage was cold, but not cold enough to effect either of us. The truck was parked out in the driveway rather than in here. The wall to the left had a shelf with shoes while the other side had bikes, and outdoor toys, and the typical junk one would find in a garage. My eyes immediately focused on the lawnmower up ahead, but not because I needed gas from it.

Lying in front of the lawnmower was the seeker trine that made my life difficult. Starscream and Skywarp were motionless with dim, nearly dark, eyes while Thundercracker's creepy red eyes still had some life in them.

"Well, this explains why y'all haven't bothered me in the past hour." I crossed the garage over to them. "Are you guys ok? Guess that's a dumb question but…"

"We need energon." Thundercracker replied in a broken voice.

My eyes darted to Skywarp who had black smears along his chest. I already knew the answer, but I asked anyways, "What is that?"

"We tried to find a replacement."

I sighed, "And you had the same idea that I had."

So gasoline was off the list of possibilities. I reached forward and scooped up all three of the seekers. Thundercracker stared at me with a curious, untrusting gaze. I gave him a curt, small smile in response. Jazz followed me out of the garage and back into the kitchen with the now still seekers.

Optimus took notice of us first, "The seekers?"

"Same as Grimlock." I commented. When I glanced down I realized Thundercracker was now in the same state as the other two.

Ratchet paused from what he was scanning and motioned out of the room with his head, "Take them to my med bay."

" _Your_ med bay?" I repeated and began to move toward the arch, "You mean _my_ room?"

Ratchet grunted in response and paid me no more attention. He was a bossy bot, that much I had managed to learn. The moment I stepped into the foyer, Tyler and Bluestreak did as well with the mech sitting on the boy's shoulder.

"What happened to them?!" Tyler cried in surprise.

"Did you do that?" Bluestreak asked, "I mean, I understand if you did. Especially if they were causing trouble. Were they? Does Optimus know? We're supposed to protect you four from them and-"

I shook my head and interrupted his rant, "I didn't do this. They're running low on energon is all."

"Are you running low?" Tyler turned his head slightly toward him.

Bluestreak shrugged, "Not too low. I still have 42%. That's not too bad compared to the others. The twins are at like 10% already."

Tyler turned back to me, "How can we help?"

"You can take these three to my room." I replied and he came forward to accept the seekers into his own arms.

"Your room?"

I rolled my eyes, "The med bay. Grimlock is up there right now."

Tyler gave a brief nod before rushing up the stairs with Bluestreak holding on tight. Before I could turn around and head back into the kitchen Taylor walked out of the living room with Bumblebee walking beside her.

"Hey, have you seen Peter?" I asked.

"Pete is with Wheeljack in his room." She replied and walked over, "What's going on?"

The three of us took the few steps necessary to enter the kitchen. Ratchet had managed to pull some stuff out of the fridge in the few seconds I was gone. A six pack of Pepsi lay on the floor along with a few bruised apples. Jazz was actually inside the fridge rooting through one of the lower levels as Optimus and Prowl continued to dig through the lower cabinets.

"We're looking for something the bots could use as energon. They need it." I replied then glanced over at Bumblebee, "How you doing on energon?"

He looked startled that I spoke to him directly, "Oh, I'm ok for now. I'm still at 40%."

"Good."

Taylor giggled, "They can use mama's energon. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

All movement in the kitchen stopped as everyone cut their gaze to the small girl who didn't seem to mind being the current center of attention. Taylor, in all her innocence, just stared back with a offhand smile.

"Tay", I said slowly and knelt down in front of her, "What are you talking about?"

She pointed to the top cabinet to the left of the fridge, "Mama's energon! It's at the top!"

"What is she talking about?" Ratchet repeated the question to me. I gave him a shrug before rising to my feet and moving over to where Taylor was still pointing. The bottom two shelves were lined with medicine and first aid type materials. That would've been nice yesterday. The top shelf, however, had a large red can with a black lid.

Taylor sat down on the ground and let Bumblebee sit in her lap, "She drinks it every morning, but she says we can't have it till we're older."

I let out a small laugh as I pulled down the can of ground up coffee beans. Jazz hopped out of the fridge, "What is it?"

"Coffee." I answered and opened the can to peek in. There was only about a quarter left of it.

Ratchet stepped forward, "Lower it so I can scan it."

I did as he asked, or rather as he demanded, and waited for the results. His face twisted in hesitance as he mulled over his own thoughts.

"Ratchet, will it work?" Optimus asked. He closed the cabinet him and Prowl had been in.

"Perhaps." He sighed, "We need to try it, but the outcome could be dangerous considering we don't know what it will do."

"Skywarp tried gasoline and he's not dead." I offered. Although, he could have been. I wouldn't be able to tell a coma induced bot from a dead bot. "Lemme make a cup."

Taylor was humming a song to herself as she leaned back on her hands. The coffee machine was on the other side of the sink already plugged in and ready to go. I was never a big coffee drinker. The only time I ever really drank it was when I needed to stay awake and was on the verge of totally crashing.

"If this does work, Aj, are we allowed to use it?" Optimus questioned as I began to make a pot. My eyes widened slightly at his question. His manners kind of surprised me, but at the same time I liked the fact that the leader of the bots didn't automatically assume he could use and take whatever he wanted. The manners weren't necessarily required, but still it was appreciated.

I nodded, "Of course you can. Though, I'll need to go out and buy some more. If it even works."

"Can Tyler and I have some?"

I paused in thought, "Hmm, I'll let you guys taste a little. Ok?"

Taylor nodded in excitement. Tyler walked in a few seconds later with Bluestreak and his twin began to tell him all about the energon. Jazz caught Bluestreak up to speed as I started the coffee machine.

"It should take a couple minutes." I explained to the bots surrounding my feet. There was a comfortable air around the group standing in the kitchen, but that was shattered at the sound of faint gunfire and Peter calling my name.

I didn't pause to wait for the autobots to act. I ordered the twins to stay in the kitchen before racing out of the room. I sprinted up the stairs, two at a time, and found myself in Peter's room where a battle had broken out between Barricade and the twins.

Peter sat on his bed with Wheeljack standing in front of him with his own weapon out. He called out to me again, "Aj! Barricade started it!"

"Shocker." I mumbled to myself before physically trying to separate the fighting bots. The twins had these blades out as Barricade was trying to shoot them. There was a hoodie lying on the floor, probably dirty, by the edge of Peter's bed. I grabbed it and threw it over the twins trapping them under the thicker cloth before picking up the police car with my hands.

Barricade seemed to never want to speak with me. Instead, he would just hiss at me in their own language. I figured it was safe to assume that it wasn't anything particularly nice.

"Why is it _always_ you?" I demanded while holding him by his leg so he hung upside down.

Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz burst into the room. They were starting to get good at getting up the stairs quick. I motioned toward the hoodie, "Condiment twins are under the red hoodie."

Prowl and Jazz ran over to pull the hoodie off the struggling autobots. Barricade took advantage of me being distracted and swung at my face with his hands. Something sharp cut the bridge of my nose making me cry out in pain and drop him in surprise. Barricade landed on his back, but before he could get back up Optimus stood over him with a cannon pointed at his face.

"Stay down, Barricade." He threated. Barricade growled in response but didn't move.

"Are you alright?" Wheeljack asked.

Peter's eyes widened as he hopped off the bed, "Aj, you're _bleeding_."

I touched the bridge of my nose with my hand. When I pulled back there was bright red blood on my fingers. I could even begin to feel the warm liquid drip down my nose onto my cheek. It only burned a little though. Considering I've had my nose broken before by a fight gone wrong, this small cut was nothing.

"I'm fine. You Ok, bud?"

Peter nodded, "Wheeljack and I were taking apart my alarm clock when Barricade came in and started ruining everything. Sides and Sunny ran in and tackled him."

"Don't call me that, squishy." Sunstreaker barked. I glanced over to see the hoodie had been successfully pulled off the two.

I shook my head at him, "Can it, sunshine."

If looks could kill, I'd be dead on the floor from the glare that got me. Though, his burning blue eyes were beginning to dim, but not as fast as Sideswipe's eyes were going. The red bot opened his mouth to speak only to collapse instead. Sunstreaker caught his twin at last minute, but his own strength was beginning to fail him.

I walked over and picked up the twins. Sunstreaker struggled against my hold, "Don't touch me you fragging-"

"Can you just pass out already?" I breathed. Sunstreaker couldn't hold on much longer and his eyes dimmed out as well. I crossed the room again to hand the twins over to Peter who took them, "Take them to the med bay."

Peter's eyes brightened behind his glasses, "Did you see it already? Prowl and I helped Ratchet put it together before dinner!"

There were quite a few downsides I could say about this entire situation, but seeing Peter really come to life wasn't one of them. I had the kid pegged as a debby downer, but hanging out with the autobots had brought out a side of him I hadn't seen before. A small smile graced my lips as I nodded, "Yeah. I saw it. Impressive, I gotta say."

Peter returned the smile before walking out with the twins. I turned my attention back to Optimus who was listening to Barricade speak in their language. Jazz stepped forward when he saw my look of confusion, "He says he doesn't like ya."

"The feeling is mutual." I replied and knelt down, "May I?"

Optimus looked at me in shock and took a step back. I grabbed Barricade with both hands holding his arms down to his side. He still struggled against me, but I kept moving. I went around the back way of the stairs to enter the hallway where the laundry room was. Barricade must have recognized the surroundings because he struggled more.

I threw him into the dryer and slammed the door shut. A smug smile lit my face, "Now what, you little cretin? And guess what, I did laundry this morning which means I can leave you in here for a lot longer than last time."

Barricade was banging on the glass, but I just turned out of the room and left. I walked into the kitchen to see the coffee maker had finished about a minute ago. Bumblebee noticed me first, "You're bleeding! Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, it's all good. Just a scratch. " I replied and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, "You got two new patients though, Ratch."

"Let me guess." He said dryly. "Sideswipe and Sunstreaker."

"Good guess." I poured some of the hot liquid into the mug. "How'd you know?"

Ratchet scoffed, "It's always them."

I grabbed a spoon and sat down on the floor by where Ratchet was standing. Taylor and Tyler were seated on the ground as well and both of them already had an empty mug in their hands as they waited patiently for me.

"It's mega hot right now." I commented. Optimus, Prowl, Jazz, Wheeljack, and Peter came into the kitchen a few minutes later.

Prowl walked over to me, "What did you do with Barricade?"

"I tossed him into the dryer." I shrugged and continued to blow the cup of coffee while stirring it slowly.

Ratchet turned to look at Optimus, "What is your energon level now, Optimus?"

"9%."

I glanced from bot to bot, "So how much should you guys try?"

"Not too much." Ratchet replied quickly. I got a little onto the small spoon in my hand and held it up slightly so he could see. He nodded in approval, "That should do."

Optimus stepped forward, "I will try it first."

"What type of glitch spawned idea is that?" Ratchet snapped. It wasn't the type of tone you'd except a medic to use when talking to his commander. Nobody but me seemed surprised though so I kept my mouth shut.

Prowl nodded, "I agree with Ratchet. If this coffee turns out to be detrimental to our health and puts you in danger, we will be in even more trouble than we are now."

Optimus looked like he was going to argue, but Jazz stepped forward with a shrug, "Relax, mechs. I got this."

"Are you sure, Jazz?" Optimus said with a tight frown.

"Positive, OP." Jazz gave the leader a thumbs up and walked over to me. He grinned at me and motioned toward himself with his hands, "Bring it on."

I brought the spoon toward his face and stopped allowing him to pull it toward him the rest of the way. Jazz didn't mess around. He drank all of the coffee I had in the spoon. All eyes were on him waiting to see what would happen. Panic filled everyone in the room as Jazz stiffened and shook his head.

" _Jazz_!" Bluestreak cried.

Jazz made a sound akin to coughing and waved off the worry, "I'm fine. I'm fine. _Slag_ , I wasn' expectin' that rush."

Ratchet was scanning him, but Prowl was the first to question him, "What is your energon level?"

"Ya guys aint gonna believe this. Ah jumped from 35% to 65%." Jazz chuckled and shook his head again, "Slag, that feels weird."

I chuckled and stood up, "That's caffeine."

"Everything on the scans look alright." Ratchet commented. I left mug on the ground with the spoon for Ratchet and grabbed the pot. The twins jumped up in excitement and held out their cups.

"Thanks, Aj!" Tyler cheered as I poured a little in his cup then Taylor's. They looked at each other with wide smiles before carefully tasting the hot drink. Their cheerful faces twisted in disgust the moment the liquid touched their tongues and I couldn't help but laugh.

Taylor set the mug on the island counter, "It tastes so bad!"

"Coffee is bitter not sweet." I replied and put the pot back where it had been. As Ratchet scanned the coffee and Jazz one last time I looked around the kitchen for something they could use as a smaller cup. The smallest thing I could find was a couple plastic cups used for liquid kids medicine. "So, Ratchet, problem solved?"

His lips actually twitched up in slight amusement, "For now, I suppose."

For now. I couldn't imagine a better way to describe the solution. As Ratchet moved around the kitchen supplying the bots in here with the amount of coffee they would apparently need I wet a paper towel to wipe away the dry blood from my face. Wounds on the face always bled more than others and that annoyed the crap out of me.

I'd grab a band aid from my own supply upstairs. Knowing Ratchet he'd be commanding me up there any minute with the pot of coffee anyways.

"Aj." Ratchet called out. Did I say minutes? I meant seconds.

"Yeah?"

He handed me the small plastic cups. There were three in total, "Help me bring these upstairs."

"You got it, doctbot." I nodded and grabbed the pot. I glanced over at Tyler and Taylor, "Can you guys put those three mugs into the sink. Be careful just in case it's still hot."

They agreed and I made my way upstairs with Ratchet and Optimus following a few feet behind speaking to each other. By time I reached my room I noticed Peter had decided to follow as well. He passed the two bots and caught up with me walking in right behind me.

"Your nose really doesn't hurt?"

I chuckled and set the coffee pot on my desk, "Not even a little. I got a high pain tolerance."

"That means things don't hurt as much right?"

"Basically." The bots came in next. Ratchet quickly examined the bots not moving. "Hey, Peter, can you hand me that little white box on my bedside?"

He nodded and grabbed it. The curious kid opened the box as he walked it back over to me and when he noticed what the box held he began to dig out a band aid. Ratchet called out, "Bring that here, Peter."

"Wait a minute-" I said, but apparently Peter saw no issue with doing as Ratchet said.

"Good. Now, can you pour the liquid into the small cups? Fill them only three quarters of the way." Ratchet said.

I pushed off the desk and went over to Ratchet, "Hang on now, it's still hot I don't want him to-"

"I can do it, Aj." Peter said and went over to the desk to do as Ratchet had asked. I noticed that. Ratchet asked Peter to do stuff whereas for me it was mostly commands from the red and white robot.

"Sit down here now." Ratchet said in my direction. Proof if there ever was any.

"Why?" I questioned but sat down in the same spot I had been in when I brought Grimlock in. Ratchet walked up to my face and I realized he planned on dressing my wound. I reached up to take away the band aid. "I can do this."

"Quiet." Ratchet slapped the top of my hand. I pulled it back with a frown. The robot dug through the white box and pulled out the Neosporin. "This is the medicine you used yesterday, correct?"

I nodded, "Yeah, but you don't have to do this. I'm perfectly capable of-"

"Primus, be quiet." Ratchet groaned and walked up to my face. My eyes were about level with his head so I slouched some so he didn't have to lift his arms to treat the wound. I remained quiet as he applied the medicine and then stuck the band aid on after struggling with the sticky side for a few moments. "There."

"What? No kiss?" I joked.

Ratchet scoffed, "Get up and help me get coffee into these mechs."

A small smile slipped onto my face as I stood. I didn't know what I was even smiling at. Was it the ridiculousness of it all? It had been years since I had anyone tend to any type of wound I had. Even the bigger stuff I handled myself. Yet here I was being taken care of by an 11 inch robot with a grumpy demeanor. Life worked in freaking weird ways.


	5. Truce

* * *

_"Love your enemies. It makes them so damned mad." -P.D. East_

* * *

 

_"We're sorry. The person you are trying to reach does not have a voice mail box set up-"_

I pressed the end call button on the cordless home phone only to immediately hit redial. Again. The phone was at my ear again as I frustratingly listened to the shrill sound of ringing. Call number six bring me luck.

"You guys ready yet? We're gonna be late!" I yelled up the staircase only to receive no reply.

_"We're sorry. The person you are trying to reach-"_

I released a loud groan and smashed my finger against the end call button. Aubrey hadn't called last night either and my worry had hit a new high. Was she alright? Did something go south with her treatment? Honestly, I was gonna have a panic attack. I was less stressed when the freaking robots came to life in the kitchen.

"Is everything alright?" Wheeljack questioned as he strolled out of the kitchen alone. In his arms he held a collection of small black screws.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "I'm fine, but where did you get those screws?"

"Kitchen." He chirped in a friendly tone making the sides of his face light up bright. Wheeljack continued through the foyer and into the living room as if I was going to be pleased with his simple answer.

I moved to follow him and press for more information when Taylor's voice stopped me in my tracks, "I can't find my book bag!"

One emergency at a time. I'd have to deal with Wheeljack later. Hopefully wherever he got the screws from wasn't too important. I jogged up the stairs, phone still in hand, and froze when I got to the top. Tyler had his back pack pulled open and was ushering Bluestreak in.

" _No_!" I blurted and stormed over, "No, no, no. _No autobots at school_!"

"Aw, but Aj!"

"Don't Aj me. Blue get back to base." I said and motioned toward the office.

The bot gave Tyler and me a sheepish smile and shrug, "Don't worry. I'll be here when you get back from the school thing. I kinda wanted to see it too, but Prowl and Optimus probably wouldn't have liked me going either."

"Aj!" Taylor called again.

"Check under your bed and _do_ _not_ smuggle Bumblebee into your bag once you find it!" I yelled back and then turned to head to my own room. She either didn't reply to me or I didn't hear her. I quickly pushed open my cracked door and stepped in. Ratchet wasn't in the room, but unsurprisingly Grimlock was.

Grimlock stomped his feet and turned his gaze up to me, "Grimlock look for you human."

I tossed the cordless phone onto my bed and began the search for my cellphone. It was in here somewhere. Hopefully it didn't take me too long to find.

"Grimlock go with you human."

I paused in my fruitless search to focus on the T-Rex by my feet. All the bots had woken up after the coffee was given to them and they went their own ways throughout the house. All but Grimlock that is. For some reason, he decided to stick to me like glue.

I shook my head, "No, Grimlock, you don't go with me, human."

Ratchet walked into the room behind me like he owned the place which I was pretty sure he thought he did now.

"Have you seen my cellphone?" I turned and asked the medical bot. "It's small, black and gray, probably has like a million missed calls?"

Ratchet marched across the room and climbed up the makeshift stairs to get onto my desk, "I have not. Now, how long will you be gone?"

"Like 15 minutes top."

"That's like 2 breems." Peter's voice spoke up.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Peter standing in the doorway. He was ready for school with his hands holding the straps of his backpack proudly, "You scared the crap outta me, kid."

"Sorry." He shrugged and was obviously not too apologetic. "I saw your phone in the top shelf of the desk drawer yesterday."

I shot him a thumbs up and moved to grab it, "Good. Go start the car, take your siblings with you. I'll be down in a minute or two."

"Bye, Ratchet. Bye, Grimlock." Peter waved and then strolled away.

My attention was now firmly focused on the hidden cellphone. It had apparently gotten tossed in the drawer at some point. Probably during the reconstruction of turning my room in a medbay. I should just be happy that Wheeljack and Peter didn't dissect it for parts. I grabbed it and flipped it open. Twenty missed calls, 12 unread messages and like 60% of it all was from Boss. Now I remembered why I hadn't been too eager to look for my phone before now. Avoidance was kind of my middle name.

The last thing I wanted to deal with while down here was a pissy Boss. Once I got back to New York in two months I'd explain everything to him, minus the walking talking toys of course, and the problem would be solved. Mostly.

Still, my eyes focused on the missed calls with dread. You thought missed calls from your mom were scary? This was a whole new level of panic.

"Are you alright?"

I cut my eyes to Ratchet who was staring at me with a calculating gaze. Without missing a beat, I forced a grin and began to type in Aubrey's number, "I'm peachy, Ratch. See you later."

"Grimlock wants to go!"

"Nope." I replied bringing the phone to my ear and moved to the door.

"Hey, Hatchet. We need to talk to you." Sideswipe's cheery voice chirped as him and his twin strolled into the room. I stepped over the two of them.

"Do not call me that." Ratchet snapped. It was the last thing I heard from the room as I sped down the hall then down the stairs. This place was a mad house sometimes. Well, most of the time actually.

The ringing stopped, " _We're sorry_ -"

End call. Redial.

As I pulled open the front door I spotted Jazz and Optimus coming out of the living room side by side. I leaned back into the house and pointed at them, " _Optimus Prime_!" His eyes darted to me in alarm and I continued, "I'm gonna be gone for like 2…beers? Berks? … _Bushes_?"

"Breems?" Jazz offered with a cheeky grin.

I snapped my fingers, "Yupp. That's the one. Please make sure nothing is set on fire."

Optimus nodded his head at me with an amused look. At least it looked sort of amused, it was hard to tell with his lower face being covered. "Of course, Aj."

"Awesome."

The kids were waiting for me patiently in the car, but I could see little pouts on the twins' faces. They couldn't honestly have thought bringing the bots to school was a good idea. Peter was in the front, but he was turned around in his seat talking to the twins. As I got closer I watched as the frowns dropped of the twins' faces only to be replaced by excited grins. I got to the driver's side and pulled the door open.

"We'll do it!" Taylor bounced in her seat.

"Do what?" I asked while reversing the truck out of the driveway.

Tyler snickered to himself, "Nothing."

Yeah, like I believed that. Still, I let them have their little secret. I was preoccupied with trying to get my sick sister on the line. We were halfway to school when I snapped my phone shut and stuffed it into the cup holder with a disgruntled sigh. If she didn't pick up the first 18 times then maybe she was busy.

"Are you trying to call our mom?" Peter questioned.

I stiffened in my seat and watched as the twins stopped what they were doing in the backseat. Taylor shook her head with wide eyes, "Aj! Mama didn't call last night or the night before!"

They had just realized they hadn't gotten to talk to their mom in the past two days. Based on the look Peter wore, I could tell he had realized it from the beginning. I couldn't really blame them though. When your toys magically come to life you tend to forget about anything else.

"She's busy." I said quickly, "With work and stuff, she'll call tonight."

"Really?" Tyler asked in an almost timid voice.

I locked gazes with them in the rear view mirror and gave him a small smile, "Really."

Good God I hoped I wasn't lying.

Five minutes later and I was watching the kids run across the school field toward the front doors. I didn't leave until I saw all three kids enter the school building. So I was a bit on the paranoid side. Sue me.

I threw the car into drive and began the trip home. The speed limit was 25 in the school zone, but I stayed at a steady 20. It wasn't that I didn't want to go home, but this was the only quiet time I've had in the past two days if you don't count sleeping. Suddenly, my cell phone began to ring and I nearly swerved off the road to grab it.

"Hello?"

"Hi A-"

I let out a sigh of relief, " _Damn you, Aubrey_. I haven't heard from you in the past two days! Do you know how worried I was? Is everything ok?"

"Everything is fine." I let out another sigh. No matter how mad I was about the past I couldn't stop being me. Maybe that was why I blocked all contact with her. I knew that if I didn't then I'd still be the baby sister playing older sister. I could hear a smile in her voice and I'd call it smug except I knew that Aubrey didn't have a smug bone in her body, "Some things came up and I didn't want to call at a bad time."

"I don't care if it's midnight." I turned the car into the neighborhood, "You call and check in with me or- or send me a text! Just let me know that nothing went wrong."

"Typical worrywart, Aimee." She laughed to herself.

"It's Aj." I corrected out of habit, "So…everything is ok?"

"I already told you. Everything is fine. How are the kids? Did they ask why I didn't call?"

"Yeah, but I handled it. You better call tonight though to talk to them. I'll be pissed if you make me out to be a liar."

"I will. I miss them so much." She sighed, "They're at school right now, right?"

"School? You mean, you wanted them to keep going there while I was here?"

"Aimee."

"Aj. Now relax." I pulled the car into the driveway and threw it into park, "I'm kidding. Of course they're at school."

I reached across the cab of the truck to open the glove compartment and pull out the garage door opener. My eyes widened when I picked it up and realized it had no backside or any internal wiring. Even the battery was gone.

"Damn it."

"What?"

"The garage door opener." I said. It was probably one of the poor things dismantled by Peter and Wheeljack yesterday. "It's um- The battery is dead."

Aubrey's tone was surprised, "Already? I just changed it."

I hopped out of the truck and started toward the front door, "Shame."

"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Aubrey began. I lifted the welcome mat and grabbed the spare key to open the door. "Christmas is next week and I'm sure the kids have been bugging you to death about putting the tree up."

" _Tree_?" I paused in surprise. I had totally forgotten about the holiday. I most definitely forgot that I had to actually decorate stuff this year. The closest I came to Christmas decorations the past couple years was the hoard of candy canes I had in my kitchen to devour. Candy canes were addicting.

Aubrey was still speaking, "I usually put it up with them early on, but this year things just got…pushed back. All the stuff is in the attic for when you're ready."

"You guys have an attic?"

"Of course, the ladder for it is in my room."

That explains why I haven't seen it. I hadn't even considered stepping into that room.

"Right." I nodded even though I knew she couldn't see me then I stuck the key in and pushed the door open. Quickly, I tucked the key into my jacket pocket and stepped in only to stop in surprise.

In the middle of the foyer was one of Taylor's Barbie dolls. What really caught my attention about it though wasn't Barbie's rocking hair, but rather it was the fact that her lower half was melted onto the hardwood floor.

"Aimee? Aimee?"

"I gotta go. Call tonight."

" _Wait_ -"

I hung up the phone and stuck it into my jean's back pocket. Then I just stood there for a few minutes. I was going to have to scrape Barbie off the floor. Damn, that was going to be hard. The sound of yelling upstairs ripped me from my thoughts. I sprinted up the stairs and gasped at the bullet holes and scorch marks. The largest scar was a legitimate hole in the wall between Peter's room and the office. I bit back a cry of distress and marched to the office where I could hear the voices.

I basically kicked open the office door making it swing back into the wall with a crash. Everything froze when I showed up on the scene. All of the autobots stood in the middle of the room a few feet in front of me while Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Barricade stood off to my left. The three decepticons had their weapons aimed at the autobots while staring at me in disbelief. Bluestreak, Bumblebee, and the twins had their weapons aimed at the three decepticons while all the other autobots had their weapons aimed in my direction just a whole lot lower to the ground. All stared at me in shock except Grimlock who stood behind the autobots with a menacing glare.

" _What_?! W _hat is this_!?" I breathed, "I'm gone for _2 bushes_ and you guys are _fighting_!?"

There was movement behind the door I had slung open. I sidestepped and pulled it toward me to see who the hell was behind the thing. Starscream was lying on the ground in a daze, one of his wings was a little worse for wear. However, most of my attention was drawn to the bot beginning to stand up. Megatron.

"What the hell?" I cried again and looked back to the autobots for an explanation.

"Um Aj…?" Bumblebee began hesitantly.

Jazz finished his thought, "Maybe ya wanna pull back toward us, hmm?"

I snapped my gaze back to Megatron who was seething in anger, "You _insolent_ human bug. You dare try to end me and my reign?"

"Wait, _what_?" I replied dumbly.

"I will _destroy_ you." He barked, "I will _end_ your pathetic life. No autobot can protect you from _my_ wrath!"

There was a tense pause of silence before I began to laugh. Apparently nobody had expected that reaction. To be honest, I didn't even expect that reaction from myself. This was the point where I really started to question my sanity. I couldn't help it though. My life was being threatened by a foot tall, dark gray metal beast who didn't even have both his legs.

"You foolish-"

"No offense, Megatron." I put my hands on my hips as the laughter died down, "But I'm not super scared at the moment. What I am is pissed. I'm gone for  _2 beeks_ -"

" _Breems_."

"- _2 breems_ ", I corrected myself smoothly, "and when I come back the fragile peace we've created has been broken by you and your _nasty_ attitude. Now, listen up. This is a _neutral_ zone. No fighting allowed, got it?"

Megatron seemed taken aback by my words. His surprise quickly turned back into anger, "You dare speak to me in that manner? Your insolence will be the death of-"

"And _stop_ threatening me." I sighed, "You're a foot tall. Trust me when I say I've been up against worse enemies."

Starscream picked up his head, still seeing stars, and lifted his arm toward me, "This, my lord, is Aj. The human I spoke of."

" _My lord_?" I scoffed, "What happened to Lord Starscream supreme ruler of the decepticons?"

Megatron tilted his head slightly to glare at the now panicking jet. The seeker forced himself to sit up, "I would _never_! Lord Megatron is _unreplaceable_! A _magnificent_ leader! A-"

"What a kiss ass." I mumbled under my breath and glanced back at the other bots. Everyone still looked like they were in one piece for the most part. "Any injuries?"

"None." Ratchet replied, " _Yet_."

"Human pet left without Grimlock!" The dinobot roared.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Did he just call me his human _pet_?"

"Congratulations." Sideswipe replied with a grin, "You just got adopted by Grimlock."

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at Grimlock, "Did you melt the Barbie downstairs?"

Grimlock lowered his head and glared at me in defiance, "No, Grimlock didn't."

"I think Grimlock did." I replied, "I think Grimlock roasted Taylor's favorite Barbie and now Grimlock is gonna have to explain that to her when she gets home."

The dinosaur grumbled under his breath in annoyance. Optimus made a sound akin to someone clearing their throat, "Perhaps we can handle the more pressing matters?"

"Oh." I turned back around to Megatron, "So, peace? For now?"

A menacing grin spread across his harsh features and I could actually feel my skin crawl at the sight. He nodded, "I can agree under one condition."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "Yeah, ok, what?"

"Destroy the autobots." He ordered firmly, "Crush them beneath your heel and I will not conquer your home."

I shot a glance over my shoulder at the autobots and was surprised at the fact that they tensed under my gaze. They didn't think I was actually gonna stomp on them, did they? Sunstreaker's weapon actually shifted toward me ready to fight. Geez, and I thought I had trust issues.

"Will you take my generous offer or will I have to dismantle your residence?" Megatron question.

This time I didn't resist the urge to roll my eyes. A sigh slipped from my lips as I bent down and grabbed Megatron. He apparently wasn't expecting my quick movements so I was able to get a hold of him. It was a challenge to hang onto the robot, but I managed.

I sped walked down the hall to my room and spotted the prison he had broken out of lying in the middle of the floor. Megatron thrashed in my hands and cursed at me in his own language as I used my foot to flip over the clear box. Soundwave, the other toy, wasn't awake and now was lying on my floor face down. I quickly grabbed the box, threw Megatron in, and slammed the lid back on top.

Immediately, he began to claw and shoot at the plastic walls. If I continued to let him he'd probably be able to break the thin plastic walls and get out. The other bots raced into the room just as I began to shake the box making lord Megatron, in all his glory, bounce around like a tennis ball. I stopped and asked, "You gonna play nice now?"

" _Release me you vile fleshbag_!"

More shaking. Megatron bounced against the walls pathetically. The sight of it almost made me laugh. Almost. The thought of the bullet holes lining the hallway sobered me.

"You're shaking Megatron, killer of thousands, leader of the decepticons, in a box." Bumblebee breathed in disbelief.

"Pretty much." I replied and stopped, "Feeling peaceful, Megsy?"

"Decepticons! _Attack_! Free me!" He roared. His call was basically useless considering the only decepticon in the room was Barricade. Skywarp and Thundercracker must have stayed behind with the injured Starscream. Despite the odds being stacked against him, Barricade charged forward to attack my ankles. Wheeljack and Jazz both pounced on him stopping his futile attack.

I gave the box one last hard shake, "I can do this all day, you know?"

"I will destroy you and your home you-"

I let out a cry of frustration and slammed the box onto the desk making him bounce around one last time. My hand remained on the lid so he didn't just push it open, "Why do you insist on fighting?!"

"I-"

" _No_! Don't answer that. Just listen. All of you, listen." I glanced at everyone in the room. The seekers managed to drag Starscream in just in time to hear my rant, "There is no point in fighting here. None. No battle won here will make a difference back in your world. So- So, consider this a _vacation_. No fights, no injuries, _no death_. Just a peaceful coexistence between Autobots, Decepticons, and humans. Get it?"

Megatron was silent in the box. I lifted it slightly so I could look him in his creepy red eyes. Another beat of silence before a small smile crossed his lips. It wasn't as menacing as the last, but there was something behind it that I didn't like. This bot wasn't like Barricade who raced around shooting things I told him not to shoot just to screw with me. This one was smart. He was cunning dare I say it. I could basically see the wheels turning in his mind.

"The decepticons will accept the offer of peace." He said in a carefully calm tone. I hesitantly set the box down by my feet and popped the top off. He stood and climbed out, which was a struggle considering his missing leg. I could hear the twins and one of the jets, Skywarp I would guess, snickering at the sight.

He finally got out then offered a hand to Optimus. I watched him carefully just in case he decided to attack or something, and I wasn't the only one who was doing so.

"A truce, Megatron." Optimus reached out and took the hand to shake.

"For now", Megatron replied then dropped his hand. Prowl and Ratchet stood on either side of Prime ready to act, "On one condition."

I groaned, "I swear if you ask me to stomp the autobots again-"

"I just require my leg." Megatron growled.

Optimus nodded, "That can be arranged. Aj?"

All eyes turned to look at me and I'm pretty sure I looked like a deer caught in the headlights. It was silent for another couple beats before Optimus questioned, "Where is his leg?"

"I, um." I stopped. What the hell had I done with the damn thing? Think, Aj. Think. I swallowed the lump in my throat, "That…is a reasonable question. I will…go and…get it."

I darted out of the room, not waiting for anybody. The last time I had it was Saturday when I was showing it off as a threat. Wait, no. I had it on Sunday. My eyes widened as it hit me. Taylor had asked to see it Sunday afternoon and she never gave it back. In the mess of everything that happened Sunday night, I had forgotten to go looking for it.

The twins' room was a mess. Partly from them playing and partly from the robots waging a war in here. More bullet holes along the doorframe that I tried to ignore. Maybe if I pretended they weren't there they'd go away. Avoidance, remember?

Now, if I was a decepticon's severed leg where would I be? The answer ended up being under Taylor's bed and the damn thing didn't exactly look to be in the same shape it had been in when I gave it to her. Damn everything.

I peeked my head out of the twins' room just as all the bots got to the mouth of the stairs. Megatron was hopping down the hall on his own accord, but Starscream hovered around him. If Megatron actually fell over I wondered if Starscream would help him up or stand on his chest and declare himself lord again.

"So, I found the leg." I said bluntly.

Ratchet, straight to business, replied, "What condition is it in? Give it to me."

"Condition? It's…It's in good condition." I shrugged and stepped out of the room, "It's just a little…pinker…and shinier."

"What?" Megatron demanded in a dead tone.

I pulled the leg out from behind me and knelt down to hold it in front of them. The twins were in the back of the group basically rolling on the floor in laughter. Jazz and Skywarp weren't much better.

Taylor had sloppily painted the thing pink, drowned it in glitter, and then stuck stickers along it. Megatron let out a cry of outrage as he glared at me.

"It should wash right off." I assured him. His glare didn't lessen. I glanced back down at the leg and turned it to show him one specific sticker that read ' _SMILE_ ' with a big happy face. I grinned, "It's good advice. You should take it to heart."

He wasn't amused.


	6. Roach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this has a few small errors. I read through the entire thing and fixed what I needed to fix, but then I lost internet and it all disappeared so forget it lol. The errors were tiny things anyways. Thanks for understanding.

* * *

_"A man in Hawaii who came face to face with a shark whilst surfing, survived by punching the shark in the face. Meanwhile, I saw a cockroach in my bathroom, and now I shower at the gym." –Seth Meyers_

* * *

 

He was still grumbling. Two hours has passed, only thirty minutes of which he had to sit in the med bay being fixed by Ratchet, yet the cranky decepticon leader was still grumbling about it to me.

"You lied." He hissed from his spot on the floor in front of the fridge. Megatron's arms were crossed across his chest and his glowing red eyes on his trapezoid shaped head narrowed at me.

I shut the cupboard door in front of me a little harder than need be, "That is not constructive criticism, Megatron."

"You said this atrocious color would be gone!"

"It is!" I yelled back in argument. "It's just the glitter I'm having a hard time removing, ok?"

Megatron sneered up at me. Like I had said, the paint and the stickers came off with no problems whatsoever. The problem arose when I realized that no matter how many times I ran the damn leg under water and scrubbed it with soap some glitter remained. The pink sparkles had gotten stuck in his knee joint and in the tight seams all along his leg. Now, in the right light, his leg glittered a fancy pink. I had spent a good ten minutes trying to get rid of it, but nothing worked. Even Ratchet gave it a try, but to be honest I really don't think he tried very hard.

I rolled my eyes and focused my attention back on the grocery list in front of me. I added 'glitter remover?' under milk. After I picked up the kids from school I needed to make a run for food, but I wasn't exactly comfortable leaving all the bots home alone. Especially now that sir sparkles was awake. Could I get someone to deliver groceries to me? You could hire people to do that right? Although, having someone come to the house seemed just as bad of an idea. At this rate the kids and I would starve.

I shoved the list into my jean pocket and then moved to make myself a late breakfast. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the condiment twins standing under the archway between the foyer and kitchen watching me. It had been like that since Megatron could walk on his own. Prowl had been the original Aj stalker. He followed me at a distance for about an hour until the twins came to relieve him of duty. They had stayed since.

"I demand you to clean it." Megatron growled again as I pulled open the freezer.

I tilted my head back and let out a groan of annoyance, "Starscream! Come clean your beloved leader!"

Megatron said something in his own language, but I ignored him and used my foot to push him further away from the fridge which only made him angrier. Not that I cared though. There was a pepperoni hot pocket in the freezer with my name on it, and Megsy wasn't about to ruin my meal.

The twins started cursing so I glanced over just in time to see Starscream fly into the room, transform mid-air, land, and then smoothly slide to a stop. Tens all around, Starscream. It was a great landing especially considering Ratchet had just finished repairing his wing. I will admit I felt a little bad about crushing him with the door, but I comforted myself with the fact that he was probably doing something that would piss me off. Or he would eventually.

"My lord!" He ran to Megatron, "What is the problem!?"

Starscream didn't get an answer. Instead, Megatron reached out to grab the jet's throat. He then began to punch Starscream

"Hey!" I barked and nudged him with my foot, "Don't be an asshole!"

Megatron released him to glare at me (again). Starscream cheered, "Yes, Aj! Take him down and rule with me!"

"Sorry, it's lunch time. I don't overthrow dictatorships until at least after 3:00." I replied. Megatron snapped his gaze to Starscream who in response transformed again and took off. Megatron raced out of the room after the jet. That hadn't been my exact plan when I called Starscream in here but I wasn't complaining.

A sigh of relief left my body as I pulled a hot pocket out of the box before letting the freezer close. While I went to grab a plate to use I watched as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker stared each other down. It was silent, yet Sideswipe grinned cheekily while Sunstreaker shook his head and walked away in the direction Megatron went. It wasn't the first time I noticed them oddly staring at one another.

Sideswipe strolled into the kitchen as I set the plate down on the island counter. I nodded at him, "So I'm not the only one with an autobot stalker? Megsy has one too?"

"Two hours and you catch on?" Sideswipe smirked jokingly, "Man, whoever said humans were slow apparently hasn't met you."

I rolled my eyes and unwrapped the hot pocket from its clear wrapper then set it on the plate. I moved to throw away the trash, "It must suck for your brother. Having to tail him."

"Eh", Sideswipe shrugged, "He'd rather follow that fragger than you."

"The daffodil prefers lord bucket head over me? I think I'm insulted."

The cherry red bot let out a bark of laughter, "Don't take it too personal. Sunny isn't a fan of humans in general. Besides, this means you get to hang out with me."

I knelt down and forced a cheesy grin, "Well aren't I just the lucky one?"

"You betcha." Sideswipe chirped.

"Mind if I ask you something?" I said suddenly.

His smile faltered in surprise before widening, "Go ahead."

"You and your lovely brother do this weird thing where the two of you just stare at each other and-"

Sideswipe laughed and shook his head, "We aren't just staring at each other and it isn't weird."

"Then what is it?"

"We're talking to each other. Through our bond, duh."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It was hard to follow everything with these guys. It only got harder when they used their own robot terms and words. One thing I had caught onto talking to Ratchet was that these guys usually had a communication system where they were able to talk to each one another basically like a mental radio. I had learned that this was one of the systems that wasn't working for them right now. "Ratchet said your comm systems were broken."

"They are, but I didn't say comm system I said bond." Sideswipe replied then explained, "You know that Sunny and I are twins right?"

"Well yeah."

"Twins are kind of rare from where we're from. Sunny and I have this bond, a twin bond. We can talk to each other over it. We know everything about each other, we know what each other is feeling. He's my other half."

I paused in thought, "Other half?"

"Twins are one spark that were split into two."

I opened my mouth awkwardly before closing it and trying again, "And a spark is…?"

Sideswipe shook his head, "Primus, it's like I'm talking to a sparkling."

I decided not to ask what a sparkling was and just assume that it wasn't necessarily a compliment at the moment and shrugged instead.

He continued, "Spark is…hmm. It does what your heart does, but it's more than just an organ for us. It's who we are."

"Like a soul?"

He snapped his fingers, "That's the word Ratchet used!"

"So you and Sunny-"

"Don't let him hear you call him Sunny."

"Right. Anyways, the two of you are one spark split into two and because of this you guys can talk to each other over this magical bond?"

Sideswipe paused before nodding with a shrug, "Close enough."

"That's kind of cool, and only twins can do this?"

He shook his head, "Well only twins can have a twin bond, but there are sparkmate bonds and guardian-ward bonds too."

I stood back up in thought. This was kind of interesting. I mean it was still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that these guys weren't just toys come to life. They were their own alien race. A freaking alien race with their own customs, anatomy, and culture. The sound of a faint engine alerted my attention back to what was going on around me.

Sideswipe was the only autobot with a working jetpack. I knew this because he used it all the damn time. Just like now. He had activated it and within seconds he was standing on the counter by my plate, "What's that?"

"Perfection in microwaveable form." I answered and grabbed the plate, "So tell me about those other two bonds you mentioned."

"Sparkmates and guardians?"

"Yeah." I replied and turned to the microwave above the stove.

"Well let's see…" Sideswipe thought aloud.

I grabbed the microwave door handle and pulled it open only for the entire door to fall off in my hand. A startled yell escaped my lips.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Sideswipe asked as I turned around with my plate in one hand and the microwave door in the other.

My reply to his question was another yell, but this one was more frustrated than startled. This would only happen to me. How did this even hap-? My eyes narrowed in realization. The memory of Wheeljack walking out of the kitchen with an armful of screws entered my mind.

"Wha's happenin'?" Jazz slid into the room with his weapon raised and ready.

I set the plate on the counter along with the microwave door, "Wheeljack!"

Sideswipe began to laugh, "It would be him. This is hilarious."

"I'm glad you think so! Wheeljack!" I yelled again. Jazz walked up with a smile tugging on his lips. I put my hands on my hips and scoffed, "I didn't even know you could take the door off like that. How did he even reach it!?"

"Don't doubt Jack's ability or need to tinker." Jazz commented.

Sideswipe added, "Yeah, or his ability to blow slag up."

A minute of me glaring at the microwave passed before Wheeljack rushed into the room, "Is everything ok?"

He had his weapon out already as well. Though his tense body relaxed at the lack of danger. However, it tensed again at the sight of me glaring at him while pointing to the microwave.

"Wheeljack." I said firmly.

The weapon disappeared and I would've been asking questions as to how if I wasn't so focused on ripping Wheeljack a new one for breaking the microwave. He shuffled sheepishly, "Right. I was going to fix that once the supplies became available."

"Supplies? Put the screws back where they came from or so help me-"

"Well, you see, the screws were the perfect material for what I was doing and-"

I pointed at him and then to the microwave, "Fix it."

"That may be a problem." He replied. "The device I'm working on, the one to find out which dimension or universe we are specifically in, is what I used the screws for."

I shook my head, "I'll find you new screws. Just replace these now."

"I may have melted them down for the device." He explained slowly.

There was a pause before I lifted my hand and slapped it over my face. Wheeljack was babbling out a long winded apology as I rubbed my face. A headache was forming behind my eyes again, but I was a professional at ignoring those headaches. I lifted my hand to end his ramble, "Since you used the screws to find a way home all is forgiven. Just… be more careful about what you use. M'kay?"

"You got it!" Wheeljack replied cheerily.

I turned, picked up my plate, and then set it in the microwave. Then I picked up the door and set it in place before pushing it closed. I paused a moment to see if it would fall off and when it didn't I hit the timer and pressed start. The thing actually began to work and that was good enough for me.

"Hey, she was asking about sparkmates and guardian-ward bonds." Sideswipe sat down on the edge of the counter, "Help me explain."

"Why were ya askin' bout them?" Jazz questioned.

"Sideswipe mentioned his twin bond." I shrugged.

"Well guardian charge bonds are usually formed between one younger cybertronian and an older one. The relationship usually can be compared to that of a human child and their parental figure." Wheeljack explained, "Or it can also be like the relationship a human would have with their older sibling."

I nodded, "And they can talk over it and feel emotions just like the twins?"

"Yupp. Sparkmates are like that too." Jazz added with a sly smirk, "Except sparkmates are lovers."

The microwave began to beep, but I didn't move immediately. Did he say lovers? I opened my mouth slowly, "Lovers? And by lovers you mean…?"

"Your equivalent would be marriage. Except being sparkbonded is much more of a commitment." Wheeljack said.

My eyes widened, "Wait, marriage? You guys get…and you…what? Like, with each other?"

"With femmes." Sideswipe replied, understanding my babbling. He stood up and since he was on the island counter it nearly made him eye level with me.

"What's a femme?" I asked, but based on context clues I think I had a pretty good guess.

"They are comparable to your females. Such as yourself and Taylor." Wheeljack chirped. The microwave beeped again so I moved to get my plate which was a fiasco in itself since I had to pull the door off, get my plate, and then put the microwave door back into place.

I set the plate on the counter to let it cool, "I didn't know there were females. Maybe I should've watched those Michael Bay movies."

"Speaking of which, I wanna see these movies and shows we're in." Sideswipe pointed at me.

"I'll put it on my to-do list." I replied without much thought. My mind was still reeling around female toy robots. Jazz said lovers for crying out loud did he mean- Nope, nope. Not going there. My mind was going to steer clear from the thought process of robot lovers and how that worked exactly. "Do any of you have a…sparkmate?"

"Frag, no." Sideswipe replied. Wheeljack shook his head.

Jazz spoke up, "Nope. Optimus does though. He has Elita."

"Aw, Optimus Prime is married?" I laughed. "He seems like the settling down type."

I spent the next twenty minutes or so eating my hot pocket while the three bots explained what exactly a subspace was. I had asked about their weapons. It sounded pretty freaking handy. I didn't mind carrying a purse or book bag, but damn would it be more convenient if I could just pull stuff out of a pocket hidden between time and space.

Wheeljack had excused himself to continue what he had been doing before I called him into the kitchen leaving just Jazz and Sideswipe with me. The conversation had turned toward the fact that they knew how to play poker and how a game night should happen, but it had come to a stop when a jet flew into the kitchen and landed on the dining room table we were at. It was the mainly light blue one which was Thundercracker. Right?

"What do you want, Thundercracker?" Sideswipe asked with a narrowed gaze. He was lounging on the table to my right. I didn't say anything and just smiled because my guess had been right.

"I need your help." He replied and focused his red eyed gaze on me.

"What's up?" I questioned.

He shifted tensely before repeating himself, "I need your help."

I shrugged and stood up to follow him. Jazz just watched me with a thoughtful look, but Sideswipe sat up with a frown, "You're going to just follow him blindly? What if it's a trap?"

"Neutral zone remember?" I said before glancing at Thundercracker who nodded. The jet seemed like a no nonsense kind. He was probably my favorite decepticon at the moment.

"That doesn't mean you can just trust that slagger!"

Thundercracker transformed into a jet and hovered by my side waiting for me to start moving. I grinned and winked at Sideswipe, "What wrong, cherry? You gonna miss me?"

Sideswipe still seemed tense, but the corners of his lips twitched up slightly, "You? Please."

"Later, guys." I waved at the two of them before following Thundercracker out of the room and up the stairs. He took a turn to the left and my eyes narrowed. My suspicion was confirmed when Thundercracker landed in front of Aubrey's door and looked at me. I crossed my arms, "What is going on?"

"Help me! I've been trapped!"

My eyes shot to the door where I could hear Skywarp screaming behind it. I pointed to the door and Thundercracker sighed, "I know it was off limits. He was…curious. I can't get the door open."

I opened my mouth to reply then just shook my head. Since the bots weren't exactly at doorknob level, the kids and I had been leaving all the doors in the house cracked open slightly so they could get around. The exception was the garage door, the back door leading to the backyard, and Aubrey's room. Skywarp was still yelling behind the door. I pulled the door open and stepped in. Thundercracker ran by my heels and across the room to find Skywarp who was on the other side of the queen sized bed, but I remained frozen to my spot.

The room was just like any of the other bedrooms. Same color walls, same flooring. A queen sized bed centered on the wall to my left by two bedside drawers. There was a door to the wall on the right that led to what I assumed to be the bathroom and on the ceiling in front of the door was the entrance to the attic. To my right was a larger dresser with pictures and accessories laid across the top. I took a step toward the first picture frame.

"Aj!" Skywarp yelled again. I forced myself to turn away from the photo and cross the room. On the other side of the bed the purple and black jet was half stuck on one of those black, sticky mouse catchers. Shit, did that mean there were mice in the house? I hadn't seen any sign of mice. Besides, the only thing that had gotten stuck in the trap was an obnoxious jet and…

"Are you going to help me?" Skywarp pleaded as he tried to pull himself off the pad. My eyes however were glued on the large, dead roach stuck beside him.

"Well uh", I tilted my head, "How did you even get in here?"

"I warped in." Skywarp scoffed.

My eyes widened, "Warped in? What the hell do you mean you warped in?"

Skywarp groaned, "Skywarp. Now pull me off!"

Thundercracker stood beside Skywarp with a look of…annoyance? It wasn't annoyance per say. More like exasperation. Almost like the way an older brother would look at the younger after being dragged into a mess they didn't want a part of. I pointed at him, "Wait a minute. You're not…twins, right?"

"Twins? Primus, no!" Skywarp yelled, "We're a trine!"

"Trine." I repeated.

Thundercracker looked like he was about to explain the new word, but Skywarp cut him off, "Now help me!"

"I would." I took a step back, "But that is a huge roach."

Skywarp tilted his head, "That thing? It's offline! Pull me off!"

"I don't-" I shook my head, "I don't do bugs."

It wasn't that I was scared of bugs. I mean, I went head to head against people twice my size in fights. It was just…bugs were gross. They were creepy as hell. I understood that bugs were good for the environment and stuff and I was super grateful that they kept the world balanced or whatever, but that didn't mean I wanted them anywhere near me.

Thundercracker stepped forward, "I can handle it from here."

"Rock on. Do you mind taking the trap and throwing it away after you pull him off it?" Thundercracker gave a grunt of acknowledgement before trying to rip Skywarp off the pad. "You're the best." I gave the two of them a thumbs up before backpedaling away.

My feet traveled back to the dresser with all the picture frames. There were pictures all over the house on the walls. I spent a couple hours exploring the house on one of my first days here looking at all the pictures around the house. After that I didn't pay them much mind considering they were just pictures of the kids growing up. The pictures in Aubrey's room, however, were different. There were four in total. The first, on the far left, was a picture of Aubrey with all three kids. It was a recent picture since the kids looked to be about the same age they were now, but Aubrey didn't look sick at all in this photo. She was beaming at the camera holding her arms around all three. The background looked like the city park. A chuckle escaped my lips when I noticed the corner of Bumblebee's wing in the picture from Taylor's hands.

"Hurry and pull me off, TC!"

"Shut up, I'm trying. I told you not to come in here."

The next two pictures made me frown. The first had Peter as a toddler with a mess of brown hair. He was sitting in the lap of a guy while a book was read to him. I recognized the guy easily. You don't exactly forget the guy that your older sister chose over you. Wes looked a lot like Peter with the same brown hair and gray eyes. I hadn't actually met him or had any real conversations with him. I never really made the time to get to know him when Aubrey was dating him and then I found out she was pregnant and they were leaving. At that point the last thing I wanted to do was get to know the guy. The second of the Wes pictures was of him and Aubrey. It was a photo of before Peter, the two of them were sitting at a restaurant table laughing together. I had no idea who had taken the picture, but it looked like one of those couple photos you saw in Valentine's Day advertisements.

"This would go a lot faster if you quit moving around, Skywarp!"

"The offline organic is twitching, TC!"

"If you get me stuck to this thing, I swear on Primus-"

My eyes hesitantly darted to the last picture. It was the one I first noticed when I walked in. Aubrey was sixteen in the photo and I was fourteen. I knew because I recognized the picture. I had just found out that I made the volleyball team for school. It wasn't a flattering picture considering I was sweaty and my hair was a mess, but Aubrey was hugging me tightly anyways. Dad had taken the picture of us outside of the gym and then we had gone out to eat as celebration. It was taken a month before dad left.

"-got it!"

"Freedom!" Skywarp screeched and flew out of the room. I turned around to see Thundercracker walking towards the corner where a little trash can sat. He threw the pad in before noticing me staring at him. He tensed and gave me a quick nod, "Thank you for your help."

"Thank you for taking care of the roach." I replied, "You don't have to be so formal you know?"

He nodded again and walked over, "You asked about a trine earlier?"

"Yeah, what is it? Is it anything like the twins?"

Thundercracker rolled his shoulders, "I suppose. When we say trine we mean Starscream, Skywarp, and myself. We form a trine. Seekers naturally lean toward others. We have a trine bond."

"I guess I get that. The three of you are like a flock. Birds of a feather and all that, right?"

Thundercracker narrowed his eyes at me in confusion, "I…suppose."

"TC! TC! Come here!" Skywarp yelled from down the hall.

I gave him a smile, "Later, TC."

He didn't waste another second and quickly transformed before flying out. I will admit that watching them transform was pretty cool. The clock above the bed read 10:48 AM which meant I still had time to kill before I picked up the kids. Plenty of time to pull the Christmas stuff out of the attic for the kids to put up when they got home. First though, I wanted to grab my phone. I thought I had set it in my back pocket, but apparently I was wrong.

My eyes darted to the picture one last time. I was literally looking at one of the last moments where I still was able to hand out trust without any wariness and Aubrey…

I picked up the picture frame sighed. This could be us again just add three kids. All it would take is to let Aubrey into my life again completely, and a part of me wanted to. I missed what we had. Anytime I entertained the idea of doing so though, memories stopped me. Nothing could stop Aubrey from betraying my trust again if she decided to and that terrified me. I couldn't survive that again. I put the frame back on the drawer face down then walked out.

* * *

 

"I love you, brother."

"Frag off."

"Don't you love me too? I need verbal confirmation, Sunny."

"Eat slag."

"That's hurtful. Your words only do negative things to my self-esteem."

I whirled around with instructions in one hand and a screwdriver in the other, "Can the two of you go annoy each other to death in a different room?"

The autobot twins turned their gaze away from each other to focus on me. They stood a few feet away from me by the couch. As per usual, Sideswipe wore a cheeky grin while Sunstreaker tried to kill me with a glare.

"Why?" Sideswipe chirped.

"Because this is stressful enough as is." I replied. It had taken me all of thirty minutes to haul boxes of Christmas junk out of the attic. It's taken me twice as long to try and put up the Christmas tree. I figured I'd put the tree up in the living room on the right side of the entertainment system in the open corner, and then when the kids came home they could decorate it to their hearts desire. Me putting the tree up had gathered a crowd however.

Wheeljack crawled out of the box, "This would be perfect!"

"Do not take anything from that box. I need it." I shot a glare at him.

"But Aj-"

"No." I pointed the screwdriver at him in a threating manner. He let out what sounded like a sigh before crawling back into the box to replace what he had taken. The twins began to bicker again, I couldn't understand how they didn't run out of things to say to one another, but I couldn't yell at them because my attention was pulled away by Grimlock.

The dinosaur glared at lower ring of the tree. It was literally just a circle of fake pine needles. He reared back and opened his mouth. I pulled my arm back and threw the screwdriver at him. The tool bounced off his back, "No! No fire! If you set this tree on fire, Grimlock, I will- I- I don't even know what I'll do!"

Grimlock huffed and marched away mumbling, "Bad human with good aim."

Sideswipe laughed at me, "Nice throw, Ratchet!"

Seconds later Ratchet came into the room with Jazz and at the same moment a little wrench collided with the back of Sideswipe's head sending him to the ground with a cry of surprise. Sunstreaker's lips twitched up in a small smile at the sight of his brother on the ground clutching the back of his head. It was short lived though when another wrench came flying in his direction. Sunstreaker was able to duck out of its way though and the wrench landed by my foot.

Ratchet and Jazz headed in our direction, the former came stomping while the latter strolled in casually.

"What in the name of primus are you two pit spawns doing?!" Ratchet howled at the twins.

"Nothing Hatch-!" Sideswipe began.

"Nothing is right! You two should still be tailing Megatron!"

Sunstreaker sneered at the medic, "We are. Him and his band of decepti-scum are in there!"

Jazz and Ratchet glanced over to the small bathroom connected to the living room where Sunstreaker pointed. I nodded and pulled their attention to me, "He's right. Megsy and his crew ran into the bathroom declaring it as their base and they haven't left since."

Wheeljack crawled out of the box again and began to walk across the room to the bookshelf where his project was being worked on. I narrowed my eyes at him, "Jackie?"

He held out his arms in good nature, his fins glowing bright blue, "I didn't take a thing, Aj."

"Good." I replied and glanced back down at the bots ahead. Ratchet picked up his first wrench as Sideswipe got up off the ground. The medic whacked him across the head one last time for good measure and ignored Sideswipe's complaints of not doing anything. I bent down and picked up the small wrench by my foot, "How many of these do you have anyways?"

"Enough." Ratchet grumpily replied before coming over to take it. I handed it over, not wanting to get whacked across the knuckles again, and focused back on my current dilemma. The tree wasn't going to make itself after all.

So far all I had set up was the metal base. Now I had to put on the various layers of tree. There were four layers in total, each one smaller than the last and the last one being the very top. However, Aubrey had apparently bought the most complicated tree in the world because I couldn't just set the damn things on top of one another. No, I had to screw each one in place, but I couldn't find the right screws to fit in the right holes. I sat down and began to study the instructions again.

"Havin' trouble?"

"You have no idea." I mumbled my response to Jazz. He came over to where I was sitting with my screwdriver in held in his hands. I took it from him, "Thanks."

"No problem. Anythin' I can help with?" He questioned with a grin.

"Do you know how to put together a Christmas tree?"

"Nope", Jazz replied then pulled the instructions out of my hands, "But I'm sure I can learn."

I leaned back on my hands letting Jazz glance over the page of instruction that were nearly as tall as him. My eyes glanced over to the base of the tree. Wow, I was really putting a Christmas tree up. I hadn't done that in…forever. The last real Christmas I had was with Aubrey at the foster home we were staying in. The next two years when I was at the home without her I refused to participate, and since then I just didn't pay the holiday much mind. I wasn't scrooge incarnate or anything. I would buy a few gifts for college friends here and there, and after I dropped out of school the only person I would ever need to buy a Christmas gift for was Kyle. The two of us decided early on that we wouldn't buy each other gifts though. We'd just hang out together on the dreaded day.

"It's the black ones." Jazz said determinedly, snapping me out my thoughts.

"Black?" I picked up the bag of black screws and shook my head," They're too long though, and the silver ones are too short."

Ratchet peered over Jazz's shoulders, "No, it's the white screws."

"There are no white screws!" I cried.

"According to these instructions there are." He scoffed and pointed to a certain part on the instructions, "See."

Jazz tilted his head, "Mech's got a point."

Wheeljack came walking back over from his project, "Perhaps I can help?"

The twins had disappeared so the only ones in the living room, not counting the decepticons in the bathroom, were me, the grumpy medic, the easily excited nightlight, and Jazz. It was hard coming up with a nickname for Jazz. I'm pretty sure I had one for everyone except him. I'd have to work on that.

"-if we do this then it'll fit."

"You can't do that."

"Why not?"

"The fake tree isn't supposed to catch fire."

"You have so little faith in me, Ratchet."

"Only because I'm constantly reattaching your limbs!"

Jazz was seated on my knee, leaning back, as the two of us watched Wheeljack and Ratchet argue over the instructions. They bickered just as well as the twins did.

"By reattaching his limbs, does Ratchet really mean…?"

Jazz nodded, "Oh yeah. Jackie's constantly blowin' himself to kingdom come. You should see his lab."

"So he seriously does have a knack for blowing things up? You guys weren't kidding?"

"Nope. We were as serious as a spark attack."

Great. Just great. So basically Wheeljack was building a bomb in my living room. The aunt of the year award goes to, drumroll please….

I nudged Jazz off my knee and moved forward, "Listen, you can do whatever you want to any part of this tree as long as it stands and doesn't explode."

"Really?" Wheeljack's eyes and fins lit up bright blue.

"Yupp. I just need it up before the kids get home."

Ratchet slapped the back of my hand, "You can't give him free reign like that!"

I rubbed the back of my hand, "That's abuse, Ratchet."

"It's punishment. You do something stupid, and you get punished for it. Ask the twins, they know all about it."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm sure they do."

Even though my free reign was supposedly a bad thing, it got things done. It only took another hour of work and bickering for the tree to go up. I would pick up the layer and set it where it was supposed to go and then Wheeljack and Ratchet would settle it in place. As we got higher, Jazz had to be the one to settle it in place by using his grappling hook.

Finally, the tree was set up in its dark green, plastic needle glory. I let out a sigh of relief and grinned at the thing. We came, we conquered.

"There may be a few issues when it comes time to take it down." Wheeljack began to warn.

I waved his warning off, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Hey, you finally got it up!"

I turned to see Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, and Bluestreak come into the room. Sideswipe had been the one to speak, but Bee and Blue jogged over with more excitement while the taller bots followed at a slower pace.

"Is this a Christmas tree? It looks so cool, but I thought there was supposed to be more stuff on it? Like lights, and balls, and-"

I shook my head at Bluestreak, "it's not done yet. When the kids get home they're gonna decorate it."

"Can we help?" Bumblebee asked.

I chuckled, "I doubt the kids would have it any other way."

"It's an optic sore is what it is." Sunstreaker replied to a comment from Sideswipe that I didn't hear. Maybe he had said something over the magic bond, "Couldn't she have picked a better spot?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "I will punt you across the room, Goldilocks."

Sunstreaker let out a low growl, "Frag off, femme, and don't call me-"

Ratchet reached out and hit Sunstreaker across the back of his head with his hand, "Language!"

"You curse around her all the time!"

"I don't curse at her though. Have some respect you pit spawn glitch." Ratchet snapped.

Sunstreaker replied in his own language to which Ratchet hit him again. The yellow bot jumped back, "Watch the paint!"

"I am going to need some serious therapy after all this." I mumbled to myself with a shake of my head.

Jazz chuckled, apparently hearing my words, "We aint that bad are we?"

The bathroom door swung open and the decepticons began to file out making all the bots around my feet tense up. They stopped to stare at the green tree behind me.

Barricade shouted something in his own language while Skywarp transformed into a jet to hover above the group, "Do we attack it?"

Before Megatron could even answer I threw my hands up to shield the tree, "You attack the tree and I kill you, so think carefully!"

Megatron glowered at me for a moment before speaking, "Stand down."

I probably looked crazed standing in front of the tree in a defense position like I was. Yupp, serious therapy after the next two months.

* * *

 

Nervous was an understatement to how I was at the moment. I was close to pulling out my own hair. My fingers drummed against the steering wheel as I waited for the kids to get out of school. My thoughts kept zooming back to the house. Was it still standing? My eyes darted to the time. 3:11 PM. It had been an hour and thirty minutes since I put up the tree. It had been about ten minutes since I left home. Ten minutes was plenty of time to ruin everything, and I still had to go shopping.

Finally, I spotted the kids running out of school with a mass of other children.

"Hey guys." I greeted as they got into the car in their usual places.

"Did you bring Bee and Blue with you?" Tyler questioned as he put his seatbelt on.

I shook my head, "No, not today. Maybe tomorrow I'll bring them with me."

"Ok." Taylor chirped happily.

"How was school?" I asked smoothly as I pulled out. Walmart was like five minutes away. I could make this a quick trip, I know I could.

"We did an experiment today in class for science and Mr. Kingsley caught some paper on fire on accident." Peter spoke up first.

My eyes widened, "He did what? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. It was really cool though."

"Ty and I have a project to do, Aj!" Taylor leaned forward.

"Sit back in your seat."

She did so and continued, "Mrs. Belle says we have to make a family tree of our family! We have to put who we're related to and pictures of them."

"Yeah", Tyler added, "It's due this Friday. We turn it in before our Christmas party."

Peter glanced back, "They need a poster board for it."

"No problem. We're heading to Walmart right now." I replied. As estimated, it took me five minutes to get to Walmart and only another couple minutes to find one of those buggies with the big blue seats were kids could sit. Tyler and Taylor sat in the seat happily whispering to each other and sending me giggly glances. Peter walked by my side as we tore through Walmart looking for the items needed starting with the poster board.

"Milk." Peter read off the list for me. I pushed the buggy toward the back where milk would be. He adjusted his glances then looked up at me, "Why are we in such a rush?"

"I want to get back home before the house burns down."

"You can trust Optimus to keep it standing, Aj." Peter said with full faith. I couldn't help but smile. This was just another good sign. Peter had put his trust in me, he had put his trust in a living toy that came to life not even a four days ago. It meant he wasn't broken like me. He could heal.

I nodded, "You're right. OP is a good bossbot. I'm just…nervous." I wouldn't tell them about Megatron until the drive home. I grabbed a gallon of milk and set it in the cart. "Next?"

"Glitter remover?" Peter questioned. "We have that at home. Mom uses it for when Taylor gets glitter on things where it's hard to remove. It's under the sink."

I laughed, "Oh, so getting glitter on things is a habit of yours, huh Taylor?"

She beamed at me with a wide smile. I reached down and ruffled her hair making it a wild mess. She briefly complained between her laughs and began to fix it.

"Next is cereal." Peter continued.

I headed in that direction when Tyler spoke up, "Who's your favorite bot now, Aj? Is it still Ratchet?"

I wasn't going to comment that they had decided Ratchet was my favorite. Honestly, I didn't know how to reply at all, "Umm I guess? Ratchet is pretty cool."

"Jazz should be your favorite!" Taylor said happily, "You saved his arm and now you guys can be best friends forever!"

"I don't think that's how it works, Tay." I replied.

Tyler shook his head and ignored me, "What about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker?"

"Why would it be them?" Taylor asked with a frown, unhappy that her idea hadn't been accepted by all immediately.

Peter shook his head as I turned into the cereal aisle, "It can't be them. Aj doesn't have anything in common with them."

Tyler shrugged and I watched as the twins jumped from their seats to go find their favorite cereal. I focused my gaze on Peter. Nothing in common? Maybe with Sunstreaker yeah, but I had quickly caught onto the fact that Sideswipe was just as sarcastic as me. Who doesn't bond over shared sarcasm?

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

Peter smiled, "Don't tell them I said this because I don't think they want us to know, ok?" He waited until I nodded my head in approval then continued, "They're the scariest autobots for a reason. They used to be gladiators in this giant fighting arena where they killed others to survive and for the entertainment of other bots. They moved onto other things and joined the autobots eventually, but for them fighting is everything." My eyes widened at his last statement, but he didn't notice my surprise and kept going, "All they have is each other and fighting. Sideswipe is funnier and he's easier to be around, but he's still scary and Sunstreaker…he doesn't trust people. I mean, he trusts enough of the autobots so he can get out there and fight, but the only person he really trusts is his brother." Peter looked sheepish, "That's why I kind of avoid them. I mean, I know they're autobots, but…they still kind of scare me."

"Pete!" Taylor called.

Peter smiled at me and went to stand by his little sister and brother. I stood frozen by the buggy. Nothing like them, huh? Peter said that the twins scared them. That the blood lust those two had for fighting was basically terrifying to him. What if they knew I was like that? What if they knew how much I needed fighting in my life? How I craved it like a person craves sunlight after being in the dark too long? How I needed it like a cocaine addict needed their next hit? Taylor and Tyler were trying to decide which cereal was better and Peter was helping them. All three were laughing and smiling without a care in the world. They turned to look at me happily before returning to their conversation. Would they still look at me like that if they knew how much enjoyed fighting? How I reveled in the fact that my controlled movements could bring victory, bring bloodshed?

"Can we get these?" Taylor called from across the aisle holding up her own box.

I cleared my throat and nodded, "Yeah. Bring them over."

They all rushed over with a box and threw it into the buggy. The shopping list was complete and it was time to pay and then head home. Peter had joined in on the twin's conversation and I was glad. It gave me more time to think. If they knew who I really was it would be over. My vacation from the reality of my life would be shattered. They wouldn't just hate me, if it was hate alone I think I could live with that, but it was worse than just hate. The kids would be scared of me. Terrified, and that thought alone made my blood run cold.

"Can we get candy?" Tyler asked as we stood in line waiting for the register.

"Yeah, go ahead and grab one. Each of you."

The drive home was quiet and it was mostly because the kids were powering through the candy I had bought for them with Aubrey's card. My thoughts shot back to one of the other things Peter said about the twins. All they had was each other. In that single moment, I hated Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. It wasn't fair of me to hate them, but a part of me couldn't help it. I hated them purely because I was jealous. Sunstreaker had fighting and his brother. That was it. Ten years ago I had fighting and Aubrey. Sideswipe never left Sunstreaker. He stood by his brother still. I, on the other hand, was alone. My partner in crime, the only person I gave my full and absolute trust ditched me, and for that reason I hated them. I hated them for what they still had. For what I had lost.

How could I even look at them anymore without thinking of Aubrey and I ten years ago? I heaved a sigh and pulled into the driveway. I could always just avoid the condiment brothers. Once again, I was a professional avoider. It shouldn't be too hard to avoid the two, right?

"I can't wait to see Blue!" Tyler jumped out of the car.

My eyes widened, "Wait!"

I jumped out and stopped the kids from running to the house, "Grab a bag each of you." Once we had all the bags we walked to the porch. Peter held the poster board. I stopped them again, "Listen, Megatron came to life while-"

"Megatron is alive?" Tyler cried.

"Yes. We have a truce, everything should be hunky dory, but I don't trust the little fragger."

"You said fragger." Peter pointed out.

My eyes widened, had I seriously used their curse? I shook my head, "No, I didn't. I said fuck- no! No! I said nothing because cursing is very bad. Don't do it!"

The kids were stifling their laughs. I sighed and opened the door ready to be greeted by a new war. Instead, at the base of the stairs a familiar bot stood. It was the one without a face. The one that was supposed to be lying face down in the med bay not moving.

"Whoa! Soundwave woke up too!" Taylor beamed.

I pushed the kids into the kitchen to set the bags down, "What's on fire!?"

"Nothing is on fire, Aj." Peter replied.

"Whenever a new one of them wakes up things go to hell- not hell, heck. I said heck!" I cried and marched out of the kitchen where Soundwave still stood. He stared at me and I stared back.

"Why are you panicking? You sound like Red Alert." Sideswipe walked out of the living room. My glare settled on him and his eyes widened in surprise. He glanced behind himself as if to see who I was glaring at because I couldn't possibly be trying to burn a hole in his chest with my eyes.

"Whoa! A Christmas tree! Can we decorate it, Aj?" Tyler yelled and ran into the living room to look at it. The other bots were in the living room because I could hear Tyler greeting them all.

Peter stepped up beside me, "It's very nice to meet you, Soundwave. Welcome to our home."

The bot nodded his head before walking into the living room with Peter who was still talking to him. I glanced around. Nothing seemed out of order since I left. That was a relief. I turned to put the groceries away when I saw Taylor standing behind me staring sadly at the tree.

"What's wrong, sweetie? Are you hurt?" I fell to my knees in front of her and begin to glance at her arms and legs for injuries. She shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes. It felt like someone punched me in the gut. I put a hand on her face softly, "Hey, hey. It's ok. Tell me what's wrong?"

She folded herself into my arms, nearly knocking me backwards, and began to cry. I wrapped my arms around her tightly and soothingly rubbed my hand against the back of her head, "Taylor, baby,-"

"I miss mama." She sobbed. "Mama always does the decorations with us. Why isn't she here?"

My heart broke a little at her words. I hadn't even thought about the fact that the kids might have thought that way. Tyler and Peter seemed ok, but I had noticed that Taylor was more sensitive than them.

"She's…She's busy, honey." I said softly, "She'll be home soon."

"Not soon enough. I don't want Christmas without her."

What do you say to a little girl who missed her mom? To a little girl who didn't even wanna celebrate Christmas without her?

In nodded, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know you miss her, but she doesn't want you to be sad. She doesn't want you to miss Christmas just because she was busy this year. I talked to her after I dropped you off. She's gonna call tonight and you can talk to her all about it."

"Really?" Taylor replied with a muffled voice.

"Really." I pushed her back a little so she was standing, but I kept her in arm's reach. I wiped away the tears with my hands and gave her a small smile, "She wants you to have fun. Besides, if you don't go over there to decorate who's gonna teach the bots what to do? This might just be their first real Christmas and we get to spend it with them."

She rubbed her face with the back of her arm, "Can I put the star on the tree?"

"Of course." I nodded.

"Is…Is everything ok?"

I glanced back to see Bumblebee standing between the foyer and kitchen nervously, like he didn't want to interrupt anything, but still wanted to make sure everything was ok. I nodded, "Everything is ok, right?"

Taylor nodded, "Hey Bee, can I show you my ornaments? They're princesses."

Bumblebee could obviously tell Taylor needed a fun distraction, "I would love that! Can I help you hang some up?"

"Yeah!" She nodded and picked the bot up in her arms. I watched as she walked into the living room hugging Bumblebee to her chest like an anchor.

I stood and moved to grab the groceries. Peter's voice called from the living room, "Aj! Can Wheeljack and I put the lights on the tree?"

"Wheeljack isn't allowed anywhere near the lights!" I yelled back, "All he can handle is the non-electronic, non-exploding Christmas decorations!"

There was no reply, but Jazz stepped into the kitchen chuckling. He pointed at me, "Now you're learnin'."

* * *

 

Putting the decorations on the tree wasn't a disaster. It was actually kind of fun. Nearly everyone got into it and the few who refused to participate still watched. Those few being Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Barricade. Prowl said it was because he decided to leave more for the kids to use, but I think he just didn't want to get tangled into this Christmas decoration nonsense. Sunstreaker didn't want to mess up his paint, fully believable, and Barricade was just an asshole. There had to be some reason why he hated me so much. Maybe it was still because of the dryer thing. I didn't care enough to ponder over it.

I helped Taylor get the star on the tree, but it was decided that we wouldn't turn it on until it got dark outside. As the entire group of humans, autobots, and decepticons hung out in the living room still high on the fun they had decorating the tree and not fighting, I slipped away into the kitchen. I did so to figure out what I'd make for dinner, but I paused at the sight of Megatron in the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Megsy", I called out sweetly, "Why didn't you join in?"

"Like I would participate in that nonsense, fool."

"I'm sorry." I moved past him to the cupboards, "If I had remembered you were allergic to non-terrorizing activities and the full range of pleasant emotions, I would've set out a different activity for you. Coloring book, maybe? Crossword puzzle?"

Megatron wasn't impressed by my joke. I thought it was pretty good. It was silent a moment before he spoke up, "It is obvious you lean toward those autoscum rather than us decepticons."

"That's not true." I replied. "I mean, maybe it seems that way sometimes. This might come as a shock to you, but Optimus Prime is a little more trustworthy."

"You don't know him like I do."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "Yeah, ok. Listen, I treat you guys how you treat me and the kids. Barricade has shot at me multiple times which is why he's probably going to live in the dryer for most of the two months here. Starscream shot at the kids when he first showed up so I came after him with a bat. If Prowl or Wheeljack or Optimus Prime started terrorizing us I'd bury them in the backyard just like I would to you." I bent down and opened the cabinet under the sink, "So, helpful tip? Be nice. At least fake it until you get out of here. Smile sometimes. Unless, do you burst into flames when you smile?" Megatron wasn't amused by that joke either. "Just, stop commanding me to do stuff. Say please every once in while or something."

I pulled out a bottle with the label 'glitter remover' written on it in Aubrey's handwriting. I wondered if she wrote that just for me. I grabbed the kitchen rag and soaked a spot on the towel. I wasn't entirely sure what was in that mixture, but after a few minutes of elbow grease most of the glitter was gone.

"Thank you." Megatron said after I put away all the stuff.

I gave him a thumbs up, "That didn't hurt too much did it?"

He shook his head, muttering under his breath, and left the kitchen. Why couldn't it be that easy to get through to Barricade?

* * *

 

The tree looked awesome. We had waited until after dinner, after they talked to Aubrey on the phone, which lifted their moods significantly, and after the kids were ready for bed and then I let Peter turn it on. It was a mess of lights, princess ornaments, glass ball ornaments, and superheroes, but it seemed to fit our little makeshift family. The bots seemed impressed by it too.

"Look!" Peter came back into the room with two ornaments.

At the sight of them I laughed, "Oh, no way."

"Mom got it for us last year. I forgot that I put them in my room." He held up the metal ornaments. One was the red face the autobots wore and the other was the purple one the decepticons wore. He leaned forward, "Should we have them put it on?"

Taylor and Tyler were watching eagerly, but I could see their eyes drooping. I took the ornaments and stood in front of the bots. "OP? Megsy? Front and center."

The two leaders came forward. They both seemed hesitant, but Optimus' hesitance was friendlier while Megatron narrowed his eyes at me.

"Time for the last ornaments." I handed each one to the respective leader. Jazz and Bumblebee started a round of cheers that even most of the decepticons joined in on. I set my hands down so they could get on rather than just grabbing them around the waist. It took longer for Megatron to get on, unsurprisingly, but after they were both on I carried them over to the tree where they hung each ornament close to the top.

"Thank you." Optimus nodded.

"Alrighty", I put them down then turned to the kids, "Time for bed."

Tyler yawned, "But I'm not tired."

"Mhmm, that's believable." I replied and began to head upstairs with them following. As we reached the top I was surprised to see Bumblebee and Bluestreak with the twins and Prowl with Peter. Instead of questioning it I leaned forward and noisily kissed the top of Peter's head. He let out an over exaggerated groan, "Night, Peter."

"Night, Aj."

I walked the twins into their room giving each of them a kiss on the head, to which Tyler copied his older brother and groaned as well. They chorused a good night to me and I watched as Bumblebee and Bluestreak settled in the bed beside them but not asleep.

Slowly, I backed out of the room and closed the door. While I had been putting them in bed the bots had scattered around the house and most of the autobots were coming upstairs to their own base. Ratchet headed toward my room, but I stopped Optimus while the others went to the office.

"Hey, I noticed Blue, Bee, and Prowl with the kids? I mean, I know the kids love hanging out with them, but if your bots wanted to be on their own rather than staying the night-"

Optimus shook his head, "They volunteered. We know a truce was issued, but it felt better to have someone keeping guard. Blue and Bee enjoy spending time with the twins and although Prowl isn't as open about how he feels, I think he enjoys Peter's presence as well."

"Oh." I said. I liked how he was keeping an eye on the kids too. It felt good, "Thanks, OP. I can call you that right? Is it too like unprofessional?"

Optimus chuckled, "I believe it's fine. After all, you did say this was our vacation correct?"

I snapped my fingers, "Now you're getting the hang of it." The two of us walked toward the office, "So do I get a little guardian?"

It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be to tell if Optimus was smiling behind the battle mask. I could easily tell he was smiling now, "There's a reason why the med bay is in your room."

"Ratchet? He's my guardian?"

"Guardian is a bit too formal. He keeps an eye on you at night." Optimus replied, "Besides, you honestly do not require much guarding."

I grinned, "Because I'm so tough, right?"

The office door was already open so we stepped in as he spoke, "That, and Grimlock did technically adopt you. No one messes with the dinobot's, even an adopted dinobot."

I lifted my gaze to see Grimlock in the corner. He noticed me as well, "There you human are! Me, Grimlock, bored! Bring something!"

"Adopted dinobot." I repeated, "Are you sure you don't mean dinobot slave?"

Jazz was on the desk with Wheeljack talking. Optimus quickly climbed the makeshift stairs to the desk. He glanced at me again, "Are you going to sleep?"

My eyes darted to the punching bag in the corner of the room. An itch began to grow, "Umm…actually, no. There's one more thing I need to do."

* * *

 

 _'If this is a vacation, why do we still have to patrol? There's not even any real room to let loose.'_ Sideswipe whined over the bond. At his words he swerved left and right before straightening again to fall in line with his twin. _'It's so boring.'_

_'Keep whining, I'm sure that'll fix it, you slagging idiot.'_

_'How about you pull that stick out of your aft, Sunny?'_

"Don't call me that." Sunstreaker growled aloud and swerved to ram into his brother. Sideswipe easily dodged with a snicker and sped forward. The two continued this little game until new voices alerted them. They transformed and hid behind the wall behind the stairs.

"Do not warp in there." Thundercracker said firmly.

"But TC-"

"No." He continued, "She doesn't want us in there."

"You don't know that." Skywarp replied.

Sunstreaker wanted to attack. Sideswipe could feel it over the bond, and he knew he was probably giving off a similar feeling. It was overshadowed by his curiosity though. The seeker's argument ended with Thundercracker jetting away and Skywarp following after a moment.

 _'She's in the garage._ ' Sideswipe stepped around the corner. The garage door was closed per usual, but there was a sound coming from the room. Something neither probably would've heard if it wasn't for their warrior enhanced hearing.

 _'So what_?' Sunstreaker growled.

_'Let's go see what she's doing in there!'_

_'Why the frag would we do that?'_

Sideswipe knew why Sunstreaker wasn't curious in the slightest. He wasn't happy about being here, he wasn't happy about being only a foot tall, and he wasn't happy dealing with a bunch of humans.

 _'She's not that bad',_ Sideswipe argued, _'This afternoon was interesting.'_

Sunstreaker was fully aware that his twin was amused this afternoon. He could feel the effects of it the entire time, and he knew it had to be from the bond considering he wasn't entirely amused watching Starscream suck up to Megatron. He couldn't understand why his brother would even want to talk to the slagging squishy, let alone try to become friends. They'd be gone soon enough and she was unbearable at best.

 _'I wanna see what she's up to_.' Sideswipe declared and headed toward the door, 'S _he was acting weird when she came home.'_

Sunstreaker scoffed, "She was ignoring you and I don't blame her. You're fragging annoying."

"Please, I'm a pleasure to be around." Sideswipe grinned and looked up at the locked door. This was just like any other day in their lives. Sideswipe got hung up on something and Sunstreaker got dragged into the mess. He could've left his twin to break into the garage alone, but he wouldn't. Even if he wanted nothing to do with the femme.

Being right next to the door, they could hear the sounds even better. Low thuds repeating, fast music barely audible. Sideswipe turned to his brother with another grin, ' _Lift_?'

Sunstreaker sighed and held his hands out. Sideswipe was quick to jump into his brother's laced together hands. "Watch the paint, you-"

Sideswipe moved one foot to stand on Sunstreaker's face. He didn't need to considering he already had his servos around the doorknob and was turning it, but why give up such a perfect opportunity?

Sunstreaker dropped him and moved to punch him in the side as the door popped open toward them slightly. Sideswipe stifled his laughter as Sunstreaker stepped back and tried to rub the scuff marks on his face away. He hadn't washed in four days. Four fragging days.

Sideswipe ignored his brother's depression over his lack of hygiene. He wasn't exactly happy about the lack of showers, but it didn't bother him as much. Besides, Sunny looked fine to him. Sideswipe slipped into the room and froze in surprise.

' _What_?' Sunstreaker followed after feeling his brother's shock. He paused beside his brother to stare in surprise as well. His surprise didn't show on his face like Sideswipe's did though.

Across the garage a punching bag hung from a bike rack on the ceiling. That wasn't the startling image though. There Aj was next to the bag pounding away at it. They were used to seeing fighting femmes. All the femmes from back home could kick 'con aft. A fighting human femme though? That was a first for them. She didn't look like she did the last time they saw her either.

 _'Where'd her armor go?_ ' Sunstreaker thought to himself but the thoughts traveled.

_'Clothing, Sunny. Humans wear clothing.'_

_'Don't call me that.'_

Sideswipe tilted his head. Aj only wore shorts and a top that wasn't made of much cloth. Her arms and legs were exposed along with some of her shoulder blades. Her hair was tied up and music could be heard playing from white buds in her ears.

 _'Look at her move._ ' Sideswipe hummed. They may not have understood why humans wear what they do or what the pit hair was or what it was for, but what they did understand was fighting.

 _'Not bad. She's off balance though. Should shift her weight._ ' Sunstreaker replied as Aj pounded away on the bag, 'S _he's leaking.'_

_'That's what happens when humans work hard.'_

_'I hate how much you know about these pathetic organics.'_

_'Don't be jealous, Sunny, you know I've always known more than you.'_ Sideswipe's comment got him hit over the bond. He expected no less. Aj continued moving throwing punches and kicks, shifting around the bag as she went. From this new angle they could see more, like how her knuckles were leaving traces of red on the bag.

Sideswipe frowned, ' _She's bleeding.'_

Blood was a human term both bots understood completely. Sunstreaker didn't continue keeping his attention on the blood, but rather he shifted his gaze to Aj's determined eyes. Sideswipe had commented days ago how he thought it was amusing that three of the humans had blue eyes like an autobot. The twin organics blue eyes were on the darker side unlike the fighting femme. Her eyes were lighter with flecks of an even lighter color in the right light. The only reason Sunstreaker noticed was because it was an interesting, somewhat familiar color, not that he cared at all, he just thought to log the color away in the back of his processor to use in a painting at some point.

Another thing he thought was interesting? How different her eyes looked right now. Focus, determination, and…

 _'She might as well have gladiator programming. Look how different she is.'_ Sideswipe crossed his arms.

Sunstreaker mentally hit him again, ' _Don't say tha_ t.'

Aj's movements were slowing which meant it was time for the twins to leave. They did so quietly and lightly shut the door. Sideswipe was grinning at his brother with a smugness spreading across the bond.

_'Told you she was interesting.'_

' _Even a broken clock is right two times a day_.' Even more smugness spread much to Sunstreaker's dismay. Sideswipe began to poke his brother through the bond as an unspoken question rang through crystal clear. Frag his brother's tendencies to get hung up on the stupidest things. Frag it straight to the pit. ' _Fine. We'll keep an eye on her. See where it leads.'_

_'Love you, Sunny.'_

_'Yeah, yeah, yeah.'_


	7. Visitor

* * *

_"Visits always give pleasure- if not the arrival, the departure." -Portuguese Proverb_

* * *

 

"Helm. That's your head. Servos equals hands, pedes equal feet. I…I have no idea what's written here. The word maybe starts with a W, it's supposed to mean sleep?"

"Recharge."

" _That's an R_?" I squinted my eyes and leaned closer to the list lying to the right of Ratchet's feet. My hands were outstretched as I sat on the ground by his little med bay stage. The morning had been normal for the most part. Tyler and Taylor had given me a list of Cybertronian words to learn. Apparently, Peter had given them the idea yesterday and that was what they had been so giggly about. It was helpful, except I couldn't read their handwriting at some points. "Does that say berth? I need to work with the kids on their writing or something."

Ratchet's reply was a smack on the side of my hands, "Stop talking. I'm working."

"My hands are injured not my mouth."

He narrowed a glare at me that I smiled sweetly at. On my way out of the house, Peter had pointed out that my knuckles were looking worse for wear. They were bruised and the skin was broken, but it wasn't a big deal. I had reassured the kids that it was nothing, but Ratchet deemed otherwise. I had hoped that when I came back from dropping them off he would've forgotten about it, but I guess I wasn't that lucky.

"You still have not told me what happened." Ratchet snapped as he rubbed Neosporin across my knuckles with a Q-tip I had provided him.

I shrugged, "The others already told you. I took the punching bag down to the garage to work out. They all saw me do it."

"You hurt yourself working out?"

"Yeah", I nodded, "Kick boxing. I took a few lessons in college, it burns calories like nobody's business."

Ratchet set the Q-tip down, "You didn't think to stop when you started to feel pain?"

"I didn't realize I was causing so much damage." I replied calmly, "I have a high tolerance of pain from the sports I used to play. I stopped when I first noticed the blood."

For a second neither of said a word or moved. I could tell that Ratchet didn't believe me. I could read it on his little, metal face, but I didn't offer up a new excuse. That would be too obvious. It was best to play dumb. People underestimated you when you played dumb.

My eyes darted back down to the list, "So obviously there are no Cybertronian swear words on here. Wanna enlighten me, Ratch?"

His reply was another slap to my fingers. I chuckled and pulled my hands back before quickly standing up. The list wasn't really long, but I still hadn't read through it all the way yet. I folded up the list and stuck it into my back pocket.

"You should take better care of yourself. I've noticed you take medicine often-"

"It's Excedrin, for headaches. A friend suggested them to me years ago when I started having the headaches." I shook my head, "It's no big-"

Ratchet interrupted me, "Not the red pills. You take a pill daily before bed. What is that for?"

My eyes widened, "My birth control? No. Nope. We're not going to talk about that."

"Is it essential? Do you-"

"No." I shook my head, "I refuse to explain to you what that medicine is for just like I refuse to talk to Jazz about more details on sparkmates."

"You spoke to him about sparkmates?"

"Yeah", A new voice chimed in. My head snapped to the side to see the condiment twins come in. Sideswipe spoke, "She also asked about guardian-ward bonds."

"What do you two slaggin' idiots want?" Ratchet growled. He continued on his rampage, still grumpy from having to deal with my transparent excuses and lack of information on my essential medication. However, I narrowed my eyes at the twins. I hadn't been suspicious when they lounged in the kitchen this morning as I made breakfast. I wasn't suspicious when they showed up in the office as I was speaking to Optimus this morning. Now, though, I was plenty suspicious. These jokers were showing up in every room I went to. The house wasn't that big which means there was usually at least one bot in any room I was in, but I never ran into these two this much. They were usually constantly on the move.

The only thing I didn't understand is why these two would follow me? Them stalking me was making it hard for me to avoid them. Assholes. If they wanted to play that game though, I could play too. I had learned a few things over the last couple days.

I sat back down and leaned back on my hands casually. Sideswipe was still cheekily replying to each complaint that Ratchet threw out. Sunstreaker on the other hand had locked his gaze onto me. I stared back unblinking. He quickly realized that I didn't plan on glancing away and narrowed his eyes in determination. So that's how I found myself in the stare down of the century with a foot tall metal warrior.

"Hey, Ratch." I spoke up, not breaking my gaze with Sunstreaker, "Maybe the twins here need a check-up. You were complaining that they were part of the group who hadn't gotten theirs done yet?"

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sideswipe's blue eyes widen. He shook his head, "I wouldn't say that, we aren't that important. The others should come first."

Sunstreaker saw my play and called me on it. His jaw clenched, "Good idea, human. Go ahead and get your check-up, Sides."

Sideswipe was arguing vehemently now against Ratchet, but I just narrowed my eyes at the yellow devil. I was hoping my little suggestion would have the two of them running. Check-ups from Ratchet seemed to make every single one of them run. Hell, I think I saw Optimus Prime flinch at the mention of it.

I let my gaze drift some to take in his features. I hadn't really looked at these guys that closely before. Sunstreaker had really humanish features, they all did, but this was the first time I was really taking it in. His metal face was very symmetrical and I figured his twin brother had identical features.

I was vaguely aware that Ratchet was dragging Sideswipe onto the stage to my right where the makeshift berths were when our stare down was interrupted by something I didn't expect.

The doorbell.

My eyes widened and I broke gazes with him to quickly stand up. Ratchet had stopped trying to get Sideswipe to stay still and the red monster took advantage of that moment and leaped off the stage to stand behind his brother. I glanced from a curious looking Ratchet to a smug Sunstreaker.

"Stay up here and stay quiet." I said before rushing out of the room. Grimlock stepped out of the office with Optimus and Prowl behind him. I motioned back to the room, "Stay in there."

I didn't stay to see if they listened and rushed down the stairs. I had this bad habit where I never checked who was behind the door before opening it. It was a force of habit really. Part of it was because I had no fear of who would be standing behind the door ever. The thought always hovered in my mind that if a danger was lurking behind the door I could take it head on. I didn't check in New York, and I didn't check here. I pulled the door open and stuck my head out only to freeze up in shock.

"K- _Kyle_?" I blurted. The green eyed man stood at my door with a smirk on his lips and a duffel bag around his shoulder. His blond hair was a ruffled mess, per usual, and his tall, broad frame wore a plaid button up shirt with jeans.

"Hey, Aj. Brought you your stuff." He shrugged his shoulder to bring attention to the duffel bag again, "Are you going to let me in? It was kind of a long drive."

Seconds passed where I didn't say anything or move. Kyle was at my door. Kyle Osborne. Shit. I slammed the door in his face only to quickly reopen it. His eyes were wide, but I offered a forced smile, "Don't move. Stay here. I'll be back."

I slammed the door again and ran into the living room. Wheeljack was by the bookshelf working on his little invention with Jazz hovering around it watching.

"It's really coming along!" Wheeljack cheered.

Jazz tilted his head at me, "Who was at the door?"

I rushed forward and grabbed both of them into my arms. They let out startled cries that I ignored for now. I could apologize for man handling them later. I ran back to the foyer and set them in front of the stairs, "To the office! Make sure everyone stays upstairs!"

They headed up the stairs and I ran into the kitchen where I spotted three jets lounging on the kitchen island looking at me curiously, "Go to your base. Stay there! Tell Megatron, Barricade, and Soundwave to stay in there too, and for the love of everything stay quiet."

"Why should we?" Starscream narrowed his eyes.

"Because if you don't I'll rip your wings off." I replied.

Thundercracker transformed, "Come on."

I watched all three jets fly toward the living room bathroom. I mentally thanked TC and then began to count off all the bots. All autobots were upstairs and the decepticons were in the living room bathroom. I was covered.

Quickly, I went back to the door and took a deep breath. Before opening the door I ran a hand through my messy hair. This time when I smiled it wasn't stressed or forced. It was a legitimate smile.

Kyle was still on the front porch looking confused as ever. He lifted an eyebrow at me, "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah. I just had to tidy up a bit." I replied and motioned for him to come in.

He stepped in with a small smile, "Were you talking to-"

" _Nope_." I cut him off and shut the door, "So, what- what are you doing here?"

He grinned showing off his dimples on his tan face, "I brought you your stuff like you asked."

"I asked you to _mail_ it to me. You drove all the way from New York to give me my stuff?"

"I'd do anything for you." Kyle replied sweetly. I hated how this guy could melt my rough exterior and make me feel like a high school girl with a petty crush. At the same time though, I kind of liked it. I bit my lower lip and walked toward the kitchen. He set my bag down by the stairs and followed.

I moved toward the fridge, "Are you hungry? Maybe something to drink?"

"Just some water would be great." Kyle replied and sat down at the table. I moved to get him a glass then sat across from him.

As he drank, I let a smirk cross my lips, "Seriously though, Kyle. All the way from New York? I mean how many fi-" I paused and lowered my voice, "fights are you missing?"

He set down his glass after taking a sip and leaned across the table to whisper, "Why are we whispering?"

Oh, just because I don't want any small cybertronians overhearing about my involvement with fighting. No other reason.

"Umm." I shrugged, "Just answer me."

He chuckled, "I took a few sick days. I figured I could visit some family in Florida while down here."

"You have family in Florida?" My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, "I never knew that."

"Neither of us talk about family too much, Aj."

"Touché." I mumbled.

Kyle continued, "So why are you staying here for two months?" I began to spin the tale of my sick sister and her three kids who didn't know. Kyle listened intently the entire time with his gorgeous green eyes locked onto me. At the end of the story, the story lacking living toys mind you, he shook his head, "I'm so sorry, Aj. I hope you sister is alright."

"The doctors are hopeful." I shrugged.

He reached across the table to set his hand on top of mine, "How are you handling it? Really?"

Kyle knew me inside and out. I never talked about Aubrey, but he knew I had family issues. He knew that I was the type of person to bottle everything up inside of me until I exploded one day. Kyle knew me just like I knew him. I sighed, "It's…confusing. I missed her. I missed her a lot and seeing Aubrey again was…I just don't know what to do."

"Well, I just don't want to see you get hurt." Kyle replied, "It seemed like your sister really crushed you. You don't want that to happen again do you?"

"Of course not." I shook my head and his hand tightened around mine.

"I just don't want to see you put your heart on the line to get it stomped on again." He said smoothly. I didn't know how to reply so he continued, "What about her kids?"

I didn't even realize I was smiling at the mention of them until a chuckle escaped my lips, "The kids are…the kids are great. Peter, the oldest, he's a smart kid and he's so responsible for his age. Then the twins, Tyler and Taylor, they're just… I _love_ these kids, Kyle. They had me wrapped around their fingers within days."

"That's good." Kyle nodded. He shifted in his seat and his eyes widened slightly. "What is this?" I watched as he pushed his chair back and reached under the table. He laughed to himself before sitting back up with a dark gray decepticon in his hand, "Transformers?"

I was frozen in my seat staring at Megatron in Kyle's hand. The leader hadn't moved a single finger yet and just let Kyle hold him. How the hell had he gotten out here and under the table? He was dead. Deader than dead. I would officially declare myself an autobot just to stomp his ass into the ground.

"This thing is cool." Kyle chuckled and set Megatron on the table, "Where'd you get it?"

"Uh, it belongs to the kids. They're huge fans." I swallowed the lump in my throat.

Kyle chuckled, "I used to love the show as a kid. You still haven't seen the movies yet, have you?"

I shook my head, "It's on my to-do list."

"You know, this guy, Megatron, he was always my favorite." Kyle smiled and picked up him up again to look him over.

My shock and fear of having Megatron out here was shattered with Kyle's statement, "What? Him? Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Megatron is kind of a dick." I replied with ease. Kyle had Megatron facing me right now and I watched as his red eyes narrowed at me. He was obviously offended. Not that I cared. He was still good as dead in my mind.

Kyle laughed, "How do you know? You haven't even seen the movies."

"Call it a hunch." I mumbled. I reached across the table and took Megatron from Kyle's hand, "Lemme just put this away."

He nodded and I walked out of the kitchen toward the laundry room.

"Put me down." Megatron hissed as I stepped into the other room.

"What part of _stay put_ didn't you understand?" I snapped in a hushed tone. The dryer was filled with clothes so I opened the washer and threw him in there. He yelled something else at me, but I shut the washer door and then the laundry door itself.

Kyle was standing by the table when I came back in. He pointed to the back rooms, "Were you talking-"

" _No_." I replied and came closer, "So, did you…did you return the money to boss?"

Kyle's face fell, "Yeah, I did, but he wasn't happy. He's still pissed you missed the fights that night."

"I knew he would be." I sighed, "As long as he has the money it doesn't matter. I'll make it up to him when I get back."

Kyle gave me a reassuring smile, "I'll help where I can."

I honestly didn't deserve a friend like him. Kyle was always there for me when I needed him. We took care of each other. I kept thinking of the past, about how Aubrey abandoned me and that I was alone, but I wasn't really alone anymore was I? I had Kyle. Maybe Kyle was my Sideswipe.

"I should probably head out." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "It's a long drive to Miami."

I chuckled, "Yeah, it is. Be careful alright?"

"Aren't I always?" He joked.

Kyle and I walked side by side back to the foyer. It was nice seeing him. Nice talking to him face to face like this. It was much needed, and a part of me wanted him to stay longer, but it really was a long drive to Miami and I didn't want to hold him up any longer.

"I must have missed these guys earlier when I set your bag down." Kyle chuckled.

My blood ran cold as I glanced over my shoulder to see Kyle staring down at a red and yellow robot at the foot of the staircase. After I declared myself an autobot to kill Megatron, I would switch sides then murder the twins.

Kyle picked up Sideswipe, "I can't remember their names."

"I call them tweedle dee and tweedle dumbass." I replied with a glare that Kyle didn't see. He looked back at Sunstreaker on the ground and I could tell he was about to pick him up. Sunstreaker noticed as well because I could see his metal body tense up, " _Wait, no_!"

Kyle paused midway from grabbing him to look back at me, "What?"

"Don't pick up the yellow one." I replied quickly.

"Why?"

I bit my lips briefly, "He's- _It's_ umm absolutely filthy. You do not want to see where it's been. Trust me."

Kyle shrugged. He tossed Sideswipe back onto the ground and headed toward the door. Sideswipe had landed on his back and I watched as he angrily sat up to glare at Kyle. I pointed at him before moving back toward Kyle who was none the wiser.

"Don't let the kids make you weak." He spoke up, "Remember who you are, Aj."

"I'll keep that in mind." I replied. Kyle leaned down and pressed his lips against mine briefly. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to realize what he was doing. How long had I waited for something like that? Years. Though as he pulled away with a smile I didn't feel anything. There was nothing behind the kiss. My lips didn't tingle, I wasn't grinning like an idiot, it was just a peck. It wasn't what I was expecting at all.

"Good luck, Aj." He left the house. I watched from the doorway as he got into what I assumed was a rental car, since he didn't own one, and drove away. Ok, so maybe I was wrong about being in love with the guy, but he definitely was my best friend. I slowly shut the door and turned back around to see the twins staring at me.

"So, this is awkward." Sideswipe broke the silence with a nervous grin.

I gave him a smile, "Oh, you two are _so_ dead."

* * *

 

Jazz liked knowing things. It was as simple as that. Why? The list was long. It stretched to the pit and back. As the head of Special Operations and as a professional saboteur, his main reason should've been something along the lines of _'knowledge is power'_. Which he did live by, knowing his enemy had saved his aft more times than he could count. Knowledge in his field of expertise gave him the upper hand. However, another reason was just plain curiosity. Jazz wanted to know because he was curious.

His latest curiosity? A human femme by the name of Aimee Jane Bradshaw. She had a different family designation than the younglings who went by Williams. They hadn't known what hers was so he went digging and found an identification card with the information. Only 26 human years old. He had parts that were older than the femme. Slag, most of him was made up of parts older than her.

Jazz wasn't entirely sure why his curiosity was so set on her, but it was. The younglings were interesting, but they were easy. Aimee Jane, or Aj, however was not easy. Peter, Tyler, and Taylor didn't know much about her and whenever he tried to pry information from Aj herself she turned the conversation around rather expertly. He would've been impressed if her tactics weren't keeping information away from him.

Today had been a breakthrough though. Someone new had shown up, and the human guy was spouting off information he probably wouldn't have figured out on his own. The moment she had sent him upstairs he was already planning around it. He wasn't the only one with that idea. Jazz had watched Megatron get warped under the table by Skywarp only to be caught moments later. He saw the twins get caught too and now all three were locked away in the new brig as he ran free. The difference between those three and him was that Jazz knew what he was doing. Sneaking around tended to be his expertise and he wasn't surprised in the slightest when Aj didn't catch him.

So now some new information was on the table that only four bots knew. Aj had a sick sister and that's why she was watching the younglings. The younglings themselves had no idea that their carrier was sick, and it didn't seem like Aj wanted them to know based on the way she threatened Megatron, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker not to breathe a word. Jazz wasn't worried about the three of them saying anything. Megatron seemed to have his own agenda in mind by knowing the information, and Jazz was already aware that the twins had something planned as well based on the way they had been stalking the poor femme all morning.

Another new twist of information dealt with fighting and money which was a twist that Jazz didn't expect in the slightest. It had surprised Megatron as well, but not the twins. Jazz tucked away their lack of surprise in the back of his processor to figure out later.

Aimee Jane Bradshaw, 26 human years old, watching her sick sister's younglings, fighting others for money.

Jazz had just scratched the surface. He didn't just want random facts, he wanted to know who Aj was. Why she did what she did. Maybe it was a tad bit obsessive, but Jazz had nothing else to do while he waited for a ride home.

A sly smile graced his lips as he sat on the end of the stair's handrail. The front door opened and Aj walked in. Her light blue eyes landed on Jazz in surprise, "Hey, Jazz. Anything on fire?"

"Not a thing." Jazz replied with a quick thumbs up.

The younglings ran in behind her from school.

"Hi Jazz!" Taylor cheered excitedly.

Jazz chuckled at her high energy, "How you doin', little lady?"

Aj let out a quick sigh, "Hey, Peter, go open the dryer and washer for me will you?"

"Is someone in there?" Peter asked curiously.

"Yeah. Megajerk, Rosie, and Sunflower." She chirped back and headed up the stairs with Taylor who was calling out for Bumblebee. Jazz chuckled at the nicknames. She was good at them. He actually hadn't heard her call Sunstreaker the same thing twice. He knew that Sunstreaker had noticed it and loathed it. That was probably why she did it.

His optics landed on Tyler who sulked into the living room quietly. He grappled down to the ground quickly then transformed to follow Tyler into the living room. He was quick to transform again and it didn't take the mech long to get up to the couch where Tyler sat with a frown.

"Why the long face, kiddo?" Jazz questioned. Wheeljack was still across the room working on what Jazz was already referring to as a soon to be bomb. He had faith in Jackie's skills no doubt, but Jazz knew the mech well. He knew that when Wheeljack rushed, things got more dangerous and Wheeljack was trying to get this thing done quick. Now add in the fact that he was using subpar materials? Jazz didn't plan on standing too close when he activated the thing that was for sure.

Tyler sighed, "It's nothing."

The youngling hugged his book bag to his chest. Jazz took a seat and leaned forward, "Aw come on, cadet. You can tell little ol' meh."

"C-Cadet?"

Jazz bit back a smirk, "Well yeah, Aj declared herself neutral, but I can see it in your optics. You're an autobot in the makin'."

The young boy's lips twitched up slightly, "I wanna be like Blue. I wanna be a sniper."

"Sounds good to meh, but you gotta start at the bottom and work your way up. Got it cadet?"

Tyler nodded, "I got it!"

"Got it, what?"

Jazz had to hold back a laugh as the youngling's face grew serious, "I got it, sir!"

"Good, now tell the Jazz man what's bothering ya."

Tyler sighed, "It's…It's silly." Jazz didn't say a thing and just waited for Tyler to continue on his own accord. After a moment the boy sighed, "There's this…there's this girl. Her name is Sophia."

"Sophia?"

"Yeah. I did something bad. I…I made her cry." Tyler said softly then quickly added, "But I didn't mean to! I just wanted to talk to her!"

Jazz crossed his arms, "How'd you make the little femme cry?"

"I pulled her hair." Tyler said with shame, "Not too hard, but… That's what Tommy does! And George and Jeffy."

Jazz narrowed his optics behind his visor, "They all pull her hair?"

Tyler bit his lip, "She's just…Sophia is really nice, and she has really curly, black hair and she always smells really nice."

"Ah", Jazz chuckled, "You like Sophia."

"No!" Tyler cried in argument. "I do not! I just- I- I don't know."

Jazz liked the younglings. He really did. It wasn't often the bots got to hang around kids. The youngest cybertronian he knew was Bumblebee and it wasn't often they found themselves in the presence of human younglings. So it wasn't surprising when all three of the kids grew on the bots.

"Well, listen up, cadet!" Jazz stood up with an authoritative voice. It wasn't one he used often, and it was tinged with amusement. Tyler sat up straighter, "As an autobot in training, you can't go pulling Sophia's hair no more. In fact, you have to keep any other guys from pulling it. Got it?"

Tyler deflated, "Um… Alright. Then what do I do, Jazz, sir?"

Jazz had to hold back a chuckle again. Primus, when was the last time someone called him sir with a straight face? He nodded, "Tomorrow, you're gonna go up to her and say you're sorry."

"Sorry?"

"Yupp. Then you're gonna tell her that you think she's the _prettiest_ femme you've seen and that you wanna be friends."

Tyler's dark blue eyes widened, " _What_!? I can't do that! My friends will laugh at me."

Jazz smirked, "Listen to your commanding officer, kiddo. Put a little trust in meh."

He opened his mouth then closed it again. Tyler sat in thought then finally opened his mouth again, "Are you sure it'll work? What if she doesn't forgive me?"

"I know it'll work, an' she'll most _definitely_ forgive you little man."

A slow smile spread across the boy's lips. He jumped up, "Thanks, Jazz sir! I'm gonna go tell Blue that I'm a cadet!"

The thought of Tyler actually being an autobot, of him being part of their war, was sickening. The only reason he could joke about it like he did was the fact that there was no way in the pit they could join the war. Living in a universe where the war was just fiction was a blessing that none of them realized they even had. Jazz watched as he ran out of the living room and up the stairs. Wheeljack left the room as well probably to find more supplies. Another bout of chuckles escaped his vocalizer as he shook his helm.

"What was that all about?" Sideswipe entered the room. One jetpack usage later and the red mech was standing by Jazz.

"Nothin' much. Glad to be out?"

Sideswipe shrugged, "That was the longest she left anyone in the brig, about a joor if my chronometer is working right. Nothing compared to how long Prowl usually leaves us in there."

"If it were up to Prowler I think he'd leave the two of you in there till it was time to go home."

"Probably." Sideswipe nodded. He had no doubt about Jazz's words. It sounded about right. "It was kind of fun though. Megatron was right next door and if you think we didn't annoy him the entire time you're wrong."

Jazz chuckled, "We?"

"Alright, so mainly me." Jazz was sure that Sideswipe did everything in his power to annoy the decepticon leader, and Jazz was also sure that all it probably took was Sideswipe talking. He also knew that Sunstreaker was probably just as annoyed. "So, how in the pit did you not get caught by Aj?"

"For starters, I aint a bright red target." Jazz grinned. Sideswipe let out a scoff, but Jazz continued, "Now, why don't you tell me why you and your brother weren't surprised by today's news?"

Sideswipe smirked, "What's in it for me?"

It wasn't often that Jazz was on this side of the deal. It was usually the other way around where Sideswipe was paying Jazz for information. Jazz shrugged, "What you lookin' for?"

Jazz watched as the red mech thought for a moment. He knew that Sideswipe wasn't stupid and would take advantage of this opportunity. He was probably talking to his brother over the bond too. Finally, Sides nodded, "Alright, any new information you get about her you tell us."

"I can do that."

" _And_ , you owe us a favor when we get back home."

Jazz paused before smiling, "Deal, now?"

"Sunny and I caught her in the garage last night."

"When she was working out?"

Sideswipe chuckled, "Working out, yeah. She was beating the slag out of a hanging bag. She isn't just some femme who knows a few defensive strikes. She was someone else last night. Like she slipped into gladiator mode or something."

The twins didn't like talking about their gladiator days to anyone. They never even really mentioned it, but the exception was with Jazz. Sideswipe wasn't bothered by mentioning it here and there with the smaller mech, but all he really did was mention it. Never in detail. His lovely brother on the other hand still didn't say a word about it.

"That's interestin'." Jazz hummed. "That why you're stalkin' her?"

"Yupp." Sideswipe nodded, "You know, she actually won some points with Sunny today. She kept that fragging human glitch from picking him up."

Jazz laughed, "Who would've guessed that savin' Sunstreaker's paint job was the quickest way to his spark?"

The conversation quieted when Jazz heard approaching footsteps. His smile grew when Aj herself walked in. She glanced around before looking at him and Sides, "Have y'all seen Grimlock?"

"Nope. I've been otherwise occupied." Sideswipe grinned at her. Aj narrowed her eyes at him in response.

Jazz stepped toward her, "I was hopin' to run into ya."

"How come?" She asked curiously.

"I just wanted to let you know that I think you're the _prettiest_ femme and I wanna be your friend." Jazz grinned with a joking tone.

Aj's face scrunched up in confusion before quickly switching to suspicion, "What did you do? Is something on fire?"

The femme was more than paranoid when it came to flames. Jazz chuckled and shook his head, "Nah. I just wanted to let you know."

Aj paused before walking forward and pulling a paper out of her pocket, "Well, since I'm the prettiest femme", Her tone was mocking, "You can answer some questions."

"Shoot." Jazz nodded and even Sideswipe looked curious.

She glanced at the paper, "The kids gave me a list of cybertronian words, but I'm still struggling with the time terms. I thought breem was like 7 minutes, right?"

"Well, technically a breem is about 8.5 earth minutes. A klick is closer at 1.2 minutes. Then you have joor which is about 6.5 earth hours."

Sideswipe continued, "Nano-klick is about a second. Orn is around 13 earth days."

She shook her head, "8.5, 1.2, why can't it just round up or something? I have to do math to convert?"

"Looks like it." Sideswipe shrugged.

She let out a groan and shoved the list back into a pocket, "Fuc- Forget that." Jazz watched as she glanced over her shoulder as if looking for the younglings. She turned back to the two of them. "Well, nice talking to y'all. Jazz, stay out of trouble." Her optics shot to Sideswipe, "You, stop following me, same goes for your brother."

Aj began to leave, but Sideswipe wasn't the type to let things drop, "Oh, hold up! Tell me more about that guy who showed up! The two of you kissed!"

Jazz watched as Sideswipe ran after Aj who had picked up her pace up the stairs. His smile faltered some at the mention of the stranger and the kiss. Something just didn't sit right with him about the entire scenario and Jazz didn't know what it was about it that he didn't like, but Jazz would figure it out eventually. After all, he liked knowing things.

* * *

 

I groggily sat up in bed. The lamp on my desk was on and Ratchet was standing on the desk reading through one of the random books that had been on my desk. It was a humorous sight to see him flip the pages of the book, but my mind wasn't focused on that.

My eyes glanced to the clock on my bedside. 4:49 AM. I had gone to bed hours ago after the kids talked to Aubrey. Why did I wake up? It wasn't the light on the desk. That didn't bother me. I was a light sleeper, but I was good at ignoring things that would keep others from sleeping. So if Ratchet's muffled steps, page turning, or night light didn't wake me up then what did?

"Is everything ok?" Ratchet questioned.

My eyes darted to him to see him staring at me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and glanced at the open door, "I…yeah. Night."

He nodded and I laid back down and closed my eyes. Seconds passed and I was nearly dead asleep again when I heard the faint noise that had woken me up in the first place. My eyes snapped open and I jumped out of bed. I was pretty sure that Ratchet was following me out, but I didn't look back to check. As I got halfway down the hall Tyler's voice cried out, " _Aj_!"

I slid into their room and flipped the lights on. Tyler was half out of bed with Blue on his shoulder. Taylor wasn't in bed and Bumblebee was trying to climb out of the mess of covers to get to Taylor who was standing in the doorway to the bathroom. I crossed the room to see the vomit that had landed on the tiled bathroom floor. Taylor's skin was flushed and pale and tears filled her eyes.

"I-I-I'm sorry. I tried- I tried to get to the toilet." The tears began to fall.

"Hey, it's ok." I reassured her. I picked her up and stepped over the vomit to get her to the toilet just in case she had to throw up again. Seconds later she was leaned over the porcelain bowl puking again. I held back her blonde hair and rubbed her back as she threw up whatever was left in her stomach. When the throwing up stopped she sobbed. I continued to rub her back, "Hey, get it all out. Don't try to hold it back."

Peter's bathroom door opened to my right and he stood there with a concerned look and a glass of water. Taylor sat on the floor. "Swish some water in your mouth, spit it out, and then actually drink some. Stay with your sister."

I stood up as Peter sat down beside her. Taylor turned to look up at me, "Don't leave, Aj."

"I just gotta get some medicine, ok? I'll be right back." I said softly. Bumblebee ran up behind me. I pushed him forward so he leaned against Taylor's leg.

Ratchet was waiting by the door of their bedroom. I scooped him up and placed him on my shoulder as I rushed downstairs. He didn't complain about being picked up, "What happened?"

"Taylor threw up." I answered.

"I heard the first sound, but I didn't recognize it." He said mostly to himself.

I shook my head, "Don't beat yourself up."

I turned the kitchen light on and began to dig through the medicine cabinet by the fridge. Ratchet let me look in silence before speaking again, "It woke you up. It was a very faint noise."

There really wasn't an answer for that because it wasn't really a question. Plus, the answer made me sound kind of pathetic. I was a light sleeper, but more than that it was as if my body was tense when I slept. Like I was always expecting something bad to happen so even the slightest sounds from the kids had me awake.

"It wasn't anything she ate or Tyler, Peter, and I would be sick too. I'm guessing the stomach virus. Hopefully it's only the 24 hour bug." I paused and grabbed the kids ibuprofen. It wasn't anything serious, I needed to calm down.

Ratchet glanced at the medicine bottle, "Will that fix it?"

"It's just if she has a fever. If she doesn't then I have no medicine to give her. Any over the counter stuff could make it worse. The stomach virus kind of just has to run it's course."

"That's all?"

"Yeah", I rushed back up the stairs, "I have to keep her hydrated of course."

I put Ratchet down at the top of the stairs when I noticed bots coming out of the office to question me. He could explain everything, I had a kid to help. I headed back into the bathroom. To see the kids were in the same spot except now Tyler was sitting behind Taylor rubbing her back slowly as Peter spoke soothing words.

"Did she throw up anymore?"

Peter nodded, "One more time."

I knelt down and felt her head. She did feel much warmer than usual. I poured the right amount of pink medicine into the cup and offered it to her. It only took a few minutes to convince her to take it. By then a crowd of bots stood at Peter's bathroom door watching.

I set the medicine aside on the edge of the tub as she downed some water, "Do you still feel like throwing up?"

Taylor shook her head. I leaned over and scooped her up into my arms then stood up. I set her on the bathroom counter and soaked a hand towel under the faucet. "Peter, can you bring me-"

"The cleaning stuff?" Peter finished my sentence. I nodded and he ran out of the room. I used the towel to wipe Taylor's face slowly. I pushed all her hair back so it wasn't in her face and used the cool towel to wipe her neck as well.

Tyler flushed the toilet and then stood by my side with both Bumblebee and Bluestreak in his arms. Taylor frowned, "Sorry for waking everyone up."

"Silly goose, you don't have to apologize for anything." I said with a small smile to reassure her again, "I just need you to get better, ok?"

Peter came back in with a blue bucket that had cleaning materials in it. He set it down and I picked Taylor up again. She wrapped her arms and legs around me tightly, burying her head into the crook of my neck, "Alright, show's over y'all. Beat it. Peter, Tyler, back to bed."

I carried Taylor through Peter's room out into the hall and then toward my room. The covers were still thrown back from where I had lept out of bed. It was easy to set Taylor where I had been lying less than ten minutes ago.

"Aj?" Tyler's voice spoke up as I covered Taylor with my comforter. I glanced back to see Peter and Tyler standing there. Tyler held the bucket, but it was empty now. "I left the stuff in the bathroom, but mama left a bucket by my bed when I was sick so I didn't have to try and run to the bathroom."

"Good idea, buddy." I nodded and took the bucket. Ratchet and Bumblebee stood by the kids. I turned to Peter, "Get him to bed?"

Peter nodded and led Tyler out. Tyler gave his sister one last worried look before leaving. I set the bucket by the bedside and ran my hand across her blonde locks again. Her eyes were already closing again.

"Can I- Can I stay here? I won't be any trouble, I just wanna keep an optic on her." Bumblebee shifted nervously by Ratchet. He crossed the room and I picked him up to put him in bed by Taylor. He sat on her pillow and kept his eyes on her.

I glanced back at Ratchet, "Watch her. I'll be back."

He nodded and headed toward the desk to stand on again. I left my room and headed back toward the twin's room. The lights were off and Tyler was in bed but he sat up when I came in, "Is she ok? I don't want Tay to be sick."

I stepped toward him and gently made him lie back in bed, "She'll be fine." I pulled the covers around him, "She's a trooper. Now, sleep."

He nodded and shifted under the covers. Bluestreak gave me a tight smile, but didn't say anything for once. The bathroom light was still on. I walked through the bathroom to check on Peter. He was in bed with Prowl sitting on his nightstand reading from a glowing tablet in his hand.

"What is that?" I whispered.

"Data pad. Will Taylor be alright?"

I nodded and glanced at Peter's form one last time before pulling the door shut. It took me about ten minutes or so to clean up the bathroom. By time I had finished Tyler was fast asleep again. I headed downstairs to throw away the paper towels I had used and put away the cleaning supplies.

"What happened?" Skywarp asked from the kitchen counter where he stood by Thundercracker and Starscream. It was almost as if they had been waiting for me.

I stuffed the cleaning stuff under the sink, "Taylor got sick. The stomach virus."

"Virus?" Starscream screeched. I shushed him, "How do humans use anti-virus to remove it?"

I blinked before shaking my head, "We…We come with anti-virus. It's in us. We call it an immune system."

"I guess humans aren't as useless as I thought." Starscream shrugged and flew out of the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes. Thundercracker spoke up, "We hope she feels better."

"Yeah, we'll help the fleshy get better! I'll go say hi." Skywarp said. I reached out to grab him, but Thundercracker beat me to it. Skywarp sighed before flying after Starscream. I chuckled and nodded at Thundercracker who flew out next.

I flipped the kitchen lights off then headed back upstairs to my room. Taylor was fast asleep. I sat down in my desk chair. Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me, "Aren't you going back to sleep?"

"Nah, I'm gonna stay up just in case she gets sick again." I shrugged.

"You need sleep." He pressed,

I waved his concern away, "I gotta wake Peter and Tyler up at 7 anyways for school."

"And Taylor?"

"She's staying home today. I'm not gonna send her to school sick." I replied. He nodded and I leaned forward in my seat to see what Ratchet was reading, "You do realize this is a dictionary, right?"

"I was looking up birth-control."

It was going to be a long two hours awake.


	8. Sick

* * *

_"I like to call in sick to work at places where I've never held a job. Then when the manager tells me I don't work there, I tell them I'd like to. But not today, as I'm sick." –Jarod Kintz_

* * *

 

I was speeding. It was a 35 mile per hour zone and I was going closer to 50. To be honest, I've always had a lead foot when it came to driving. It was probably a good thing I didn't have a car back home in New York. If I did I'd be drowning in speeding tickets. When driving the kids though, I usually curb my speed racer tendencies for good reason. My eyes drifted over the area looking for cops as if I'd be able to slow down in time not to get in trouble if I happened to spot one. I wouldn't mind going the speed limit except I had a sick little girl at home being babysat by a group of mini Cybertronians. Do you see my worry? I wear it well.

After I had dropped Tyler and Peter off at school I took a detour to Walmart to pick up some supplies. Sitting in my passenger was a plastic bag filled with a variety of Gatorade and a couple soup cans. The sports drink had plenty of electrolytes her body needed right now and I figured the more flavors I got the higher the chances there'd be one she likes. Besides, whatever she didn't drink I'd drink eventually so it wouldn't end up a waste.

The truck turned into the neighborhood and I lowered my speed some. A sigh slipped my lips as my hands tightened around the steering wheel. I was beyond tense. My after hour workouts in the garage were a twisted form of therapy for me, and although it worked it still didn't feel the same. I was itching for a fight. An honest to God, bare all, brawl. At this rate I was desperate enough to go bar diving looking for some buzzed idiot to start something just so I had the excuse to beat the crap out of them. I couldn't do that though. My mind had established a strict 'no fighting' rule for the remainder of the two months. No fighting until I was back in New York far away from the kids.

Far away from the kids. The thought reverberated in my mind and made my heart ache. Obviously I had to leave them eventually. I knew that was what the end game was. This wasn't some happily ever after story and I knew that, yet the thought still made me want to clutch my chest in pain. As I parked, I came to the conclusion that my best option was to just not think about it. I wouldn't think about leaving them yet. Just don't think about it, Aj.

When Kyle had shown up he brought with him all of my stuff including the black knock off ray bans worn on my face. I grabbed them and tossed them in the glove compartment so I wouldn't forget them the next time I drove. With my sunglasses came an abundance of clothes. I was no longer wearing the raggedy jeans I had shown up in. Now I wore a different pair of raggedy jeans.

I grabbed the bag in the passenger seat and headed up to the front door. I still hadn't managed to fix the garage door opener, but it honestly wasn't very high up on my to-do list. Especially considering I had made the garage my new work out area. I pushed through the front door and was greeted by a lack of gunfire. That was always a good sign. The TV in the living room was still playing the movie I had put in for Taylor before leaving.

"Look, this is where she meets Kristoff." Taylor's small voice spoke up from the couch. I shut the front door behind me and headed toward the living room to check on her. She was lying on the couch with a blanket tucked around her small frame. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were sitting on top of her watching the movie. Surprisingly, Skywarp was sitting on the arm of the couch focused completely on the movie Frozen playing on the large TV. As if I wasn't surprised enough, Barricade was in car form parked under the living room coffee table watching silently. At least I assumed he was watching silently. For all I knew he could've been sleeping or something I guess. What I did know was that he wasn't terrorizing me and honestly that's all I really needed to know.

"How do you feel, Tay?" I asked and reached down to touch her forehead. The fever had been short lived last night and hadn't returned.

She kept her gaze on the TV, but still answered, "Ok. I haven't thrown up." Her small hand came untucked from under the blanket so she could point to the empty bucket by the couch.

"Good." I smiled and gently pushed stray pieces of her blonde hair out of her face, "I want you to drink some Gatorade. I have blue, red, green, and yellow. Which one do you want?"

Taylor tore her gaze away from Anna and Kristoff to smile at me, "Can I have blue?"

"Course, honey." I nodded and headed toward the kitchen with my bag of anti-sickness. There were no bots or cons in the kitchen so I quickly began to put the stuff away. In one of the cabinets by the fridge was a cup with a lid and straw so I filled that one up with ice and then began to pour in some of the blue Gatorade. Taylor probably couldn't hold down any real food yet so I'd wait until later to try and get some soup in her.

I walked back into the living room to see Taylor had sat up. The blanket still covered her legs and Bumblebee sat in her lap while Bluestreak sat beside her. Both bots weren't as focused on the movie as Skywarp was. I handed Taylor the cup and came around to sit by her.

"Try and drink it all, but do it slowly. Alright?"

She nodded and began to sip up the Gatorade. I scooped up Bluestreak making him let out a short yell of surprise and then dropped in the seat where he had been in one fluid motion. I set Bluestreak down in my own lap and then leaned back against my seat to relax. Frozen was still playing on TV. This was actually one of the few newer movies I had seen. Figures that the one new movie I actually decide to watch is about two sisters who were close and then fell apart. Of course, at the end of the movie they're reunited and everything is just chipper and cheery.

"Disney needs to direct my life." I mumbled under my breath.

"What?" Taylor questioned with a curious look.

I grinned at her, "Nothing."

Truthfully, my life was nearly a disney movie already. We had the cute, lovable kids who got handed a bad hand of cards when it came to the game of life. The missing parents. I couldn't talk to animals, but I could communicate with Grimlock and that was pretty damn close, right?

"You're silly." Taylor said with a smile. I made a goofy face making her giggle. Her laughs died down and I watched as her attention shifted to Bumblebee in her lap. He was fidgeting as Taylor brushed her fingers against the door wings sticking out of his back.

The sound of short laughs came from the bot, "Taylor, that tickles!"

The door wings were an interesting topic. Only Prowl, Wheeljack, Bluestreak, Barricade, and Bumblebee had them. I'd say it had something to do with the names that started with B, but Prowl and Wheeljack had to go and throw a wrench in that pattern with his name. What I noticed about the door wings was that sometimes it showed emotions. It reminded me somewhat of how humans talked with their hands. Bluestreak's wings for example tended to flutter a lot when he got on one of his ranting conversations. The more excited he got about what he was talking about the more they would move. On the other hand, stoic Prowl's wings rarely moved. I noticed they would occasionally tense up in a situation, but that was about as much as I got to see them move. Wheeljack was about the same as Prowl in the sense that his didn't move much. His were different than the others anyways being much slimmer. Besides, most of my attention was drawn to Wheeljack's glowing fins when he spoke. Those things gave away more emotion than his wings. Barricade was also one I couldn't say much about because he often tended to stay in his alt mode. The few times he wasn't speeding around the house looking like a mostly black police cruiser he would be in bipedal mode, I'm getting good at these Cybertronian terms, terrorizing me. I never really paid much attention to his door wings during those times considering I was mostly focused on not pelted with his mini bullets. Out of all four Cybertronians, Bumblebee's wings moved the most. Honestly, I don't think I ever saw the bot with his wings still. My eyes glanced down to my lap where Bluestreak sat.

"You can touch them if you want." Bluestreak chimed as if he noticed what I had been staring at, "I don't mind. Just be careful, they're really sensitive in certain areas and tend to-"

"It's ok." I shook my head, "What are they- I mean, why do you have them? Is it an appearance thing?"

Bluestreak laughed and shook his head, "Not at all! Our door wings are very helpful in battle. Tyler told you about my position, right?" More like the kid never shut up about it, "Well, my door wings have sensors that tell me information about the area around me like wind speed and such."

I gave a curt nod, "That makes a lot of sense."

"Since our door wings are covered in sensors it also makes it our weakest point. It hurts an absolute ton when the get shot or ripped off." Bluestreak kept talking and my eyes widened at the whole 'ripped off' thing. Ouch. I guess it was a good thing Bumblebee was still a toy when his door wing fell off. "It feels really good when they're touched right though."

"Anything can feel good if you touch it right." Skywarp added suggestively. I glanced over at the couch's armrest to see his smug smirk.

Poor Bluestreak shook his head and his wings went rigid, "I didn't mean it like that! It just feels like a- like a- Oh, what did Ratchet call it…. A massage!"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Skytwerp." I replied and swatted him off the couch. He cackled and landed on the floor where he resumed watching the movie.

"Aj?" Taylor spoke up, "What did you mean? Isn't the gutter outside?"

I shook my head, "Nothing. It means nothing. Ignore me, ignore him." Skywarp let out another cackle while Bluestreak rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. The sight of Bluestreak internally panicking was kind of adorable. I couldn't help but chuckle at the bot, "So, does this mean if I pet Barricade's door wings he'll be my friend?"

The result of my joke of a question was immediate. Barricade roared his engine and gunned out from under the table to speed out of the room. I guess he hadn't been asleep after all.

"I like them, Blue." Bumblebee said. Taylor continued to pet the door wings as if he was a small puppy, "Do you think Ratchet would give me an upgrade?"

"Upgrade?"

"Back home Bee doesn't have door wings." Bluestreak answered, "Also his alt mode is a Volkswagen rather than a Camaro." I couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up in my chest. Essentially back home Bumblebee was literally a yellow bug. The irony in that was not lost on me. Bluestreak continued, "There are downsides to door wings though. Like I said, they're really sensitive and I don't think Ratchet would make you some. He always complains when he was to fix mine and Prowl's."

I chuckled and lifted my finger to brush against the top of Bluestreak's right wing. He squirmed and gave out a short laugh, but after a few minutes of me brushing my finger against his wings lightly he began to make a sound similar to an engine running or a kitty purring. These guys were absolutely precious.

"Will you rub me down next?" Skywarp snickered.

Ok, so maybe they weren't all precious. I could think of a few other adjectives for Skywarp right now and only a couple of them I felt comfortable enough to say in front of Taylor's young ears. So instead I settled at shooting the seeker a glare.

"It's done!" Wheeljack's voice declared over the sound of Elsa singing and Skywarp laughing at his own joke. I had almost forgotten the autobot engineer was over there working on the machine. "Bee, Blue! Can you gather the others?"

"Sure, Wheeljack." Bumblebee replied. Both bots leaped off our laps and ran off. Skywarp disappeared as well to get his own band of living toys. I stood and took a few steps over to stand next to the other couch that had its back to the project. Sitting about a foot away from the tall bookshelf was a metal box. I didn't know how else to describe it. I mean, it wasn't an exact box, but it had that boxy shape with random wires sticking out from certain spots and connecting to other spots. More than half of the material it was made from I had no idea where it came from and something told me I didn't want to know.

"It looks…good?"

Wheeljack preened at my words with his fins glowing bright blue. Apparently he hadn't picked up on my hesitant tone. He nodded, "Thank you, Aj."

"How does it work?"

"Well you see", Wheeljack began his explanation. Every word that came out of his mouth at that point was utter nonsense to me. The scientific terms went right over my head and more than half of the terms I was sure he had made up to confuse me more. After a minute he tilted his head, "Understand?"

I blinked, "Um. Yes."

"Great! I'm going to get it warmed up." He replied and turned back to the machine that was about an inch shorter than him. I glanced back at Taylor who had risen off the couch and was now trying to get closer. I stepped toward her and ushered her back to the couch.

Taylor frowned, "Aj, I wanna see it work."

"You can watch from here. I don't want you to strain yourself." I replied. I also didn't want her standing too close to the machine just in case it went boom. Slowly, the other bots and cons began to gather in the room. Chatter filled the living room as they gathered, but I didn't pay any attention to the numerous conversations.

"Alright! Everyone gather around!" Wheeljack chirped. Megatron and Soundwave stood a few feet away from the machine and Wheeljack being closer to the bathroom than the scene. The seekers stood to their left along with Barricade. On the other side of Wheeljack and the machine were the autobots. Ratchet, Optimus, and Prowl stood together talking in their own language. Behind them scattered about were the others. Bluestreak and Bumblebee stood diagonal to Prowl's shoulder watching. Sideswipe was leaning against a bored looking Sunstreaker who had his arms crossed. Even further back was Jazz who leaned against a side table leg casually and alone. In fact, it seemed all the cybertronians had given Wheeljack a rather wide berth. All except Grimlock who was pacing by the bookshelf edge. Wheeljack said something Cybertronian briefly before his fins lit up, "Everybody ready?"

"I will not reattach any limbs you lose, Wheeljack." Ratchet growled.

Wheeljack waved away the words with his hand, "Nonsense. Most of the kinks have been already worked out."

"Most?" I breathed in worry.

"Most." Sideswipe chuckled to himself, an excited grin on his lips. Was the red bot so bored around here that watching Wheeljack possible blow himself up was fun? The answer was probably yes.

"Here we go!" Wheeljack cheered and began to toy with it.

Sunstreaker had enough sense to look like he dreaded what was to come, "Here we go." He took a step back making his red brother stumble.

The machine began to vibrate softly and gave off a slight hissing noise. Everyone in the room was dead silent, but this climatic moment was dampened by the talking snowman on the TV. Wheeljack continued to work with the machine when it suddenly made a loud clanking noise making everyone jump.

"We're still good!" Wheeljack reassured with a thumbs up to everyone.

Megatron growled, "Why bother with war when this glitch spawned scientist will probably end our enemies with his own schemes?"

I shifted to the left slightly so I was partly in front of Taylor. She could still see the machine, but now I'd be able to stand in front of her in case something suddenly combust. Minutes passed as the machine continued to whir. Finally, a long high pitched beep erupted from the machine making everyone flinch again. Wheeljack ignored us this time and bent over to read the results it was dishing out.

"213.00.89." Wheeljack suddenly said.

"Results: Explain." Soundwave said in his usual monotone voice. The way he spoke was very different from the others, but I didn't mind it. As long as he didn't cause trouble he could talk however the hell he wanted to.

Wheeljack's fins flickered with excitement, "It's the code used for this specific universe." He glanced at me, "Just like I explained to you, Aj."

All eyes shot to me so I nodded as if I totally understood said code, "Right."

"It compares to the same wavelength we use for our space bridge technology." Wheeljack explained and suddenly it seemed like a few more people in the room knew what was going on. I was not one of them.

Soundwave spoke, "Code: No confirmed match with any known bridge coordinates."

"Well yes." Wheeljack nodded, "I had to use a new system considering all I had were scraps to work with. The numbers given, based on what I calculated our own universe's to be, means we're only right next door! When we were sent here we were simply pushed through the veil separating our two universes." He put a hand to his chin in thought, "However, now the difficult part of trying to build a machine to punch us back through the veil has arrived and that will be infinitely harder. Perhaps-"

His rambling thoughts were interrupted by another loud clang from the machine. All eyes focused on Wheeljack as he hurriedly tinkered with the thing. Optimus stepped forward, "Wheeljack, is everything alright?"

Wheeljack didn't answer immediately, "It should be fine. Give me one moment." He tore out a wire making sparks fly out, "That should short circuit the system and shut it down." Another high pitched beep echoed through the air. Wheeljack's eyes widened slightly, " _Hit the dec-_ "

Before the warning could even be finished a pulse of some sort was pushed out of the machine. The electrical pulse was visible in a ring of white light. No one had any time to react. The pulse nailed me in the shins making me stumble backwards. Taylor who was on the couch with her feet pulled up didn't get hit. The bots and cons on the other hand were a different story. Every single one of them had been knocked off their feet and shot back a couple inches. More than that it left them in a daze as they lay sprawled on the ground. Wheeljack who had been closest wasn't in a daze, he was lying on the ground with dark eyes.

I seemed to be the only one who noticed what the pulse did to the close bookshelf. It had hit the base with enough force to unbalance the entire structure. I watched with wide eyes as it began to teeter forward. Suddenly it felt like I was in the pit. Decisions had to be made quickly there. If you didn't act then you went down hard. Catch it or dive? Catch it or dive?

The other bots and cons were just beginning to sit up when I dove forward on top of Wheeljack and the smoking machine. I was lying on my elbows with Wheeljack hidden under the space between my stomach and the floor while the machine dug into my waist uncomfortably. I tucked my head down just as the bookshelf came down completely. Books, movies, and a pile of magazines rained down on top of me, but that was nothing compared to the solid wooden bookshelf landing on my back. A cry of pain slipped my lips.

"AJ!" Taylor screamed, "WHEELJACK!"

I could hear other voice yelling, but I was too busy trying to catch my breath. Not only had the bookshelf knocked the wind out of me, but the machine under my hip had pierced the skin. It wasn't sticking through me or anything serious, but it was far from comfortable and the more I moved the more it hurt. Luckily, the bookshelf itself wasn't nearly as heavy as I expected it to be.

"Lift it!"

"Get the pressure off her!"

"Can she slide out?!"

"Taylor, they're ok! I promise!"

The bookshelf creaked and the pressure lessened slightly. I let out a grunt of pain, took in a sharp breath to ready myself, and then began to slowly push myself up. Once I had gotten to my hands and knees the rest was cake. All I had to do then was grab the shelves with my hands and push the wooden structure back against the wall. The spot between my shoulder blades ached something awful and warm blood began to leak from a spot right above my jeans. It wasn't a deep wound at all and the blood mostly just bubbled in the broken skin rather than spilling over. It still ruined my light blue t-shirt though. My eyes darted to Wheeljack who was lying on his back with dark eyes still. He hadn't moved an inch.

"Ratchet." I breathed, "Ratchet, is he-"

A small pair of arms wrapped tackled me in a hug making me grunt in pain. I shifted so her arm wasn't rubbing against the blood stain. Taylor had her face buried against my back, "Are you ok? I was so scared, Aj. Aj, are you alright? Do we have to go to the hospital?"

"Taylor. Taylor, honey, I'm fine." I replied softly to soothe her frayed nerves. I kissed the top of her head and forced her gently to the couch where she could sit.

Ratchet rushed toward Wheeljack as Optimus stepped toward me. He held his arm out, "Aj, are you injured?"

Nobody spoke as they all waited for me to answer. The room was filled with Cybertronians staring at me, some with more worry than others. I lifted my hand to show the small blood stain. Surprisingly, Megatron was the one to speak up next, "You are injured."

"I'm ok." I shook my head, "The shelf wasn't that heavy, this was from the…the thingy." I cleared my throat and looked to Ratchet, "Is Jackie alright?"

"The glitch is fine. The energy pulse put him in emergency stasis. I just need to reboot his processors." He replied in a relieved tone, but when he glanced back to me his gaze hardened and focused on my apparent injury.

I ignored his gaze and chuckled, "Good, and look, no limbs need reattaching." Unsurprisingly, Ratchet didn't find my joke very funny. It got a chuckle out of the seekers though so there was that. I turned to Taylor, "I gotta help Wheeljack. Drink your Gatorade and keep watching your movie, ok?"

"Ok. Can I watch a new one when it's over?"

"Sure thing." I nodded. She settled back further on the couch and let me cover her with the blanket. Then I handed her the cup of Gatorade and turned back to the scene of the incident. There was a mess of books, movies, and magazines all along the ground. I didn't make direct eye contact with any of them and just waved toward the general area, "Can you guys start putting some of this stuff away? Just…Just what you can reach, I mean."

I rolled my shoulders and flinched at the ache. Prowl's voice forced me to look at him, "Are you sure you are alright?"

With a wide, forced grin and a cheery thumbs up, I replied, "Right as rain, Prowler."

"That is not my designation." He replied, but I ignored him and went to carefully pick up Wheeljack. After seeing them running around the house and so filled with life it was weird to hold them while they were motionless. It was uncomfortable actually. Ratchet had already left the room, heading to the medbay, so I left the living room with Wheeljack. His blank look and non-glowing eyes stared up at me as I cradled him in my hands. I forced myself to look away. It was kind of surprising how much I didn't like seeing him like this.

Ratchet was already on the stage moving around when I got to the room. He slapped his hand against one of the berths so I placed Wheeljack on top of it.

"I'll start with you. Come-"

" _No_." I said firmly. The tone of my voice actually made Ratchet's eyes widen slightly in surprise. I shook my head, "Take care of Wheeljack. My injury is just a flesh wound. I can handle it."

He grumbled something about this being his medbay, but turned to take care of Wheeljack anyways. I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing since I was too busy grabbing my own first aid kit to fix my bleeding wound. I moved to take off my shirt, but hesitated momentarily as my eyes darted to Ratchet who was working on Wheeljack. Then my eyes narrowed in confusion. Why was I hesitating? He was a medic who was probably used to seeing people in their weakest forms. More than that he was a 10 inch Cybertronian alien who took the form of my nephews and nieces toys. I mentally punched myself for being ridiculous before tearing off my shirt and beginning to wipe the blood away with tissues.

It only took me a minute or two to clean up the wound, rub some Neosporin on it, and patch a piece of gauze over it since I didn't have a big enough Band-Aid. Other than that injury I was relatively fine. My back ached some and I's probably have a huge bruise between my shoulder blades, but bruises and aches were easy to handle. I barely noticed them anymore. I moved to my closet to find a new shirt.

"Why didn't you just catch the shelf?"

I peeked my head out of the closet to see that he was still working on Wheeljack. He hadn't looked up as he asked the question. I grabbed a loose, dark gray tank top and stepped out of the closet, "Why do you ask?"

"Because I want to know." He replied with a single glance up at me.

I pulled my shirt on while in thought. I didn't know how to explain my thinking process to him because I've never had to explain it before. It was the type of thoughts I had in a fight when there wasn't enough time to think. The sarcastic, asshole in nature Aj hadn't made that decision. The calculating, fighting Aj had.

"Your guess is as good as mine." I shrugged and sat down on the floor with my elbow leaning against the stage.

Ratchet wasn't pleased with this answer, but he didn't press further, "If you had only caught the shelf one of the heavier books could've hit him causing him to sustain far worse injuries. If you had nothing the bookshelf would've landed on his chassis surely putting too much pressure on his spark casing which would have offlined him almost immediately. There would've been nothing I could do then."

"Yikes." I flinched at the thought. Killed by bookshelf. What a way to go. It would've been a horrible way to go out, especially considering how much Wheeljack had survived from their war.

Ratchet made one last movement before stopping and focusing his gaze on me completely, "You saved his life, Aj."

"I was just in the right moment, at the right time." I was quick to shake off his praise. Honestly, I just didn't see it as that big of a deal. Of course, I was beyond pleased that Wheeljack was still alive and what not, but I didn't see a need to be thanked or praised. Wheeljack was my responsibility. They all were. Diving on top of him had been my duty.

The conversation ended as Wheeljack's eyes slowly lit up again. They started off as a soft blue, but quickly jolted to bright blue as his fins flashed and he jerked up in a sitting position. Panic rolled off his frame and Ratchet was quick to grab his shoulders to keep him from hurting himself, "You're fine, Jack! You're in the medbay, you slagging two bit processing fragger."

Wheeljack relaxed at Ratchet's charming words and glanced around the room. His gaze stopped on me, "What happened? I got the code, but then-"

Ratchet whacked him across the back of the head with the same tool he used to bring him back to the world of consciousness. Wheeljack howled in pain and clutched his head. For some reason I didn't think hitting Wheeljack in the head was the best treatment plan considering he had just been in an emergency coma. However, I technically never started medical school so I kept my mouth shut. Besides, anything I said at this point would probably just get me hit by the grumpy doctor.

"Your machine sent out an energy pulse that hit everyone and knocked you out." Ratchet growled, "Why the frag-"

" _Everyone_?" Wheeljack cried in panic. He turned away from Ratchet to look at me, "Are you and Taylor alright? Did the blast hit you two?"

His concern made me freeze like a deer in headlights. It kind of warmed my heart. It also won Wheeljack huge bonus points that he obviously cared about the little girl downstairs. Granted, he had technically lost a couple points considering he was the reason she was possibly in danger but details, details…

"Taylor didn't get hit. She was on the couch with her feet pulled up. It hit me in the shins, but it didn't do anything other than make me stumble a bit. Don't worry, Jackie."

"The pulse brought down the entire bookshelf down, Wheeljack. You were nearly offlined." Ratchet added, "Aj, saved your hazardous life."

I quickly shook my head, "It really wasn't that-"

"Thank you, Aj." Wheeljack interrupted me in such a sincere voice I had to stop talking. His fins glowed a soft blue, "I truly thank you from the bottom of my spark. I owe you."

Embarrassed was one of the main emotions I felt. I wasn't the type of person who got thanked so sincerely or cared about. That wasn't who I was and having the two bots attention on me made me feel awkward. My cheeks began to grow warm and I'm sure a shade of pink decorated them. I quickly rubbed at my cheeks as if the color would come off in my hands then stood. I shrugged and tried to act as nonchalant as possible.

"I want you resting today." Ratchet snapped at Wheeljack who also stood. "Prowl will get someone else to cover your patrol and primus help you if I so much as hear about you tinkering with anything for the next 24 earth hours, you slagging glitch."

Wheeljack groaned, " _Ratchet_."

"You heard the cheerful docbot." I chuckled and ignored Ratchet's glare, "You and Taylor are officially bed rest buddies."

"Well, at least I'll have company." He sighed. Without waiting for permission I scooped him up.

"That's the spirit. Later, Hatchet!"

I left Ratchet grumbling in the room as I headed back downstairs with Wheeljack. He was fully awake in my hands and it was so drastically different from when I carried him upstairs only a little while ago. When I reached the living room I came to a halting stop as I watched bots and cons working together to stack books and movies on the shelves. There was still a lot to do, but seeing them working without fighting each other was…alarming to say the least.

"Wheeljack!" Taylor greeted as I set the engineer on the couch beside her. He didn't stay there long because Taylor grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "Are you ok? I was so worried!"

Wheeljack's fins were glowing bright at her comfort and words. He chuckled, "I am doing just fine thanks to Aj and Ratchet."

"She's a hero." Taylor said without missing a beat and then beamed up at me with pride. I shifted my weight awkwardly and didn't reply. A hero? Me? _Pffft_. Maybe for Christmas I'd buy the little girl a dictionary.

The movie Frozen was gone and Taylor had apparently turned on Netflix which I didn't even know they had until now. I grabbed the small remote as Wheeljack settled in the seat beside Taylor and began to flip through the many movies.

"What are you going to put on?" Taylor asked and then looked to Wheeljack who seemed just as curious, "What do you wanna watch, Jackie?"

"I don't know." He replied with a shrug. I still found it hilarious that these guys had such human movements like shrugs and sighs and what not. I grinned when a familiar title popped up in the corner of the screen. Without pause I went straight to it and turned on a random episode for them to watch.

Taylor tilted her head, "I know this show. Peter watches it sometimes."

"What is it?" Wheeljack questioned.

"It's called Mythbusters, Jackie." I replied and tossed the remote into Taylor's lap and moved to help put away all the fallen items, "And it is right up your alley."

* * *

 

Talents came in all shapes and sizes. My talents were very black and white. There was no gray area where I was kind of good at something. For me, it was always all or none. Right now was a very good example of this. My main talents included breaking people's noses, avoiding emotional problems, and eating an entire pizza by myself. Drawing was nowhere close to being on that list. It wasn't even in the same zip code.

I couldn't even draw stick people so the fact that I was trying to draw a large, neat tree on this white poster board was a struggle straight from the depths of hell. I figured I'd get the tree drawn for the twin's family tree project and then they could color, decorate, and paste pictures on it later. If I had realized earlier how difficult this was going to be then I would've told them they had to do it all by themselves with some lie about taking responsibility early on.

Although, the tree wasn't looking too bad I supposed. I mean, I could tell the difference between its trunk and branches. In fact, dare I say it, I was a little proud of my tree. For someone as artistically challenged as I was this was looking pretty good.

"What the frag is that supposed to be?"

My short lived good mood plummeted rather quickly at the sound of his sneer. I glanced up from my work to see the lanky, yellow mech standing by the edge of the poster board staring down at my poor little tree with disdain. I was currently lying on my stomach, propped up on my elbows, with my legs and feet stretched out behind me so Sunstreaker was actually eye level with me.

I scowled, "It's a tree. See the leaves?"

"It's absolute _slag_." Sunstreaker replied.

"What the hell do you know about art?" I shot back and began to angrily erase a rather crooked line with the back of my pencil. Sunstreaker was silent to my remark as I attacked the dark line.

He scoffed at my barely disappearing line, "If you sketched your lines fainter you wouldn't be about to tear a hole through the paper right now."

"Thanks, Tweety." I snapped in an overly sweet tone, "You're a real big help, but how about you skedaddle? I think I saw a _puddy cat_."

Sunstreaker wasn't entirely sure what to make of my looney tunes reference by the look on his face, but he was displeased none the less, "My name is Sunstreaker, you fragging glitch of a femme."

I rolled my eyes. The only other person in the office with us right now was Grimlock who had been stationed to keep watch on the otherwise empty Autobot base. Of course, right now the Autobot guard was curled against my side sleeping, but no one in their right mind would risk accidentally waking the bot by trying to sneak into the base. I thought the fact that always had someone on watch was silly anyways. It wasn't like they had a whole lot of confidential information to steal.

I focused my attention back on my pathetic work of art and began to draw again. The lines I drew were fainter this time, but I'd rip my teeth out before admitting I agreed with Sunstreaker's tip. It was silent as I worked and I bit down on my lower lip in concentration.

"It's crooked. Again." He said with a little too much pleasure in his voice.

I dropped the pencil and brought my eyes up to his, "You wanna draw the damn tree, Buttercup?"

"If I did you can bet it's be the best fragging organic tree you ever saw, squishy!"

"It's interesting that you call me squishy considering I can and will step on you, Sunflower."

"My name is Sunstreaker! Not any of the slagging, glitched nicknames you think up! At least be consistent and stick with one!"

I wasn't going to mention to him that I had internally made calling him different things a game in my mind. How many nicknames could I come up with for Sunstreaker without directly calling him the same thing twice? So far I was at eight, but if you counted the term 'condiment twin' then the number got bumped up to nine.

"You're not the boss of me." I replied childishly and moved to make my position more comfortable. Unsurprisingly, I was still sore from the bookshelf incident two hours ago. Taylor and Bumblebee came waltzing through the door without a care in the world. The little girl's eyes landed on the poster board and she grinned.

"Is this our project?"

I nodded and sat up in an upright position so I was back to looking down on Sunstreaker. I sneered down at him for good measure before answering Taylor, "Yeah, it is."

She came closer with Bumblebee walking beside her. Taylor's head tilted slightly and her lips puckered in confusion as her eyebrows furrowed together, "Why are you drawing a rake?"

My face fell along with all my self-confidence. Sunstreaker just stared up at me with a smug look on his stupid metal face. That jackass. Biting back a sigh, I handed her the pencil, "I'm making you some food. Do what you want to the rake, ok?"

"Ok." She chirped and sat down beside Sunstreaker who sidestepped so he wasn't too close to the human. I stood up and stretched briefly, Grimlock didn't move from his sleeping position, before moving to leave.

Bumblebee stepped in front of me, "Can I come with you?"

"Course." I said and picked him up. Bumblebee sat on my shoulder as I left the room and headed down the stairs. I was careful not to jostle the poor bot too much as I walked. In the living room, Mythbusters was still playing but it was obviously on a different episode. The nightlight of an engineer figured out how to use the remote I guess. He better not even think of taking apart though. "Up for a detour, Bee?"

His door wings fluttered, "Sure!"

I stepped into the living room to find out who all was watching the show. Wheeljack had his eyes glued to the screen, but now he was joined by the seekers, Bluestreak, and Sideswipe.

"Hi Aj!" Bluestreak greeted as I came in.

Wheeljack gave me a brief glance, "Aj!" His eyes went back to the screen, "This television program is fantastic! Do you think Jamie and Adam exist in our universe? Perhaps I can set a meeting with them."

"That sounds", I paused, "Like a good idea. I guess."

My eyes darted to the TV. I had no idea what episode was playing or what was even going on. The camera zoomed in on Adam who lifted his clipboard to his cover what was beyond his face, like he was telling the viewing audience a secret, and said, "Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down."

Sideswipe scoffed in amusement, "I think we just found Jack's new motto."

"Quiet, you aggravating front liner." Starscream snapped.

Sideswipe opened his mouth to retaliate only for his fellow autobots to shush him. I chuckled to myself before turning to leave the room. There was a can of soup in the kitchen waiting to be heated up. The sound of a jetpack starting up was far from unfamiliar these days, but I was startled when it grew louder and something suddenly hit my shoulder and then clung to my shirt. It didn't hurt, but it did scare the shit out of me.

"I missed." Sideswipe grunted and began to pull himself up on my shoulder so now Bee was on my left and Sideswipe was on my right.

I held back a sigh of aggravation, "What do you want, cherry?"

"Your company?" He replied cheekily, "Is that too much to ask for, dear human?"

"Yes." I answered without missing a beat. I plucked him off my shoulder and set him right outside the kitchen before breezing in with Bumblebee who was chuckling to himself.

Sideswipe crossed his arms and huffed, "How rude."

"Whatever, Stephanie Tanner." I shot back referencing Full House. Man, I was just full of good references today. Good references that none of the cybertronians could fully appreciate. Carefully, I set Bumblebee down on the island counter so I could work without worrying about him falling into the soup pot. Sideswipe didn't get the message of 'Get Lost' that I was sending out. He jet packed right up to the island to stand by Bumblebee.

"Will this make Taylor feel better?" Bumblebee questioned as I set out the can of chicken noodle soup.

I went searching for a pot to use, "Hopefully. I'm just trying to get some food in her. She seems a lot better so hopefully she can keep this stuff down."

There was a clean, black pot in the cabinet beside the stove so I grabbed it and set it on the flat top stove. It only took me a few minutes to get the can open and pour it in. Then, I turned the stove on and waited.

"Is that it?" Bumblebee tilted his head. Sideswipe hadn't said a word yet. He just sat on the counter staring at me which was a little more than unnerving.

"Yupp." I nodded, "It gets more complicate when you try and make soup from scratch which I didn't plan on doing. I'm trying to make her feel better after all."

There was another beat of silence before Bumblebee blurted his next question, "How come you didn't just catch the bookshelf, Aj?"

Déjà vu, much? I blinked at him in surprise and didn't immediately reply. "Why?" I said finally. The same response I had given Ratchet when he asked. I grabbed a large plastic spoon to stir the warm soup, just to give my hands something to do.

"It's just- Well, you never would've gotten hurt if you caught the shelf." Bumblebee explained, "You were strong enough to push it off of you which means you were strong enough to catch it. So why didn't you?"

"She made a choice." Sideswipe suddenly said making my body tense. "Just like we do in a battle. She had two choices, and she picked the choice that was safer for Wheeljack. I bet she didn't think too hard about it. It was spur of the moment, a natural reaction." I glanced over my shoulder at the bots and caught Sideswipe's gaze. Bumblebee was looking away in thought, but the red bot kept a steady gaze with me. "Hesitation means you lose. It means someone gets hurt or worse."

How the hell did he do that? How the hell did that little punk put my thoughts into words? It didn't make any damn sense and it pissed me off. Why did I have to make comparisons with my sob story of a life to the condiment twins' lives? My mind was a flood of emotions that linger for very long. I was pissed that Sideswipe was still looking at me. I was confused on why my thought process and his were on very close levels. I was…I was a little bit relieved. A part of me felt relief to have someone else voice my thoughts. To see someone who just might understand why I made choices the way I did.

"I get it." Bumblebee nodded with a small smile. His wings perked up happily as he looked at me, "You're kind of like a soldier. Like us. I mean- not exactly like us, you aren't in a war, but…" His words trailed off. I wasn't a soldier. Soldiers were noble. They didn't fight for money, they didn't fight as an addiction. He continued, "I didn't mean to question you or anything. I just wanted to say thanks. You did save Wheeljack."

I shrugged and glanced back at my soup. It was beginning to boil so I let Bumblebee jump into my hands and then set him on the floor so he could go get Taylor for me. He jogged off and I focused my attention on stirring the soup so it didn't boil over.

"What? You aren't gonna help me down?"

"Use your jetpack."

I turned the stove off and went to find a bowl. The sound of a jetpack activating didn't fill the air which meant Sideswipe was still on the island counter, probably still staring at me.

Maybe if I ignored him he'd disappear.

I found a glass bowl and used the same large spoon to fill it up about halfway. She might not even eat that much, but if she did then she could always get more.

"How come you're still trying to avoid me and Sunny?"

Maybe one of these days my ' _maybe_ ' thoughts would be right.

I moved across the room to set the bowl on the table, "Why are you and your brother so hell bent on following me around?"

"We just want to be friends." Sideswipe replied a little too innocently. Like we were kids that met on the playground and I was the bully that refused to play with him then kicked sand in his face.

A forced smile lit my features as I looked back at him, "Try again."

His features morphed from sincerity to a shit eating smirk, "Nothing gets by you, human."

"I try."

Taylor still hadn't come down yet so I headed for the stairs to get her myself. Sideswipe called out making me pause by the archway, "We saw you fighting. You already knew we were listening in on your conversation with that fragger-"

"Kyle. His name is Kyle."

"Fine. Kyle the fragger." He replied and I rolled my eyes, "It made us more curious is all. It's not like there's much else to do around here. You're the first human femme we've seen fight like that."

"Fight like what?"

"Like a gladiator."

I shook my head, "I'm good, but I'm not that good."

Sideswipe tilted his head, "You didn't see what we saw." His smirk slowly dropped from his features and a look of seriousness became present. It was moments like this, when he wasn't joking around or grinning, that I realized that Sideswipe could be just as bad as his brother. "We have stuff in common. Which is saying something because Sunny and I don't ever compare ourselves to squishy organics. _Ever_."

"We have absolutely _nothing_ in common." I said firmly before marching towards the stairs. I got halfway up before I called out, " _Taylor_!"

"One second!" The faint reply came back.

As I reached the top of the stairs I noticed Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet, Jazz, and Thundercracker standing outside my room talking. They noticed me and I gave them a quick wave before pushing into the office.

"Son of a glitch!" Sunstreaker snapped, "Will you just back the frag up!?"

My first thought had been that Sunstreaker was saying this to Taylor and my mind mentally prepared to punt the pint sized yellow bastard right out the office window, but as I walked into the room I realized he was yelling at a fully awake Grimlock who was trying to stand near the white poster board.

"Me Grimlock want to see what femme youngling draw." Grimlock argued back while Taylor happily scribbled away with her pencil.

Bumblebee who was standing by her glanced back at me with an apologetic look, "Sorry, Aj, she said she wanted to finish drawing first."

"Look!" Taylor sat up completely and ushered me over. I took a step forward to see that my pathetic little tree had been erased and replaced with a much better looking one. This one had a thicker trunk and branches that actually resembled branches. Not to mention the leaves didn't look like deformed ovals anymore. It looked like it had been drawn by someone much older than Taylor. I was impressed, "Sunstreaker helped me!"

My eyes narrowed in confusion, "Sunstreaker? He helped you? I'm sorry, I didn't know those words could be strung together in a working sentence."

"Do you ever just shut up?" Sunstreaker glared at me.

I shrugged, "Depends." My eyes glanced back at Taylor with a proud smile, "Great job, kid. It looks awesome. Now say thank you to robo Michelangelo" make that ten nicknames, "and go downstairs to eat."

"Thanks Sunstreaker! You can use some of my stuff if you ever want to draw!" She grinned. To the yellow bot's defense, he didn't scoff at her offer. Instead, he just gave a non-committed grunt before she ran out.

I chuckled, "You draw?"

"You didn't know? Sunstreaker is an artist he…" Bumblebee began but the yellow warrior's dark glare made the smaller bot's words trail off. His door wings twitched, "I think I hear Taylor calling me."

Bumblebee was out of the room before another word could be spoken. I looked back to Sunstreaker, "So you're an anti-social front liner that also knows his way around a canvas. You're quite the catch aren't you?"

"Go frag yourself." Sunstreaker barked in his rough tone, "You're the most aggravating femme I've ever had the displeasure of meeting."

Grimlock began to growl, "Ratchet say not to say frag to pet Aj."

"I am not your pet!" I declared as Sunstreaker marched past me and out the door.

"Me Grimlock not good enough for you?!"

"What? I didn't say that!"

"Is there a problem?"

I glanced back to see Prowl and Optimus walk in. Good, they could deal with Grimlock's growing anger. I grabbed the poster board, set it up high so it wouldn't get ruined, and then rushed out with the words ' _your problem now_ ' dancing off my lips.

Downstairs, Taylor was sitting at the table talking to Soundwave of all people. She smiled at him and he turned to leave without another word. He walked past me and didn't offer me a passing glance. I didn't mind Soundwave, but he was kinda starting to creep me out.

"Can I have more blue Gatorade?" She held her cup up. I nodded and went to get her some more, "Do I have to eat? I'm not hungry."

"I know, just take a few bites." I replied and poured the rest of the blue Gatorade into her cup, "If you start to feel sick then stop."

I handed the cup back to her and moved to clean up the small mess I had made in the kitchen while she turned back to her food. It wasn't silent as I worked. A soft, hushed tone filled the air.

"Aj?" Taylor turned in her seat to look at me, "Are you singing?" I came to a standstill and nearly dropped the clean plate I had been putting away. Had that been me? I didn't even notice that my light humming had turned to mumbled lyrics. She leaned her cheek against the chair, "Mama sings too."

I was well aware that Aubrey sang. It was the one trait we both shared. She was day and I was night, but both of us could carry a tune. Aubrey's voice was higher than mine and more refined. She took singing lessons almost her entire life and did choir every year in school. I, on the other hand, thought it was fun to sing, but I didn't do it often. My interests always leaned toward the athletic side. Of course, I sang at home with Aubrey sometimes when we were goofing around. I'd sing when I wasn't fully paying attention. I sang when I was happy. This was probably the first time in a long time, since maybe my undergrad years in college, that I was singing.

"Yeah. I was." I replied slowly. I set the plate down and came over to sit by Taylor who turned back around in her seat.

She smiled, "Mama says that her mom used to sing all the time."

A small laugh escaped my lips and I nodded. Mom could sing like nobody's business. Her voice was one of my most treasured memories. Singing was the last thing I had of her. Aubrey got nearly all her traits from that side of the gene pool whereas I leaned toward my dad's side. The only exception was my voice. I had my mom's voice. Guilt began to crawl into my mind. Singing was all I had left of my mom and I had basically buried it away under piles of bad days and bruised knuckles. However, the guilt didn't stay long for it was replaced by sheer amazement. I was singing in the kitchen because I was happy. I was truly happy here in a house with three of the most adorable kids and two warring groups of shrunk down Cybertronians. The dark recess of my mind might have been craving a fight, it clawed at my heart and soul, but another part of my mind was content. It was more than content. I might have been living a lie at the moment, but that lie made me happy enough to sing again.

"I like this soup." Taylor said suddenly. She was completely unaware of the revelations in my mind. Her own innocent thoughts just enjoyed the simple bowl of soup in front of her. I grinned and ruffled her hair again as she took another bite.

* * *

 

Hours later I pushed through the front door with two boys bouncing with excitement behind me. The moment the door opened they rushed past me nearly knocking me over. I saw Taylor peek her head up over the couch with a wide grin. Seconds later, Peter and Tyler were on the couch with her. Tyler was speaking a million miles per hour telling her about his day and only paused when she interrupted him with details of her own day. Peter sat quietly beside her. He lifted his hand to briefly touch her forehead. He pulled away a few seconds later with a look of relief. I leaned against the wall and watched the close siblings interact.

Jazz came up from behind me and stopped beside me with his arms crossed, "Busy day. Heard Sunny showed ya a thing or two 'bout drawin'."

"Yeah, don't remind me." I replied with a sigh, "I'll never live it down. Is he really like…like an artist? A good one?"

"Oh yeah. I've seen some of his stuff 'fore. It's real good." Jazz answered then shook his head, "But don't worry, sweetspark, I didn' come 'ere to mock your…art skills."

I narrowed my eyes at him as he grinned up at me, "It sounds like you are mocking me, sweetspark."

"Ok, so maybe a little." He laughed to himself. The laughter died down slowly. There was a pause between us before he spoke again. His voice was a little deeper this time and much softer, "I wanted to thank you for saving Wheeljack on behalf of all of us. OP wanted to talk to you, but I wanted to say it first."

My eyes were frozen on him. I wasn't used to hearing him speak with his usual accent. Hell, I didn't know he could. I mean, I liked his accent a lot. It was…well, it was Jazz, but he sounded good without the accent to. It was hard to wrap my mind around entirely.

"W-What?" I stuttered out.

"Whoa! She did!?" Tyler yelled making me tear my gaze away from Jazz to see all three kids beaming at me, "You saved Wheeljack!? That's so awesome, Aj! You're a hero!"

Another embarrassed blush lit my face as Jazz chuckled, "Couldn't 'ave said it better mah self."

Tyler's eyes darted to Jazz and I watched as he climbed over the back of the couch to get to us. I began to scold him, but didn't get far considering he began to speed talk to Jazz, "Jazz, sir!" My eyes narrowed at the word sir. "I did just like you said and it worked! Sophia sat with me at lunch today and we talked the entire time! It was great!"

"Good job, Cadet Lightspeed." Jazz gave him a thumbs up and a proud grin, "I know you could do it, kiddo."

Tyler grinned and ran upstairs. Peter and Taylor followed him and I yelled out at Taylor to be careful. The last thing I needed was for Taylor to barf racing up the stairs. I gave one last glance to Jazz who was still grinning at me before heading upstairs to find the bossbot. I found Optimus in the office unsurprisingly. The kids were crouched on the floor around the poster board. Apparently, good, big brother Peter decided to help them.

"How about you go guys do that in kitchen?" I suggested.

"Ok." Peter replied, "Come on guys. We gotta find you pictures to use."

"I'll get my crayons to color the tree!" Taylor chirped. The three kids ran out with the board leaving only Optimus and I in the room. I didn't know where Prowl was. He was usually in the office with OP, but right now he was nowhere to be found.

"So, OP", I took a seat in the desk chair and leaned back. He stood at the edge of the desk, "You wanted to speak with me?"

He nodded, "I did. I have a question for you, Aj."

I bit back a sigh, "Good Lord, if you ask me why I didn't catch the damn bookshelf my head is gonna implode, bossbot."

The battle mask he wore always hid whether or not he was smiling, but I was starting to get good at reading his facial expressions above the mask. "No. That was not my question." He paused, "I wanted to know why you put Wheeljack's safety before your own."

I blinked rather owlishly, "So…why I saved him?" Optimus nodded and I tilted my head in thought. This question was easier to answer, "Because…Because you guys are my responsibility. You live under this roof and you're not exactly equipped to handle anymore large scale dangerous situations which means I am responsible for helping you."

"I see", Optimus nodded slowly, "However, as grateful as I am of what you did. I need to stress that it isn't expected of you. I thank you with my entire being for saving my soldier and good friend, words do not accomplish the length of my gratitude, but I can't allow you to put yourself in harm on behalf of us."

I chuckled and stood up, "Allow me? In case you haven't noticed, OP, I do whatever the hell I want." His eyes narrowed slightly in frustration, but I gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry about it so much. Taking hits is kind of a specialty of mine. Besides", I shrugged, "I take care of my own."

With the size difference, I couldn't exactly slap him on the back in reassurance so I settled for tapping him on the shoulder with my finger before leaving the room.

* * *

 

All was quiet in the house when I suddenly sat up in bed. The light on my desk was on just like the night before and Ratchet was reading again. He noticed my rigid posture and turned around to assess the situation.

"What is it now? I didn't hear anything from the younglings across the house." He addressed me. Rather than answering his question and explaining the issue, I stumbled out of bed and ran out of my room with Ratchet lagging behind like last time. This time I didn't sprint into the twin's room or even Peter's room for that matter.

I sprinted straight for the bathroom across the hall from me.

It was 3 something in the morning and here I was barfing into the porcelain throne. Damn it all.


	9. Eyes

* * *

_"Eye contact is a dangerous, dangerous thing. But lovely. Oh, so lovely." –Unknown_

* * *

 

_"What are you going to do now, small fry?" The woman mocked and waved her forward._

_She didn't need to reply. She loved to talk, to shoot off snarky replies, but during a fight there was no need. It only distracted her from what she needed to do. A quick breath and she was moving. A punch was thrown out, but she was quick enough to duck under so she ended up behind the behemoth of a enemy. Two kidney punches and the woman stumbled forward with a cry of pain._

_The woman spun around shakily with a fire burning in her eyes. She was angry. Beyond angry, in fact. This wasn't supposed to be a real fight. The beastly woman was supposed to crush the much smaller, underdog with no challenge whatsoever. The underdog was just too damn quick. The woman's anger grew more as a small smirk slipped onto the smaller woman's face._

_A roar of anger and she rushed forward flailing her arms out in attacks that were more based on brute strength than precision. The underdog ducked and weaved, continually back stepping to avoid being slugged, but she was beginning to grow weary. This fight was lasting too damn long, and the crowd seemed to agree. Their rowdy cheers turned to hissed heckles. They wanted blood and they wanted it now._

_"You're_ dead _." The large woman growled and lunged forward one last time. The underdog, the small fry, watched her movements with careful eyes. She could see the muscles bulge in the woman's arm, it swung out with all the strength the woman could muster. It seemed like an eternity in her mind, but it all happened in the blink of an eye. She got on the inside and, before the woman could even realize her punch was useless, she lifted her elbow hard and crushed the woman's nose. Blood gushed out, splattering against the back of her neck and elbow, as the woman collapsed to the ground clutching her face. The crowd roared in excitement. The blood had sent them into a frenzy like a group of sharks. She let her gaze shift to the sea of faces. The underdog had prevailed. The small fry had won again._

Consciousness hit me like the sudden snapping of a rubber band, but I didn't move an inch. Miserable was a decent word to describe how I felt. Pathetic fit fairly well too and so did exhausted. I hadn't even opened my eyes yet to face the new day and I already felt done. My head pounded, my stomach was in knots, I was freezing, and to top it all off my sore back ached from yesterday's events.

I didn't get sick very often. Whenever I was down for the count it was usually because of a physical altercation rather than an internal one. Who knew the stomach virus would be my toughest opponent? While taking care of Taylor, I hadn't even thought about the fact that I was putting myself at risk of catching the same sickness. It hadn't even crossed my mind.

" _Aj_."

I moaned and pulled the thick, white comforter a little closer to my body. It was too hard for me to tell whom the voice belonged to at the moment, and considering it would take more focus to figure it out, I didn't care. A couple more seconds passed before the voice spoke again. This time it was closer to my bed, "Aj, you must get up. The youngling's school day begins in a little over a breem."

"Breem." My voice held the word out longer than it should be held and it came out sounding like a hoarse groan. The entire sentence hadn't really clicked in my mind, and then I had gotten hung up on the word breem. What the hell did that mean again? Ok, helm meant head, servos meant hands, pedes meant feet…

"Aj, they must be there in approximately 10 minutes and 43 seconds earth time."

Now that sentence cut through the fog of my sickness pretty well. My eyes snapped open and the sudden light made me cringe. It didn't make me cringe enough to stop the panic that flooded my body though, "Fucking _what_?" I literally fell out of bed and clumsily got back up. A wave of nausea hit me hard and I had to fight it off while searching for a hoodie to throw over my tank top. Ratchet was standing on my nightstand with his hands on his hips watching me pathetically rush around the room.

He shook his head with a groan, "They are-"

" _Shit, slag, damn, frag_." I yelled and grabbed my wallet.

Ratchet's eyes widened, "Watch your language, youngling!"

" _Taylor! Tyler! Peter_!" I called out while running out the door. My feet headed toward their bedroom, but about halfway there I came to a screeching halt. Nausea hit me again and this time it was overwhelming. I backpedaled back to the bathroom just in time to throw up into the toilet. Nothing was worse than being sick. Nothing.

"That is _absolutely_ vile." Starscream's voice sneered from behind me. I glanced behind my shoulder after I was sure I wasn't about to barf again. The flying con stood in the doorway staring at me like I had grown three heads.

I stood up, ignored the seeker's comment, and moved to rinse my mouth out. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to brush my teeth. That definitely was on the top of my to-do list when I got back home. I gargled a mouthful of mouthwash briefly and spat it out. "Screamer", I said wiping my mouth, "Get the kids up."

"They are already up and waiting downstairs." He replied. My eyes snapped down to his small form. He was staring up at me in disgust still as if I was a ticking, organic bomb. That probably wasn't far from the truth actually.

I jumped over him, ignoring his complaint, and rushed down the stairs with the running mantra of _'don't barf, don't barf, don't barf'_ being sung in my head. There were voices drifting from the kitchen so when I reached the base of the stairs I made the sharp turn and came to a sudden stop. All three kids were sitting at the table dressed for school with their school bags in their laps. On the table talking to the kids were Optimus, Jazz, Skywarp, and Bumblebee.

"Aj!" Taylor yelled and jumped up from her seat, letting her bag fall to ground, to tackle me in a hug. Peter and Tyler jumped up too, but I ushered all three kids back a few steps. The chances of Taylor getting sick were slim since I got it from her, but I didn't want the boys to have to go through this too.

I rubbed my face as if my exhaustion would come off in my hand, "What is-? When did you guys wake up? Did you eat? I'm sorry, I-"

"Ratchet informed us early this morning, around 5:12 AM, that you were ill like Taylor was." Optimus spoke interrupting my rambling rant of apologies. He continued, "We made sure they got up at their usual time and got ready so you would have more time to rest."

"They also refueled on whatever slag comes out of those boxes." Skywarp added and motioned toward the cereal boxes sitting on the island counter waiting to be put away.

Peter's eyebrows furrowed in worry, "Do you feel alright, Aj?"

"I-", I paused. Did they really run through my normal morning routine just so I could sleep in a little more since I was sick? That was…That was really great of them. I forced a smile, "Yeah, I'm peachy, Pete. We gotta go though", I remembered what a rush I had been in, "Grab the keys, get out to the car. I'll be right there."

The three kids chorused good-byes to the cybertronians in the kitchen then raced past me to the front door. I moved to grab a quick sip of water, but had to stop when the room started spinning on me. I shut my eyes and griped the counter to try and settle my flipping stomach.

"Think ya can make it to the younglin's school?" Jazz questioned. I could hear the slight worry in his voice.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to see the entire room was staring me down. "I'm gonna have to." I said breathlessly and continued to grab a glass of water. I took a few cautious sips before setting it back down.

"Perhaps one of us can accompany you, just in case." Optimus suggested.

"Already ahead of you, Prime." Megatron spat out the words with a tone of smugness. He strolled into the room and stopped by my feet. The Decepticon leader looked up to lock eyes with me, but didn't smile, "Thundercracker will go with you."

I wasn't in an arguing mood. I was in a curl up and die mood, so I just nodded, "Where is he?"

"He followed the younglings out." Skywarp chirped.

I shot them all a quick thumbs up before rushing toward the front door. I was halfway out the door when I paused. With the door still open, I peeked my head back into the house to grab the attention of every Cybertronian in the kitchen, "I…" My words bunched up in my mind and refused to be spoken. Thank you speeches weren't exactly my forte. Not because I didn't like saying thank you, but because it wasn't often I had someone to sincerely thank for something. "Thanks, y'all. Seriously."

Before I could study their reactions or before they could reply, I duked out of the house and slammed the door behind me. I rushed off the porch and into the running car. The kids sat where they usually sat and the only difference was Thundercracker who stood between Peter and I.

"Okie dokie." I sighed and peeled the car out of the driveway.

Taylor was the first to speak up, "I'm sorry for getting you sick."

"It's not your fault, honey." I replied quickly to try and squash that mindset, "Besides, now I get to have a lazy day."

The little girl chuckled, but there was a look of guilt still drawn on her features that made me want to hug her. Tyler, oblivious to his sister's guilt, leaned forward in his seat, "You should watch a movie! Movies make me feel better."

"Good idea." I nodded, "Any suggestions?"

" _Transformers_!" The kids basically yelled and I nearly swerved off the road in surprise. Thundercracker stared at me with a quizzical look with his body in ready position as if I was about to keel over at any moment. I gave him a sheepish smile. Honestly, I don't know why I expected any other answer from these kids.

The rest of the drive to school was filled with them telling me about the movie. To their credit, they didn't say anything that sounded spoilerish. They mainly just listed the bots and cons who played a role in the every single movie. I had followed along pretty well at first, but around the third movie I got lost and all the information I had understood jumbled together.

"Bye Aj!"

"Feel better!"

"See you later, TC!"

I watched the kids race toward the school's front doors. Once they were safely inside I looked down at Thundercracker who looked up at me in return, "Promise to make sure I don't drop dead while I drive?"

"I don't think I can make that promise." He replied with confused eyes, "However, I can try to keep your vehicle from hurtling off the road. Hopefully."

I shrugged, "I'll take what I can get."

The ride was silent and maybe a little awkward. I couldn't tell whether it was or not because I was so focused on not tossing my cookies in the cab of the truck. Luckily, I was distracted from my overwhelming nausea by a curious question, "Would you have saved one of us?"

I blinked in confusion and shook my head, "Listen, TC, I'm running on like _half_ _power_ right now. You're gonna have to be more specific."

"The accident yesterday. What if it hadn't been Wheeljack?" He clarified, "What if it were Starscream or Megatron? What if it had been Barricade? Would you have saved them?"

"Well, yeah." I answered without hesitation.

Thundercracker seemed genuinely taken aback by my answer, "Honestly?"

I gave him a quick glance before returning my eyes to the road, "Why wouldn't I? You guys are my responsibility too. Besides, I wouldn't let Barricade be killed by a bookshelf when I could just end him myself. You feel?"

An amused smile grew on his features from my poor attempt at a joke, but he quickly smothered it with a serious gaze and slightly puffed out chest. I chuckled and focused on getting home and not barfing. I'd be home in less than five minutes where I could throw up in the comfort of my own bathroom.

True to my thoughts, the moment I got out of the truck I could feel it coming. I grabbed Thundercracker and raced to the front door. I just about kicked the door open, threw Thundercracker to the side where he landed on his feet, and then moved to the stairs.

"Are you ok?"

" _'M fine_!" I barked back not even knowing whom I replied to then raced up the stairs. I reached the bathroom just in time to get to the toilet. There really wasn't much left in my stomach to throw up at this point, but my stomach tried nonetheless. After dry heaving a few times I flushed the toilet, let out a groan, and pathetically just laid down on the cold, bathroom floor. I didn't handle being sick well.

The sound of small footsteps grew closer until a red and white bot stood in the bathroom doorway. Ratchet narrowed his gaze at me, "Get off the hard floor. That is the last thing you need for your injured back. You should be in bed. I have instructed everyone else to steer clear of you. The last thing you need is stress. Now go."

I didn't even reply with words. Instead I groaned at him like a dying animal.

He shook his head and came over. I didn't move as he lifted one of his hands and set it on my forehead. His hand was freezing cold, but it felt good against my head. After a second or two he pulled away, "You have a temperature of 100.2 Fahrenheit. You need to take medicine."

"I thought your sensors didn't work on us humans?"

"They don't. Why do you think I _physically_ set my servo against your helm?"

I grumbled under my breath before quietly saying, "Shut up, Ratchet." My mind seemed to remember what Optimus had said earlier and my grumpy tone softened, "But thanks."

He narrowed his eyes, "For?"

"For telling everyone I was sick so I could sleep more. It was… _Just, thanks_." I said awkwardly.

Ratchet nodded his head and accepted my gratitude rather nonchalantly, which is exactly what I expected from the grumpy mech. He crossed his arms as I slowly tried to sit up. After a second I gave up decided I would just live on this bathroom floor. He hummed in thought, "I was looking over some information while you slept. This birth control you take can still fail at times. Fever and nausea are often some of the first symptoms a female has when-"

"Don't even finish that sentence!" I yelled and sat up so fast that I nearly toppled over again. My hand shot to my sore back which had protested when I moved that quickly.

Ratchet punched my knee, "Don't move that quickly! You'll only injure your back more. _Primus, femme_. You're worse than the younglings sometimes. Now, as I was saying, this is a plausible possibility. You humans reproduce surprisingly easily according to the human anatomy book I found in your room." I groaned, he must have found the book I used for my AP anatomy class senior year. "When was the last time you had-"

I pressed my finger against his face promptly shutting him up. He backpedaled away from me with a glare and I just shook my head, "No. No, no, no. I absolutely _refuse_ to talk about my sex life with you."

"I am a medical professional-"

"Ratchet", I paused briefly to let my spinning mind settle, "The only reason I was still taking the birth control was because I had refills left over. I'm on my last pack which means I'll be off it soon, and my menstrual cycle came right on time, ok?" I sure as hell wasn't about to add that the last time I had sex with a guy was nearly a year ago.

Apparently my answer had appeased him for the most part anyways. I stood up and grabbed my toothbrush. The temptation to squeeze the entire bottle of Colgate into my mouth right now was strong, but I settled on trying to get it on the brush bristles.

"Everythin' ok in here?" Jazz poked his head in. I hadn't even heard him coming, but that wasn't a surprise, "We heard yellin'."

"Everything is fine." Ratchet answered and since he was answering I went back to squeezing some toothpaste onto my brush. "Aj is stubborn per usual and refuses to share important information concerning her health."

"What info?" Jazz questioned curiously. I had been brushing my back teeth, but the brush slowed at the question. My eyes darted to Ratchet in worry. The docbot would not bring up sex in front of Jazz of all mechs would he? The only people worse than telling Jazz would be the condiment twins or maybe Skywarp.

Ratchet scoffed, "I only needed to know the date of her last action of intercourse with a human male."

"Intercourse. That's the human's way of interfacing right?" Jazz's grin was slowly becoming larger.

Ratchet paused in thought before shrugging, "I suppose. It's the closest to it."

Jazz let out a bark of laughter. I couldn't see his eyes past his visor, but I just knew they were twinkling with amusement and mischief. I pulled the toothbrush out of my mouth and stared at it contemplating stabbing it through my head and just putting myself out of misery.

"So, when's the last time ya did the dirty, sweetspark?"

Yeah, I was _definitely_ about to kill myself with a toothbrush.

* * *

 

Ratchet was a very persistent bot. By very persistent, I meant he was still hovering around my feet ordering me to get my ass back in bed. Of course, he didn't actually use the curse of ass at me. Ratchet still never directly cursed at me. I would've found that fact rather chivalrous and funny except it implicated that I was a child in his eyes, which wasn't funny.

"I am _fine_." I groaned at him and continued to dig through the fridge to grab the red bottle of Gatorade. Luckily, Taylor hadn't drank them all which left me with plenty for today.

I had already popped a couple ibuprofens to take care of my fever, which mollified Ratchet for like half a second. He growled, "You need rest."

"I also need fluids." I shook the bottle for emphasis. No other bot or con was in the kitchen and I had a suspicious feeling that it had something to do with Ratchet. He did say that he didn't want anyone else bothering me. The only reason I was ignoring Ratchet's orders was because I was much bigger than him and knew I could take him on at the moment. If I were, say, the same height as him? Hell, he wouldn't have to tell me twice to do something. The Hatchet could be scary when he wanted to be. "Besides, I was gonna rest on the couch with a movie on."

I left the kitchen and chuckled at the sound of Ratchet mumbling under his breath in his own language. I wonder if they could teach me how to say something in their language. Obviously, I'd never be fluent considering some of the sounds they made were impossible with an organic tongue, but a few words could be taught right?

My feet stopped when I noticed Bluestreak standing on the bottom stair staring up at me. His gaze drifted to Ratchet who was following me, "I'm so sorry! I thought I had enough time to get to the base before you guys left the kitchen, Ratchet! Aj, are you ok? I'm not bothering you too much am I? I really want you to get better, Tyler was saying-"

"I'm fine, Blue." I said quickly to try and end his off base rambles, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything!" He said quickly, "If you need help with anything at all I can do it. Unless, I actually _can't_ do it, but then I can get someone else to do it because no one wouldn't help you out. Except maybe Barricade. He still doesn't like you, but-"

"Go tell everyone we're having a lazy day movie marathon."

Bluestreak smiled, "Really? That is so neat! I'll go tell them, but I know some of them probably wont come because they'd rather get work done like Prowl and-"

"I'm putting in Transformers." I replied.

It took a moment for the word to click in his mind, but the moment he did the small bot was scrambling up the stairs yelling something in his own language. I chuckled and headed to the living room to find the movies. After only a few steps I stopped and knelt down to scoop up Ratchet.

"You shouldn't pick people up without prior permission." He grumbled with his arms crossed.

"Ah don't pout, Ratchet. I just didn't want you yapping at my heels like some ankle biter." I replied with a chuckle. I crossed the room to the bookshelf where most of the movies were and set Ratchet on one of the eye level shelves.

"What are you doing?"

I glanced around the room trying to find the location of Skywarp's voice. Ratchet spoke, "Look up."

My eyes drifted upward to the entertainment system to see Skywarp sitting up. The entertainment system itself had two tall black towers on each side and the three seekers were on top of one of them. What threw me for a loop was the fact that only Skywarp was sitting up. Starscream and Thundercracker were lying down still silent.

"Are they- Are they _sleeping_?" I said the last part in a hushed tone.

"We always recharge here." Skywarp replied.

Ratchet hummed, "Interesting how they would pick the highest point in the room. Not surprising though."

"So you guys do sleep?" I questioned.

"Recharge, and of course we do." Ratchet replied, "We tend to do it not all at once though and we do not need it every night like you humans."

"Huh." I chuckled. That was really interesting. I already knew Grimlock slept, but I hadn't seen anyone else do it. The room began to get loud as a crowd of bots came in. Sideswipe basically sprinted in followed by a running Bluestreak and Bumblebee.

"About time you put our movies in!" Sideswipe grinned.

Bumblebee spoke, "The others are coming."

"Movies?" Skywarp grinned, " _Ours_? Frag yeah. _Get up_!"

The other two seekers began to wake up and I figured they'd get any other decepticon who wanted to watch. I pulled Ratchet off the shelf and set him down on the floor then turned to Sideswipe, "Find the movies for me, I want a blanket."

"How am I supposed to find them?"

"Look for the box that says Transformers. It'll be the one with the giant robot face on the front." I replied. Sideswipe waved away my sarcasm and went to looking. I set my Gatorade down on the coffee table and then headed to the laundry room to grab a blanket. The idea of throwing it into the dryer for a few minutes had me pick up my speed.

The last thing I expected to see when I stepped into the laundry room was Wheeljack scribbling equations onto paper with a sharpie that was half his size. He had apparently been doing this for a while because the floor was covered in equation filled papers.

"Oh, Aj. Hi." He said nervously and set the marker down, "Um, can you, uh, _not_ tell Ratchet I'm working right now? I'd rather not face his wrath today."

"Um…ok. What is all this?"

"I'm working on the mechanism that will get us all home." He replied simply, "I wasn't entirely comfortable working in front of the bookshelf anymore."

I chuckled, "Yeah, I bet. Well, come and take a break with us."

"A break? I have too much to do honestly. Starscream and Soundwave are working on something right now as well and I think I've convinced them to work with me for it will get us to an answer quicker but-"

"Jackie." I forced a small smile, "It's a lazy day today. No one is working."

I pulled a blanket from the closet in the corner and threw it into the dryer for a couple minutes. All the movement had sent my stomach into more flips so I sat down and tried to get my bearings. Wheeljack come over immediately, "Are you alright? Should I get Ratchet? I don't want him to rip me apart, but if you're illness is getting worse-"

"No way. Mama Hen can stay in the living room and relax. I'm not even that sick." I said reassuringly. "Once my blanket is nice and toasty I am dragging you into the living room to watch movies with us. All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy- _er_ , mech."

Wheeljack chuckled, "Of course."

The white, green, and red mech stood closer to me, almost protectively, but due to him being this close I noticed the difference. His eyes were different. Curiously, I pulled my knees up, picked him up, and then set him on one of my knees.

"Um, Aj. What are you doing?"

"Sorry, just give me a second." I said. Being vague wasn't my goal, but my mind was focused on figuring out the difference. When all the Cybertronians woke up they either had solid red eyes or solid blue eyes. By red and blue, I meant the exact shade of red or blue that was the most common. Now, however, Wheeljack's blue eyes were a different shade. His were now a shade or two darker, like a navy blue. "Wheeljack, your eyes are a different color."

"What?" His fins lit up in surprise, "What color?"

"Dark… They're just a darker blue. Like navy. Look." I stood up and bit back a groan. There was a full-length mirror hanging on the other side of the laundry room door. I pushed the door so it was half closed and set Wheeljack down to observe his own eyes.

Wheeljack was silent a moment before shaking his head, "They've returned to normal."

"What do you mean?"

"When we first got here, Ratchet and I noticed that all our optics had changed to either a solid blue tone or a solid red tone depending on faction. You see, Aj, this is my _true_ optic color."

I shook my head, "Why did it change back all of a sudden?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. Was anybody else different?" He questioned.

"Not that I noticed. Ratchet's wasn't."

Wheeljack narrowed his own eyes in thought, "Then there is an order to change? Why am I first?"

I bit my lower lip in thought. There was a pause before I shook my head and spoke, "Did you wake up first? Were you the first to come to life as a toy?"

Wheeljack's fins lit up, "No. I was third. The twins woke up before me."

"Stay here." I rushed out the laundry room and into the living room. Jazz, Barricade, and Soundwave had showed up since I left but others were still missing. My eyes landed on Sideswipe who was standing on the coffee table next to my Gatorade and four movie boxes.

"Finally." He said but I ignored his comment and scooped him up. He let out a slight cry of surprise. There were questions from others, but I shot back a noncommittal answer and a quick, ' _I'll be back'_ before leaving. "What is going on?"

I didn't answer the red bot and instead stared at his newly changed eyes. I was surprised to see his had made a huge change. They didn't just lighten or darken, but rather took on an almost purple tint. Sideswipe's eyes were like an indigo mixed with a dark blue.

"What? What are you staring at? Is there something on my faceplate?" Sideswipe reached up to touch his nose.

"There you are, femme!" Ratchet barked at my feet. I stopped outside the laundry room just as Wheeljack stepped out.

" _Ratchet_!" Wheeljack had to be grinning behind his facemask, "My optics have returned to their usual color."

Sideswipe squirmed out of my hands and jet packed safely to the floor where Ratchet rushed over to Wheeljack. The medic studied Wheeljack's eyes before looking at Sideswipe's.

"Are mine back to normal too?" Sideswipe turned to me, "Oh, Primus, _please_ tell me they are."

I nodded, "Yeah, I mean, if your usual color was kind of purplish then yes. There's a mirror behind the door."

Sideswipe rushed into the room and I took a seat on the floor to keep from falling over. Ratchet and Wheeljack had slipped into their native language. A second later, Sideswipe cheered from inside the laundry room. He came out beaming, "We were getting sick of that of that other blue. Sunny is beyond pleased to get his real color back."

"Sunstreaker's eyes look like yours?" I asked.

Sideswipe nodded, "His are a little lighter than mine, but yeah."

"How come you guys didn't notice each other's eyes? I mean, you're glued to each other."

Sideswipe waved my question away, "He's working on something. I don't bother him when he gets sucked into a project."

Before I could question said project Ratchet spoke up, "This is interesting, but it does nothing for us except give me hope that perhaps with time we'll gain back use of our comms and perhaps be able to connect with the internet through our systems rather than the outdated machine in base."

"Wait, y'all have been using the computer?" I questioned.

"Duh." Sideswipe replied and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Who woke up after me?" Wheeljack asked.

Sideswipe paused, "Bee? I think it was Bee, then Jazz, Blue, Prowl, Optimus, Grimlock, Ratchet walked in about this time, but he could've woken up before one of the others. Then the cons of course."

"Why do you guys have different colors?" I asked suddenly. This made them all pause for a moment.

Sideswipe crossed his arms, "You humans have different eye colors."

"Well, yeah, because of genes and- _wait_ , if you guys have different colors because of like parents or reproduction in any form then forget I even asked."

Sideswipe began to laugh at my flustered words, but Ratchet just shook his head, Wheeljack took up the question, "Not at all. You see, we can easily change our optic color if need be. There is programing that changes the backlight that is projected from our optics. What makes the color vary is the optic glass itself. For example, Sideswipe has optic glass that is tinted a purple color so when the backlight of blue, blue for Autobot of course, is projected through it, his optics seem…well, like that."

"Oh. So the light can change colors, but can you change the optic glass itself?"

"It's a simple surgery." Ratchet nodded, "I've done a few, but for the most part mechs and femmes don't change their optic glass unless it's been damaged."

"Sunny and I were created with the purple optic glass. It's on the rare side." He beamed.

I nodded, "That's pretty neat."

"Don't you wanna know how we were created?" Sideswipe teased with a smug tone.

"Nope." I stood to grab my blanket that had finished being heated up nearly three minutes ago, "Let's go watch a movie."

Ratchet peeked into the laundry room and frowned, "Wheeljack! Have you been working?!" The sheepish look on his features was answer enough, "Frag it all, you slagging idiot! As if being yourself isn't a strain on your processors enough!"

I took a big swig of Gatorade and closed my eyes as if that would help keep it down. The movie was in and the previews before the menu popped up were rolling. The news of the eye color change had been received well, but apparently it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought.

The room was filled with bots and cons ready to watch their big screen debut. I was sitting at the end of the long couch with my blanket draped over me. On the small, two-seat couch was Megatron, Starscream, Barricade, and Soundwave. Sitting on the coffee table in front of me was Sideswipe, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Skywarp. On the other side of the couch I sat on was Thundercracker sitting on the couch's arm. Sitting in the middle was Optimus, Prowl, and Ratchet. Grimlock was prowling around the room for some reason and Jazz was sitting on the back ridge of the couch to the right of my shoulder. The only person who wasn't around was Sunstreaker. When I asked why, the ' _project_ ' had been brought up again and then his twin explained that if he got curious Sunstreaker could peek through their bond and look.

"Stop chugging those fluids!" Ratchet barked, "You'll make yourself purge it all."

I groaned and set my half empty bottle on the floor, "Come on, Ratchet. Stop whining and come cuddle with me."

I held my arms open in his direction as an invitation for him to come sit with me. He rolled his eyes and grumpily waved me off. Sideswipe turned around where he sat and lifted his arm in the air, "I'll cuddle with you."

Sideswipe winked one indigo-blue eye at me and I scoffed. The dispute was settled when Grimlock huffed and then jumped into my lap. He glared at Sideswipe, who leaned back at the glare, then curled up into my side. I shrugged and set my hand on his back.

"So I better be kicking some con aft in this movie." Sideswipe said turning his gaze back toward the screen.

"You're not in this one." I said. All eyes drifted to me in curiosity.

Sideswipe shook his head, " _Why_?!"

"I'm not Michael Bay, I don't know." I said, "The kids said only some of the bots and cons were in this one."

"Who?" Megatron questioned. I figured I was going to get that question from someone, but I just didn't expect him to be the one.

"Um", I paused in thought and tried to recall who all the kids had said was in this one.

Jazz chuckled and answered him, "Well, OP, Bee, an' you are on the front cover."

I nodded, "Right, those three. Uh, Ratchet is in this one. Starscream, Barricade, Jazz, and some others."

"Scorponok, Brawl, Blackout, Frenzy, and Bonecrusher are in this." Thundercracker finished the list of names I didn't recognize. "Also, Ironhide. The kids said Ironhide was in this one."

Sideswipe chuckled, "Ironhide?"

"Who's Ironhide?"

"You'd like him." Wheeljack spoke up, "He also enjoys threatening the twins with bodily harm."

The red bot just shrugged at the statement and I laughed with a shake of my head. Sideswipe sighed, "So when do Sunny and I come in then?"

"You show up in the second one I think, but Sunstreaker doesn't."

Everyone stopped except Thundercracker who had already heard this. This was one of the few things I did remember well. Sideswipe stood up, "What?"

"Sunstreaker isn't in any of the movies. Just you."

"Just…me?"

Sideswipe wasn't the only one surprised by this. Hell, even the decepticons looked shocked at this fact. I glanced back at Sideswipe to see a serious look of concentration on his face. Like he couldn't even begin to imagine not having his twin with him. It actually hurt me to see him trying to imagine it.

"Um, who else is in which movie, TC? Do you remember?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"For the most part. Grimlock is in the fourth movie, Skywarp and I aren't in any of them." Cue cussing from Skywarp. "Neither is Bluestreak and Prowl. Wheeljack is…sort of in a movie. I can't recall what they said, but it was confusing. Soundwave arrives in the second film."

Bluestreak's wings drooped, "Aw, I'm not in any of the movies?"

He looked so sad that I wanted to go out and make him his own movie. I'd film it on my crappy phone and Wheeljack could do the special effects. Although, his special effects would probably be the death of us all.

The menu screen appeared and everyone in the room quieted. I grabbed the remote and pressed play then grabbed my drink to chug down some more.

"I said quit chugging!" Ratchet snapped only to be shushed by everyone else. I grinned smugly at him and then settled comfortably in my seat, even letting my hand traced down Grimlock's back.

The movie started off in space with a cube floating through the darkness and a very recognizable voice narrating. We all glanced over at Optimus who acted as if not a single person was looking at him. The gazes drifted away, but I kept mine locked on him. He glanced over at me and despite the battle mask over his lower face I knew he was smiling. I chuckled and returned my gaze to the screen. It had gone to a group of military men in the back of an airplane.

"Whoa, whoa!" Sideswipe pointed at the screen and ignored the hushing, "I know those guys!"

"The human soldiers?" Prowl questioned, "How?"

"I'm trying to listen to the movie." Starscream sneered. I rolled my eyes and paused the movie since I was curious as well.

Sideswipe grinned, "Remember, that mission Sunny and I got sent on? Ironhide lead it, Hound and Trailbreaker were on it."

"I recall it." Prowl replied, his eyes glanced over to Megatron suspiciously, "The base you encountered held these soldiers?"

Sideswipe nodded, "Yupp, but he was younger. More like Aj."

"Good for you." Skywarp scoffed, "Now start the fragging movie."

I started the movie before an argument could start and Sideswipe sat back down. The movie rolled on, but I couldn't tell how I felt about it. If I had watched it before I had come to babysit I probably would've enjoyed it a lot. However, a lot of parts just didn't seem like they fit the bots and cons I had come to know. My mind couldn't put together any decent examples, but the feeling lingered. Some of the guys in the movie looked different than they did here. Ratchet was a good example and Sideswipe had teased him about the neon green, emergency color for a good ten minutes. Jazz was another example and I had turned around slightly in my seat to let him know that I preferred the way he looked now over the movie.

The fights had been pretty sweet, and I'll admit I probably enjoyed watching Barricade get his ass handed to him by Bumblebee a little too much. The final battle was beginning on the screen and I was proud to say that I only had to rush to the bathroom three times. I had used the living room bathroom since it was the closest. Starscream had whined about it at first, but after I threatened to just barf on him he quieted down.

There was cheering and teasing during the last fight. Most of it was in good nature. Most. It was all going well for the most part. The decepticons here weren't even too upset over the deaths that occurred from their faction during the movie. The cheer took a hit when Bumblebee lost his legs, but the room had gone quiet in shock when Jazz died. I watched Megatron up on the building rip him in half, but it didn't fully click.

" _Did I just-_?" Jazz spoke from behind me.

I glanced over at Megatron expecting to see a shit-eating grin, but the con leader just looked perplexed. He had an air of satisfaction about him, but his mind, or processor if you will, was still trying to grasp it.

" _Dude_." Sideswipe blinked. The movie kept going just like any real fight would, but my mind was stuck at that part. I was genuinely uncomfortable about it, which was silly since I knew it was just a movie. Jazz was my responsibility and watching him die on screen almost made me feel like I had failed him. This probably meant that I should get some serious sleep considering I was feeling guilt over something that hadn't even happened.

I glanced back at Jazz who didn't seem overly upset. He still had a small smile on his face and it grew slightly as he greeted my gaze. Was he upset? It was just a movie after all, but I was upset and I hadn't been the one to watch myself get ripped in half by the enemy.

"You alright?" Jazz whispered since the movie was still playing. _He_ was asking _me_ if I was all right. I scoffed to myself and then pulled him off the back of the couch. Grimlock had fallen asleep halfway through the movie and was snoozing in my lap so I set Jazz against my side and held him like one would hold a doll. Jazz chuckled to himself but didn't protest.

The movie ended with Shia LaBeouf shoving the cube into Megsy's chest and ending him. The same feeling came where I felt like I had failed someone, but this time it was muted because movie Megatron was a total dick whereas the Megatron I had grown used to just had some major asshole like qualities.

"Well that was", Wheeljack hummed, " _Interesting_?"

"I think ah need to have a little chat wit' this Bay fella." Jazz shook his head, crossed his arms, and snuggled closer to me, "In fact, if I wasn' so comfortable, I'd go hunt the glitch down now."

I nodded, "I'm sure he'd be terrified of you, Jazz."

"You bet your aft he'd be, sweetspark." Jazz nodded

Sideswipe groaned, "Come on, can you put in the second one already?"

"Cool your jets." I replied and carefully got up. Jazz slid onto the couch seat where I had been and Grimlock shifted with a growl. As I took out the first disc and began to put in the second one I glanced over at Megatron who was glaring at Starscream. I hadn't heard the jet say anything, but I had no doubt he did something to piss off the leader. "Do you need some cuddles too, Megsy?"

His glare snapped to me while Sideswipe complained about not being offered cuddles. I ignored both of them though because I realized Megatron's eyes had changed. Since he was the second to last to wake up that meant they had all changed. I threw the movie in to shut Sideswipe up and then began to look closer at the eyes.

"What are you doing?" Prowl questioned.

"All your eyes have changed." I replied without pause. Megatron's were still a shade of red obviously, but it was very dark like rosewood red. Starscream was a lighter burgundy. Soundwave might not have changed yet, but I couldn't tell past his glass, facemask. I was surprised to see that Barricade's was very similar to the bright red that he had woken up with. It was more vibrant now, but still the same.

I continued looking at each of their eyes and they didn't even ask questions as to why I was so curious which was good because I didn't really know myself. Bumblebee had really bright eyes like cyan in color. Bluestreak were on the teal side, and Skywarp's were on the raspberry side. Ratchet had what was apparently considered rare too since his had a natural green tint. The color came out looking sea foam green almost. Optimus had sky blue eyes, Prowl had a grayish steel blue tint, and Thundercracker's eyes were almost maroon. Grimlock was still snoozing away, but Wheeljack explained that his were a very light blue, nearly white, and that all the dinobots were like that. I was stuck on the fact that apparently Grimlock was not the only dinobot. Good Lord.

"You are out of your fluid. Go get more." Ratchet said when he noticed my empty bottle.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're kind of bossy?" I replied and started the movie for them. I wouldn't mind missing the first few minutes to get a drink. Besides, if I didn't start it now Sideswipe would have an aneurysm or at least the robotic equivalent of one.

Optimus chuckled, "I'm sure he has heard it a time or two."

Ratchet glared daggers at the autobot leader and I snorted with amusement. I headed out of the living room, but paused when I noticed Jazz following me. With a smile, I reached down and scooped him up.

"You ok, Jazz?"

"I'm fine. It'll take a lot more to rattle meh." Jazz replied as I set him on the counter so I throw away the empty bottle then grab a new one.

I pulled out a pink one and narrowed my eyes at Jazz. He was like Soundwave in the sense that I couldn't see his eyes. I took a quick sip then pointed at him, "What color are your eyes?"

"Mine?" He clarified and I nodded. A short chuckle slipped from his lips, "That's a secret."

"Oh come on." I whined, "Lemme see."

"Sorry, cant do that. If I did I'd have to offline ya."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Are you doubtin' mah skills?"

"I'm just saying that you're under a foot tall, and I might be sick, but I think I could still handle these supposed skills of yours." I joked.

Jazz shook his head, "Maybe one day I'll show ya."

"I'll hold you to that." I said firmly.

There was a pause of silence before Sideswipe's voice carried into the kitchen, " _Did you fragging see that_?! I just _destroyed_ Sideways. _Aj_! Come here and make the movie go backwards, you _have_ to see me in action!"


	10. Smile

* * *

_"I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite!" –Buddy the Elf (Elf)_

* * *

 

It wasn't that I didn't like the second movie, I swear it wasn't, it was just me being beyond exhausted from throwing up all morning. That was the reason why I had fallen asleep after about three minutes of watching it.

The sound of a phone ringing made me snap awake. My eyes traveled across the room trying to regain my composure. It was hard to tell what was happening on the screen, but it looked like Shia LaBeouf was arriving at college. Sideswipe groaned and I focused my blurry gaze on him, "You fell asleep! You're gonna miss all my action!"

I mumbled a quick apology before rubbing my eyes and pulling myself off the couch. The nap I had taken left me more tired than I had started off. How long had I even fallen asleep for anyways? The movie continued to play as I headed toward the kitchen and I didn't mind. I hadn't exactly been paying attention to what was going on anyways.

The house phone was by the fridge ringing shrilly. I still couldn't believe Aubrey had a landline. I thought those had gone extinct and the only place you could find them now was by the T-Rex fossils in a museum.

"Hello?" I answered and rubbed my face again. At least the nap had pushed away most of my nausea. For now, at least.

"Aimee? Oh, you sound horrible."

I forced a smile despite knowing my older sister couldn't see me, "Aj, and thanks. Horrible was the look I was going for this morning."

"Sorry." Aubrey replied in a heart-felt tone.

"I was- it's fine. You know sarcasm is my natural reaction to…well, _everything_."

Aubrey chuckled, "I guess I just need to get used to it again."

I bit back a sigh and sat down on the kitchen floor with my back against the fridge, "So, what's up? The kids are at school right now."

"I know. They called me and told me you were sick."

My eyes widened, "What do you mean they called you?"

"Peter used the office phone this morning. I told them to take the bus home this afternoon, they used to do that on the days I couldn't pick them up."

"I _can_ pick them up." I said firmly and rather loudly. "I am _fully capable_ -"

Aubrey sighed on the other end, "They're going to be upset if you pick them up. Peter suggested the bus idea to help you out, and he's going to be disappointed if he cant help you."

I blinked in surprise. Peter was trying to help me out as much as possible. That wasn't surprising. The kid and I hadn't gotten off to the best start, but we were good now. What did surprise me was that Aubrey knew the exact way to get me to agree. Damn it.

"Fine." I snapped a little rougher than I should have. The line was quiet and guilt began to eat away at my core. My voice came out softer with the next words, and I felt smaller, "How are you Aubrey? Is everything…Is everything alright?"

I could almost hear her smile over the line, "Everything is going perfect, Aj."

"Good."

"I actually called to tell you something else too." Aubrey spoke up and her voice was filled with excitement, "I ordered the kids' Christmas present online and they should get there next Monday." Shit. Today was Thursday, or more specifically the 19th of December. I groaned aloud and Aubrey's panicked voice responded, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I just remembered I have to go Christmas shopping is all." I replied. Mentally, I put it on my to-do list. I had to get this done before Christmas eve because if I tried to go shopping in the Christmas eve crowds I would punch somebody's teeth in more than likely. Having their aunt in jail would be a pretty shitty Christmas gift.

Aubrey chuckled, "Not today though. Wait until you feel better."

"I'll probably do it tomorrow while they're at school." I replied, "What did you get them?"

"Oh, right! I bought them some more transformer stuff."

I paused, "Like…the action figure, model things or…?"

"No." Aubrey replied and I let out a breath of relief. I didn't think by entering the household a transformer toy would suddenly come to life, but it would still be weird to have a still one when all the others are running around, "Just some clothes, a new backpack for Tyler, and things like that. Those are the stuff that should arrive on Monday."

"You say that like there is stuff coming on not Monday."

"Santa is bringing them new bikes this year." Aubrey said with excitement, "You'll have to build them, but I was told the instructions aren't hard to follow."

I chuckled, "I forgot about Santa. I'm glad you remembered or this would be an awkward Christmas."

"I'm a _mom_. It's my job to remember." Aubrey joked. It was just a lighthearted joke, but it reminded me that I was not a mother and I probably wouldn't be a very good one. Sure, I was taking care of the kids pretty well. They were safe, they weren't starving, but the little things like remembering that Santa was supposed to visit next week had completely slipped my mind. It was a small detail, but to a kid it was huge. "Oh, I have to go. Take care of yourself today, Aimee. Tell the kids I'll call them tonight."

I nodded then remembered I was on the phone, "Right. Got it. Bye."

The line ended, but I remained sitting on the floor for a couple minutes. I could always go back to watch the movie, but I had already missed the beginning so it'd be pointless. Suddenly, I remembered the yellow bot I hadn't seen all morning. I rose to my feet with a groan and headed for the stairs. Sunstreaker was the only person up here right now, and it didn't take me long to find him.

Surprisingly, he was in the twins' room of all places. I leaned against their doorframe taking in the sight of Sunstreaker working over the family tree project. The twins had colored the tree last night and all they needed to do was paste pictures of their family members on it.

"Go away, I'm busy." Sunstreaker said without glancing back at me.

I pushed off the doorframe and grabbed a small folder by Taylor's bedside. Inside were the pictures they found that they wanted to use, "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer my question. In fact, he acted as if I hadn't even spoken at all. I plopped down on the ground by her bed and began to flip through the photos. There was on of Aubrey with her hair tied in a ponytail and an apron over her clothes. She must have been cooking. They had even grabbed a photo of their dad Wes. It was mid chest and up like Aubrey's and he looked like he was wearing a military uniform. Was Wes in the military? I couldn't remember what it was he did, mainly because I hadn't cared. Hell, I still didn't really care, but my curious side did wonder. There were three more pictures. One of Taylor, who was dressed as Cinderella, it must have been Halloween, one of Tyler who wore a baseball uniform and a layer of dirt, and one of Peter who was beaming into the camera without his glasses on.

The three of them were beyond adorable and it brought a soft smile to my lips. I set the photos back in the folder. It was sad to me that they didn't know any of their grandparents. I didn't know anything about Wes' side of the family, but I personally knew that my mom would've adored the three of them. She would've spoiled them absolutely rotten.

A chuckle escaped my lips and I lifted my gaze to glance at Sunstreaker only to realize he had stopped working and was now staring me down. I froze under the gaze. It wasn't one of the usual glares he sent me, but rather it was almost analytical. As if he was studying me. His eyes had changed just like Sideswipe, but like Sideswipe had said Sunstreaker's eyes were a lighter shade of purple and blue. It fit well with his yellow paint job, not that I'd ever admit that to him.

"What?" I said. He didn't break his gaze or even flinch. It felt like his gaze went right through me and that made me shift uncomfortably, "What are you looking at?"

Sunstreaker didn't reply, but glanced back down at the poster board in front of him. He tilted his head slightly before nodding. I pushed myself off my butt and onto my knees to crawl over and see what he was looking at.

My eyes widened at the artwork on the tree. It was me. Sunstreaker had drawn a portrait of me among the branches. Underneath the drawing, scribbled in Taylor's handwriting, was 'Aj (aunt)'. The drawing itself though was spectacular. Bumblebee had mentioned that Sunstreaker drew, but I didn't think that he could do something like this. So there I was surprised at the talent this foot tall mech had and the fact that I was on the tree at all.

"They put me on their tree." I breathed. I knew we all got along, but a part of me felt like I still didn't deserve it yet. Where was I the past ten years? Not here that was for sure. "You…you drew me on their tree."

"They asked. Apparently they didn't have a picture of you." Sunstreaker shrugged, "I didn't want to, but I've never drawn a human before. Seemed like it'd be an interesting subject to try. It wasn't much of the challenge I hoped it to be though."

The dismissal in his tone didn't even reach my ears. The detail in the drawing was beyond accurate. He had captured the slight wave my hair held and my face shape exactly. He even added the little scar I had under my left eye. The smile drawn on my features though…

"It's amazing, dude, but…" I began and Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at me as if daring me to finish that sentence, "I don't smile like that."

In the picture I was way too happy. He had somehow drawn it out to make my smile reach my eyes. The drawing was black and white, with pencil only, but still he had found a way to make it look like my eyes radiated with amusement.

Sunstreaker scoffed, "It's perfect, but more than that it's _exact_."

"I just-"

"That's how you look when you're around the kids." He replied and scoffed again, "Pit, that's the fragging smile you had on your face plates a nano-klick ago."

I assumed nano-klick was when I had been looking at the photos, but was he serious? Is this the look I wore whenever I was interacting with the kids? I stared at the picture longer and chuckled. Sunstreaker made me look good. There was no way I looked like that today with my hoodie, messy hair, and pale skin. I was basically radiating sickness today.

"It looks amazing." I nodded, "You did a good job, grape."

Sunstreaker's eyes narrowed at me again, "What?"

"Grape. See, before I only had the color yellow to work with, but now that your eyes are purple…" I forced a joking grin despite the fact that I was beginning to feel nauseous again.

"Fragging pit spawn." He said, but rather than being full of spite and anger his words just seemed like an afterthought. Like a sigh or something. A moment passed before his head snapped to the side and he grew stiff.

I narrowed my eyes, "You ok?"

Sunstreaker didn't answer. Instead, he transformed and raced out of the room. I jumped to my feet, with a spinning head, and followed. He had transformed again to handle the stairs, but this gave me time to catch up with him. I scooped him up into my arms to race down the stairs, and the yellow bot with light purple eyes didn't even complain.

The sounds of gunfire, yelling, and a movie mingled in the air. I reached the living room and paused to see an all out war had been started. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were fighting with Barricade while Wheeljack and Jazz were tensely speaking to Soundwave though it looked like a fight between them had just ended. Sideswipe and Prowl were stuck under the table as the seekers zoomed around the room and brought a rain of fire down on them. Optimus and Megatron were on top of the coffee table and in the middle of a heated Cybertronian argument that was on the brink of turning into a fire fight as well. Grimlock was still sleeping on the couch as if none of this was happening. I was frozen in shock, but Sunstreaker used his new height to his advantage. As Skywarp flew by me, Sunstreaker leaped off my hand and landed on the guy's back. He immediately began to barrel roll and warp around the room trying to get him off.

The movie was still playing, and I watched as a large helicopter dropped a motionless Optimus Prime onto an open tarmac. He had _died_ in this movie? Wasn't he in the other movies though? What the hell was happening?

"Get upstairs! We are trying to contain the situation-" Ratchet was yelling at my feet, but I shook my head and stepped into the heat of the battle. Someone cried out in pain, but I couldn't pinpoint who. My gaze was locked on the leaders. Fastest way to end a fight was to separate them, right? My goal was to pull them away before the physical fight started, but the moment I stepped toward them Megatron fired at Optimus who was shot back. The autobot leader came close to falling off the edge, but came to a screeching stop just in time. He brought out his own weapon, a sword, in response and began to plead at Megatron in Cybertronian.

My attention was yanked away when a sharp pain bit at my arm. I let out a small, startled cry and glanced down to see stray bullets had pelted my upper arm and left small burn marks. It hurt more now than it did when they first showed up. Had that changed like their eyes or was it just because I was under the weather?

Someone called out my name, that someone probably being Ratchet, but I ignored them and reached forward to grab the leaders. Both of them apparently had been so absorbed on each other that they didn't even notice me because when I grabbed them they jerked in surprise. Megatron's gun was hot and it made my fingers warm, but Optimus' sword was sharp and made my fingers bleed. I quickly released him in fear of getting blood all over him.

"Aj!" He called out in his deep voice, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm peachy, except for the whole r _obots fighting in my living room thing_!" I snapped loudly so everyone could hear. The fighting was beginning to slow down. I knew ' _robots_ ' was kind of an insulting term for these guys which is probably why it slipped from my lips. "What the _hell_ is going on in here? I was gone for- _How_!?"

Optimus spoke up, "It was a simple argument that got out of hand. We apologize, Aj."

My eyes glanced back at the television screen, "It have anything to do with you dying, OP?"

He didn't answer, but that was answer enough. I set Megatron down, but he continued to just glare at me. Dealing with this was tiring, and I was tired enough as is. A sigh slipped my lips and I shook my head, "No more movie."

"Aj!" Sideswipe began, but I cut him off with a glare of my own. He visibly wilted and crossed his arms like a child pouting while I turned the TV off using the hand that wasn't bleeding.

I glanced at the cut in curiosity. It was rather thin, but it was long and went across the inside of all my fingers minus my thumb. It also burned like a paper cut would making my face scrunch up in distaste. I was surprised Ratchet wasn't on me about this yet.

"Aj, grab Bumblebee and get him upstairs." Ratchet said firmly with a mix of determination and authority in his voice. My eyes darted over to see a dark eyed, motionless Bee with Ratchet standing over him holding a bright yellow door wing.

* * *

 

My other hand was playing with the new Band-Aids over each finger as I watched Ratchet work. I was seated on the floor with my back against my bed.

"Stop messing with them." Ratchet snapped without even looking up from his work. I let my hands drop into my lap with a disgruntled sigh.

"Are you sure he's ok?" I questioned probably for the hundredth time.

Ratchet once again didn't look up, "I am positive. His door wing was ripped off and the pain overloaded his sensors and knocked him into stasis."

My mind drifted to the movies and I squirmed, "I can't tell the difference between stasis and death. It…" Bothered me? Worried me? Scared me? I didn't know how to finish the sentence so I just didn't bother.

When I had carried Ratchet and Bumblebee upstairs nearly everyone had tried to follow. Ratchet was apparently King of kicking people out of places though. He had banned anyone from entering the room while he worked. I was about 95% positive that the only reason why he let me in here was because of my fingers and the fact that I was sick. Otherwise, I'd be shit out of luck like all the others.

"How are your digits?" Ratchet questioned. Sometimes I liked that he never replaced his Cybertronian terms with human ones because then it made it easier for me to learn. Other times it was just frustrating.

I shrugged and assumed the digits he was talking about were my bleeding fingers, "They're fine. Burning a little, but that's normal."

Ratchet was silent a moment before letting out a sound of surprise. I sat up straighter, but he didn't clarify what he was surprised by. He looked up from what he was doing, locking his sea foam eyes on me, "Go get Optimus and Wheeljack."

"Only cause you asked so nicely." I mumbled under my breath and Ratchet ignored me. A grunt escaped my mouth as I forced myself up and out of the room. The moment I stepped out Optimus, who was standing by the doorway, greeted me. My eyes widened slightly, not expecting him to be there, "Hey, OP. You scared me."

"I didn't mean to surprise you."

"It's ok. Ratchet is looking for you."

He nodded then paused, "Are you alright?"

I glanced down at my hand then back at him with a forced smile, "No worries. Takes more than a paper cut to bring me down."

"It wasn't paper that cut you, but my blade."

I shrugged, "Eh, to- _may-_ to, to- _mah-_ to. Do you know where Wheeljack is?"

Optimus shook his head, "I do not. Sorry."

I waved off his apology and walked down the hall looking for the engineer. My search came to an end in the kitchen where Wheeljack was getting a serving of coffee for a curled up Grimlock. I always had a jug of coffee made and stored on the lowest shelf in the fridge with all the kid medicine cups I could find beside it. Cold or hot they didn't care as long as the caffeine got their energy levels up and this way they could get it themselves when needed.

"Here we go now." Wheeljack hummed holding the plastic medicine cup filled with black coffee. Grimlock grumbled and stood. He began to transform which always threw me for a loop. I had seen him do this before, but I guess I couldn't get used to the fact that Grimlock could look not like a dinosaur. His other form was just like everyone else except Grimlock was still freaking huge. The bot took the coffee, chugged it, dropped the cup, and then walked out. Wheeljack picked up the cup and looked at me, "He's still in a mood about missing the earlier fight. How is your hand?"

"I'll live." I held up the bandaged hand with a forced smile, "Ratchet is looking for you though." I took the plastic cup from Wheeljack and tossed it into the sink for me to wash later.

Wheeljack shrugged, "Best not leave him waiting, he's probably already in one of his moods as well."

"Are you psychic?" I joked and picked him up from the ground.

* * *

 

It was one of those moments where you hear the words and understand that the words form a coherent sentence, but said coherent sentence just doesn't click in your mind. I lifted my hand and shook my head, "Wait, wait, wait…what?"

Ratchet sighed and crossed his arms, "We are changing. The optic change brought it to my attention and now Bumblebee's injuries further prove it."

"Amazing." Wheeljack said in excitement as his fins lit up. He still had his attention buried in Bumblebee's wound.

Optimus stepped forward, "What exactly does this mean for us?"

"I have no idea." Ratchet admitted, "For one, it means we need to stop getting _fragging_ injured. The more these bodies change to match our normal ones then the more complicated the jobs will become. I have a field kit in my subspace, but not enough materials for any big fixes."

Wheeljack nodded, "I have some extra material in my subspace as well. I'm sure others do too."

"Still we shouldn't count on that." Ratchet argued.

I blinked, "The toy bodies are becoming your real bodies?"

"It seems so." Optimus grumbled with worry reflecting in his eyes.

"The good news is this means we will most likely get our comm systems back as well as a viable way to connect to your internet, Aj." Wheeljack hummed, "Perhaps even our holoform program will come back online."

I didn't know what the fuck a holoform was, but my mind was stuck on something else, "The _toy_ bodies are becoming your _real_ bodies."

"We have established that, Aj." Ratchet snapped.

"Your _real_ bodies are bigger than my _house_." I said and the room grew quiet. A lump formed in my throat and I quickly swallowed it, "Will your toy bodies _grow_ as you change?"

Wheeljack glanced at Ratchet then back at me, "Well, honestly, there is no way to know for certain. We just have to monitor it?"

I buried my face into my heads and heaved a sigh. Who knew that housing miniature aliens would be so stressful? As I pondered my poor decisions in life, Ratchet pushed Wheeljack aside and began to finish working on Bee's injuries.

"Well, I guess when y'all's heads start banging against the top of the doorframes we'll figure it out." I stated while rubbing my forehead with my hand.

A groan filled the room as Bumblebee came back online. I was beyond pleased to see his cyan eyes light up. He slowly stood up and his door wings twitched, "Nevermind what I said about door wings. I don't like them anymore."

* * *

 

"We're home!" The front door to the household was accidentally slammed shut.

"Welcome back, cadets." The voice of Jazz drifted through the front of the house into the kitchen where he sat, "How was school?"

"It was fun. Where's Aj?" The little girl questioned.

"She's takin' a nap. _Finally_. It took us nearly two groons to convince her to do it."

Their voices grew in volume as they group of them made their way into the kitchen. Peter, the eldest, was the first to step in with a smile, "Good afternoon, Megatron. Soundwave. How was your day?"

Megatron didn't bother answering the question since it held no real weight and was simply a conversation starter. Soundwave who stood next to him, however, did speak up, "Status: Fine. Day: Slow, but intriguing."

The two twin younglings began to excitedly request that the older youngling retrieve something for them to eat. Megatron motioned toward the archway with his head then left the kitchen with Soundwave beside him. For creatures that seemed to care about Aj's wellbeing they were abnormally loud.

Megatron hated being here. He hated being a smaller, weaker version of himself, and he hated, more than anything else in the universe, that he had to 'play nice' with the fragging autobots. In his processor, they'd be better off permanently offline. However, the more time that passed the more he realized he'd need some of those pathetic bots to get back to his own world. Starscream and Soundwave were smart no doubt, but they couldn't build a working device to get everyone home like Wheeljack could.

So, perhaps he couldn't end them all as he had originally planed, but there were still actions he could set into progress that would benefit him. For example, there was a very short list of autobots he wouldn't mind having a chat with. Mainly to ask why they were wasting their time and skills on a side that was going nowhere with a leader who should have never been Prime. Perhaps then they could see their mistakes and poor decisions and make a change from blue to red. That was a long-term plan though with long-term effects.

His more short-term plans involved a rather squishy organic. The younglings were worthless in his optics. They had no real value in his eyes and only served as a distraction if nothing else. Aj, though, could serve a purpose. If he could convince her somehow to see his Decepticons in a revered light and the Autobots as simply meddlesome then perhaps his earlier suggestion of crushing the bots would be taken more seriously. It wasn't a farfetched idea. The more he learned about the organic femme the more he saw potential. Better than that, he could see the look of tamed wild in her optics. It was a skill he had that he prided himself on. It often came in handy back at the beginning of the war when he was recruiting the best.

Megatron could look a mech in the eye and see what lied beneath. He could see the darkest corner of their processers. Apparently the skill worked on fleshies as well because he could see that Aj was no creator. She was a fighter. More than that, she was a broken one. The type that had no self worth, the type that was easy to manipulate simply by using emotional pain. Megatron's favorite type. There was a decepticon under those fleshy eyes, Megatron was sure of that.

"What did you find from the recon?" He questioned as they passed the stairs.

Soundwave replied, "Recon Subjects: Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Aj. Information Gathered: Mech bodies are changing. Becoming more real."

Megatron chuckled in amusement. Well wasn't this a turn for the better? If all his other small plans failed he could always just wait until his body became his own. Destroying them with his own servos was always the more pleasurable plan.

* * *

 

The nap I woke from was the kind where when you wake up you have no idea what's happening, what year it is, or what planet you're on. It wasn't just because I was sick either. Whenever I took naps during the day for longer than an hour I always woke up confused and disorientated. The good news? Bye-bye, nausea. Of course, I say that with the prayer that it doesn't spontaneously come back.

"Oh good, you're awake." I focused my gaze on Wheeljack who was on the desk flipping through one of the books Ratchet usually flipped through, "The younglings are home. The twins have finished their project, they're creator called and spoke to them, and I believe they were thinking about making dinner."

I sat up slowly, "What? No. No, I'll make…that. The food."

"Are you alright?" Wheeljack asked with worry.

"Mhmm", I nodded and waved him off with my eyes closed, "Jus' groggy. Why are you in here?"

I opened my eyes and stood to stretch. Wheeljack shut the book before answering, "Ratchet asked me to keep an optic on you while he went downstairs to refuel."

It was sweet, sure, but they really didn't understand that I didn't need anybody watching over me as I slept. The argument wasn't it worth it though so I just nodded and walked over and offered him my hand to step on. He didn't hesitate and I moved him from my hand to my shoulder where he could sit.

The two of us headed out the door and down the hall. I could already hear the kids' voices drifting up the stairs from the kitchen. Before I could call out to them though my eyes landed on Aubrey's door, which was cracked open.

"Why is that door open?" I grumbled and walked over to shut it. Wheeljack didn't have an answer for me, but I found one myself when I peeked through the crack to see two familiar bots lying on the bed back to back. I slowly backed away so they wouldn't hear me. "What are they doing?"

Wheeljack motioned for me to head down the stairs and I did with one last glance at the door. He made a sound akin to clearing his throat, "They were recharging. Sleeping."

"The seekers were doing that earlier." I mumbled to myself and stopped on the stairs in thought, "Do they always sleep together like that?"

Wheeljack shrugged and I kept walking, "I don't know the whole truth. Living in the same base as them I know a few things, but it isn't all concrete. I do know they share the same quarters, but I was under the impression that they both slept in separate berths."

"They do." Jazz's voice entered the conversation. He would be the one to know, the damn sneaky saboteur. I glanced over to see him leaning against the base of the stair railing, "This is the first time they've recharged since gettin' 'ere."

Wheeljack made a humming sound, "Ah, I see."

"I don't see. Clueless organic here." I replied and sat down on the bottom stair so I wasn't straining to look at Jazz.

Jazz chuckled, "Lemme tell you a quick story. There was this one battle on Cybertron. It wasn' anythin' special. Jus' an ordinary skirmish, but the twins ended up gettin' separated in it." He paused for a moment, "It was only for 'bout three orns-"

"Roughly 39 earth days." Wheeljack cut in.

"But that can feel like a lifetime when you're fightin'." Jazz finished his sentence, "The twins just weren't the same during' that time an' everyone understood why, but none o' us ever realized how strainin' it was fo' them to be apart durin' a stressful time like that. My point is that when they did find each other again at the end they were beyond inseparable. An' I know for a fact that when Ratchet had them rechargin' in the medbay for observation they were sharing a berth back to back."

I glanced up the stairs, "That's how they were sleeping upstairs."

"It's stressful for us being here, and considerin' the bomb could've offlined the twins rather than just sendin' 'em here…"

Wheeljack shook his head, " _Not a bomb_!"

"Why back to back though?"

Wheeljack crossed his arms, "Based on their alt modes and models I assume it's because of their sparks." He saw my look of confusion and continued, "By recharging in that position it allows their sparks to be as close as possible."

"Ya gotta remember, Aj." Jazz said, "Our twins are different than human twins. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are two very different mechs, but when you get down to the basic facts. The two of 'em make up one single spark."

I sighed, "I'd like to say I understand, but I think I'm more confused."

Wheeljack and Jazz laughed, but the kids coming out of the kitchen to greet me ended the conversation. I listened to them talk about their day as I began to make dinner. My mind remained on the mech twins though. I hadn't understood everything the guys were trying to explain, but I had understood one thing.

Their situation was different from mine and Aubrey's and anger was no longer the emotion I thought of when I thought about their connection. Now, I was jealous. It wasn't an overpowering jealousy that led me to hate them more though. It just made me wish I had someone in my life that I knew would always have my back. An other half.

It was a silly thought to have because I knew I couldn't have someone like that in my life. Not because I was so negative to think that the person for me didn't exist. It was mostly just me knowing that I would never let someone get that close to me. I put up too many walls in an attempt to protect and shield myself, and I didn't think I could bring them down for anybody. Somebody would have to get by them through sheer determination and willpower alone and what idiot would be stupid enough to put themselves through that?

* * *

 

"Ok, ok. Y'all gotta get to sleep. Big Christmas party tomorrow right?" I said while trying to get the kids to move up the stairs. They were dressed and ready for bed, but were still bouncing off the walls. The bots and cons had kept a good eye on the kids while I napped, but apparently they hadn't stopped said children from snacking on every sugary item they got their hands on.

Tyler, in his dark red Iron Man pajamas, tugged on my shirt, "Johnny said his mom is making cupcakes to bring!"

"Yeah, yeah, and Jamie's dad is bringing pie!" Taylor jumped up and down in her own pajamas. She could never decide between her Barbie ones and her Captain America ones so tonight she wore the pink pants and the dark blue shirt with the shield on it. I was a fan of Steve Rogers too, but that was mainly because he had a heavenly ass.

Peter chuckled, "You guys get to turn in your project too."

That statement sent a whole new wave of excitement through them. We passed Megatron in the halls and the kids wished him a good night that he grumbled at in response. I herded all three of them into the twins' room. They jumped into bed while I picked up some random toys on the ground and Peter turned on the nightlight in the corner of their bedroom.

"Aj", Taylor spoke up in a soft, quiet tone, "Can you sing us a song?"

I reeled back in surprise and tossed aside the doll in my hand. All three pairs of eyes were on me. Bumblebee and Bluestreak hadn't shown up yet to stay with the twins and Wheeljack or Prowl was probably already in Peter's room. "What?"

"Can you sing us a song?" Taylor asked again.

Peter sighed, "Tay."

"Mama used to. We miss it." Tyler defended his sister.

I twisted my lips and then sat down at the end of Taylor's bed with my legs crossed, "Come here, y'all." They were silent as they gathered closer. Taylor crawled into my lap with her head against my chest so I rested my own head on top of hers. Tyler and Peter got onto the bed side by side and across from me and Taylor with their knees touching mine. "I know you guys miss Aub- your mom, but she's gonna be home before you know it and she misses you guys more than y'all can imagine. Until then, I'll do anything for you guys. Do you understand? Anything at all. Name it and I'll get it done. Got it?"

"Got it." Peter said as the twins bobbed their heads.

"So, what do you want me to sing?"

"Can you sing playmate?" Taylor asked and my heart stuttered. "Mama sings that song to us all the time."

Playmate was a song I knew by heart. It was the catchy jingle mom used to sing to Aubrey and me when we were small. It's one of the first songs Aubrey and I would sing together in our younger days. I opened my mouth to agree but a sad chuckle came out instead.

" _Playmate, come out an play with me_." I sang softly, " _And bring your dollies three… climb up my apple tree. Look down my rain barrel… slide down my cellar door… and we'll be jolly friends…forever more_." Tyler and Peter were smiling and I could tell Taylor was too by her quiet giggles. I let my fingers brush through her blonde hair, " _It was a rainy day… she couldn't come out and play…and with a sigh I think I heard her say, I'm sorry playmate…I cant come play with you…my dollies_ came to life and nearly _burned down_ our kitchen."

My last line of spoken improvisation made all three kids burst out in laughter filling the room with a heart-warming feeling. I wrapped one arm around Taylor and used the other to pull Tyler and Peter closer as I joined in the laughter. This was what having a family felt like. We might not have been the most conventional family, but we were still together and if I could pause time and live forever in one moment? This would be it.


	11. Masks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, this one has a bit more language than the other chapters so far!

* * *

_"We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be." –Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)_

* * *

 

"You should not be leaving the house!" Ratchet argued as I pulled out my ratty book bag to look for my money pouch. "I only let you leave earlier to take the younglings to school!"

"Ratch, I am totally ok." I replied without giving him a glance. The bag was buried at the bottom next to an empty water bottle. My money pouch was literally just a cloth bag filled with cash. I always kept one for emergencies and stuff of that nature. Without hesitation I dumped it all out onto the floor and began to count.

Ratchet walked over and narrowed his eyes at me, "What is this?"

"Cash, Ratchet. Human money. Do Cybertronians have money?"

"I know that and of course we do. We have credits." Ratchet answered, "I meant why is your monetary paper slips crumbled up and covered in…is this _blood_?"

Well, you see, sometimes the blood was mine. When I would grab the dollars blood from my hands, face, etc would drip on them. No biggie. I was more concerned about the ones where the blood _wasn't_ mine. I wasn't about to catch some blood borne disease, ok? Of course, none of that came out of my mouth. Ratchet would rip me a new one.

"Good question, I should probably take that up with my bank." Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me in response. The two of us had an interesting relationship at this point. He nagged and bossed me around while I either sassed or ignored him. We were like an old married couple except he was the bitchy wife and I was the lazy husband. The more interesting part of our relationship was what we didn't say. I knew that Ratchet knew something about my fighting. Just like he knew that I knew. However, neither of us had approached the subject aloud yet and I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to bring up the subject. "I got 231 dollars. That isn't bad."

"You are _not_ leaving this house, Aimee Jane Bradshaw."

I blinked and tore my gaze away from stuffing the money into my wallet to stare at Ratchet in amazement, "Did you just use my full name?"

"According to the internet, the usage of one's full name implies seriousness and discipline." He crossed his arms. I bit my lower lip in a futile attempt to not burst into laughter. Ok, so maybe we weren't cranky wife and slothful husband, but instead we were over-protective dad and smartass daughter. "I asked the younglings and they provided me with your name. Well, Peter did. That is beside the point though, _you are not leaving_! You are still ill."

I rolled my eyes with a soft smile, "I'm fine, _dad_." His eyes widened slightly, but I kept talking, "Do you want me to do cartwheels or something to prove it?"

Prowl walked into the room with his steel blue eyes glued to his datapad. I didn't understand how the guy was constantly working. Like, what was there to work on here? Ratchet noticed him and grabbed his attention, " _Prowl_! Tell this infuriating femme that she is not setting a pede out of this house!"

Prowl looked up from his datapad at the fuming Ratchet and then to me who was barely holding back giggles of amusement. He shook his head and tucked his datapad into thin air. Well, technically it wasn't thin air, but his subspace. However, I was perfectly content with pretending all the bots and cons were magicians.

"I have no real authority over Aj, and you know this. Prime has given her guest officer clearance." Prowl spoke in his no nonsense tone, "And if we are truly being honest with ourselves, even without said clearance her size alone stops me from restraining her. Although, I do agree with you, Ratchet."

Ratchet rolled his eyes but my attention had been drawn to Prowl's words, "Guest officer clearance? What exactly is that and why haven't I heard of it before now?"

"During one of our first debriefings here Prime announced to treat you as a guest officer in the Autobot army. Any orders you issue out are to be heeded. Strictly temporary of course." Prowl explained.

I nodded, "Who are the other officers again?"

"I am second in command. Jazz is third in command and also the officer in charge of special operations. Ratchet is CMO. Wheeljack is an officer and Chief Engineer. Prime is-"

"Yeah, Prime is king-general-bro." I waved it off and stood up with my wallet.

Prowl looked appalled, "King general bro is _not_ a title becoming of the _Prime_."

"I winged it a little, admittedly."

Ratchet shook his head, "I'm getting Prime. He is not letting you out."

I watched Ratchet walk out with Prowl beside him. I scoffed, "He's _your_ King general bro, not _mine_!"

They ignored me and left so I continued to get ready to leave. I really was feeling fine. Still a bit sore from the bookshelf and a bit dizzy from being sick, but I've had worse. It was just the 24-hour virus and my 24 hours had passed. As I pulled my leather jacket on my thoughts traveled back to relationships.

The Cybertronians hadn't been here all that long, and yet the kids and I had already formed these connections with them. I mean, we lived with them which probably played a huge part in it, but still it was strange. Where as Ratchet and I had our strange relationship, he also had a hand with the kids. I saw the way he doted on all three of them in his own cranky way. It wasn't obvious, but I could tell he had adopted them as patients as well. Plus they had it lucky when it came to Ratchet. He was always ordering me to do things, but when it came to the kids he always asked.

I wasn't as close to Prowl. There was no reason to it other than I didn't see him often. We got along well in a way where we respected each other. I mostly saw Prowl and Peter talking and it didn't honestly surprise me all that much.

A quick glance in the bathroom mirror as I walked down the hall showed I was presentable. My face was actually pretty void of injuries. There were no bruises or black eyes from being punched or kicked in the face. My hair still hung around my face in loose waves reaching way past my shoulders and I was tempted to cut it short again. I liked the way it looked long, but with my lifestyle short hair was the best.

Someone cleared their throat as I walked by the office so I backpedaled to see Ratchet in the doorway. He didn't say anything but motioned for me to follow him with a grumpy frown. I chuckled and walked into the room.

Optimus was on the desk waiting for me obviously. Jazz was sitting on top of a stack of books pushed to the side while Wheeljack leaned against the stack. Prowl was on the desk standing a little behind Optimus.

"Geez, why does this feel like an intervention?" I questioned and scooped Ratchet up to put him on the desk. He glared at me and crossed his arms. I sat down on the desk chair with my legs pulled in making Optimus' eye level a little higher than mine. "Oh wait, is this an _officer's meeting_?"

Optimus bit back a chuckle, "It was an informal meeting between only a few of my officers, but Prowl and Ratchet came to me with a request."

"Are they still trying to keep me under house arrest?" I sighed and shook my head, "I am a-ok, y'all. Fit as a fiddle."

"We are simply concerned that by venturing out and stressing yourself today your illness may return." Optimus replied, "Ratchet gathered information on human illnesses and he says that this is a possibility."

I nodded, "Ok, ok, so yeah. _Maybe_. I could also step outside and get hit by a bus", Ratchet's eyes widened in alarm and he opened his mouth but I cut him off, "But that doesn't mean I waste a day doing nothing. I need to buy groceries, coffee being one of them, and Christmas gifts for the kids."

"Christmas gifts?" Wheeljack questioned.

"Yeah, Christmas gifts. You guys try explaining to the kids why they don't have any presents under the tree from me because I aint gonna deal with the water works."

Ratchet narrowed his eyes, "Would they rather you be sick again?"

"I'm not gonna get sick again." I shook my head.

Optimus was paused in thought. He shrugged, "Perhaps we can settle on a compromise?" I leaned closer to show that I was listening and he continued, "You take someone with you on your errands? Just as a precaution?"

There was no getting by this and the sooner I got this meeting to be over the sooner I could leave. I nodded and threw my hands up in defeat, "Sure, who's on babysitting duty?"

"I got this, OP." Jazz jumped from his seated position to the desktop.

Optimus looked to me and I gave him a quick nod. He agreed, "It's settled then. Jazz will accompany you on this trip."

"Well come on then, Jazzman. Let's blow this popsicle stand." I held out my hand and he jumped on. As I began to walk out I turned and gave the group a quick salute, "Guest Officer Aj asking for permission to be dismissed?"

"Permission granted." Optimus chuckled.

"See y'all soon. Unless, of course, I get hit by a bus…"

" _You insufferable femme, I oughta_ -"

I slipped out of the room before Ratchet could finish his threat. A chuckle escaped my lips and Jazz shook his head in amusement as I walked down the stairs with him. We didn't pass any other bots or cons and went right out the front door.

"I like you like this." Jazz commented as I reached the truck.

"Hmm?"

Jazz jumped off my hand and onto the truck's passenger seat as I settled in my own, "You're funnier than when we first met ya. Easier to talk to. You seem…happier."

"Well, to be fair", I started the truck up, "When you first met me I was 90% sure I was having a mental breakdown."

Jazz laughed, "Touché."

"It's been a long time since I could joke around and relax. This is as much of a vacation for y'all as it is for me." I confessed. It was a thought I had in the back of my mind for a while now, but this was the first time I really admitted to it. Jazz didn't reply and I reached over to the glove compartment to grab my sunglasses. I quickly tossed them on and threw the car into drive. Before releasing the brake though I looked over at Jazz just as he glanced over at me. I grinned at him and raised my sunglasses once before letting them fall over my eyes again then pointed at his visor, " _Twinsies_."

Jazz grinned and turned to his window to let out a laugh as I let go of the brake and got the car rolling.

* * *

 

I parked the car and reached over to the glove compartment. Jazz stepped forward to see what I was rooting around for, "What'cha doin'?"

"I saw a Bluetooth headset in here before." I replied and found it buried under the car manual. With quick movements, I tied my hair up so my ears could be seen then slipped the small, gray Bluetooth over my right ear. "This way I can talk to you in the store still."

"Sweet." Jazz grinned. I didn't care what people thought of me and had no problem talking to the bot as I shopped for stuff, but if people saw that I was talking to what looked like a toy they might think I was off my rocker. The last thing I needed right now was someone calling the cops on me because they thought I escaped the looney bin.

"Hop in." I said and opened up the small purse I had brought with me. It was Aubrey's and I figured she wouldn't mind me borrowing it. I usually didn't carry a purse, but once again it'd be strange to carry Jazz in my arms the entire time and he couldn't exactly walk beside me.

Jazz crawled into the purse and laid on his back with his hands behind his head. There was a grin on his lips, "This is the life, sweetspark."

"Yeah, yeah." I replied and got out of the car.

The local Wal-Mart was settled at the end of a strip mall. This made my shopping day easy because one of the stores on the other end of said strip mall was a local toy store. I could pick up Christmas gifts and then go get groceries. The tough part would be finding gifts for the kids. What the hell was I supposed to get them?

"Don't think so hard. Might hurt yaself." Jazz teased.

I glanced down briefly to see him looking up at me and faked a laugh, "You're a riot, Jazz."

"I try. Now what's buggin' ya?"

"I don't know what to get the kids for Christmas. What toys, I mean." I sighed and stepped into the medium sized toy store. The heater was on full blast and I was tempted to take off my jacket.

Jazz hummed, "I thought that Santa guy was supposed to bring gifts."

I chuckled, "I hate to break your heart, or spark, but Santa isn't real."

"He aint? We looked him up online."

"Then how did you miss that tiny detail?"

Jazz sat up and shrugged, "We didn' look too far. Prowl crashed at the flying organic land mammals."

"I'm not even gonna press the subject." I replied with a shake of my head. "Seriously though, what could these kids possibly want? Their favorite toys came to fragging life. Everything else sort of pales in comparison."

"We are pretty great." He chuckled. I moved into the aisle with racecars when Jazz spoke up again, "You said fragging."

"No, I didn't."

"Yeah, you did."

I paused, " _Did I_?"

Jazz laughed, "You didn' even notice. I told the others, you've been hangin' with the Hatchet too much."

Fantastic. A foot tall, cranky medic was rubbing off on me. Soon I'd be throwing wrenches at the unsuspecting public. Although, I could think of a few people who could use a wrench to the head.

"'Ey, look at that." Jazz said making me stop in my path. He was pointing to a box on the lower shelf. My eyes widened as I realized this specific area was filled with the laboratory/make it yourself toys. The box Jazz was pointing to was a Smithsonian _'Grow Your Own Crystals'_ set.

I picked it up with a soft hum, "Hm, Pete might actually like this."

"I didn' know you humans grew crystals too."

"Cybertronians grow crystals?" I questioned skeptically with my gaze focused on the small bot rather than the box in my hands.

"Oh, yeah." Jazz nodded, "There was this place in Praxus-"

"Praxus?" I interrupted, but Jazz didn't seem to mind.

He grinned, "It's a city on Cybertron. It's where Prowl and Blue are from." I gave a slight bob of my head to let him know I understood and he continued, "In Praxus was this place called the Helix Gardens. It had the best looking arrangement of crystals on the planet."

"Had." I noticed the word, "What happened?"

"The _war_ happened." Jazz replied solemnly, "It's been a long time though. Maybe some of the planet has healed. We wouldn' know. We landed on Earth and woke up millions of years later." He paused before continuing, "We hadn' been on Earth long when we got sucked here. Long enough to show the public we were friendly and the 'cons aint. Visit some military sites. Get sort of settled, but we hadn' been able to make contact with home yet."

Jazz spoke plainly, but I could tell that his tone was tenser than it usually was. It was hard to believe these guys were in the middle of an age-old war. Jazz had said million years like it was nothing, and I could barely wrap my head around that.

"So Prowl and Bluestreak are from this crystal place." I said in hopes to change the subject back to something that would be less painful. I set the box in my basket along with a smaller science kit that dealt with lights. Peter would probably enjoy both of those.

Jazz smirked, "Praxus, yeah. Prowl used to grow crystals himself. Smaller scale, and in our final vorns on Cybertron he didn't really have much time for it."

"Prowl was a crystal gardener." I replied with the mental picture of Prowl in a sunhat with a watering tin in his hand. A chuckle left my lips, "Maybe I'll get him a crystal growing kit for Christmas."

Jazz laughed along with me and we continued through the store. I settled on a crayon maker for Taylor. She loved drawing and painting, but the reason I knew that was because she already had a ton of art stuff. It seemed pointless to get her things she already had like paints and crayons, but I figured she'd enjoy making her own crayons since you were able to do tie-dye designs and things of that nature. Since I got Peter two things I decided to also get Taylor a stuffed animal. It was a medium sized dark brown bear with a white bow tie.

Tyler was a bit harder to shop for. I could get him a remote control car? He'd probably like that. I could already see him racing the bots with it. As I tucked a light gray remote control truck into my basket Jazz pointed something else out.

"Do ya see that?" He said excitedly as he continued to motion toward the box about a foot away from him, "You gotta get Cadet Lightspeed the spy kit, sweetspark."

"It sounds like you want the spy kit, Jazz."

Jazz grinned, "Come on, he'd like it. I know it."

"I don't need you teaching my six-year-old nephew how to be a spy." I replied, but picked up the box anyways. Jazz was right. Tyler would totally love this little kit. It had a "communicator" watch, special "night vision" glasses, a flashlight, and more. It was a six-year-old honorary Autobot's dream. I stuck it into the basket and headed to the front.

It took only a couple minutes to pay for it all with my own cash money and get it bagged since the store wasn't crowded. I figured this close to Christmas it'd be packed. Luckily, everyone else seemed to be a worse procrastinator than I was.

"So, now what?" Jazz asked on the way to the truck.

"Now I need to get some groceries." I was setting the bags of toys on the floorboard on the passenger side of the truck when my cell phone began to ring from the ashtray of the truck's dash. "I must have forgot to bring it in."

Jazz stood on the seat as I grabbed the phone to look at who was calling. The number flashed across the small screen and my eyes widened.

"Who the hell is calling me from the house?" I said aloud.

Jazz held his hand up, "We meant to tell ya, we got your cell number just so we could call ya in case of emergencies. If we had our comm systems we could call ya through that, but we just gotta settle for your house phone."

"When did you get my number?" I cried.

"While you were sleeping." He shrugged.

My eyes narrowed, "What exactly do y'all do while we sleep?" Jazz grinned rather than answering and since the phone was on its last ring I quickly answered it, "Um, hello?"

"Aj?"

I sat down in the driver's seat, pushing Jazz over, but kept the door open, "Optimus? What's wrong? Oh God, please tell me the house isn't on fire."

"There is nothing on fire." He replied, but his voice held a worried tone, "There are two men outside. They have rung the doorbell twice and stationed themselves on the porch steps."

My body tensed, "Two guys? What do they look like?"

"One is an older human. White hair, but none of us could see any further details. I have refrained from anyone sneaking outside to check further, but-"

"Good." I said quickly, "No one goes outside. I'll be home."

I flipped the phone shut and then closed the driver's door before starting the car. Jazz sat down and rested his hands behind his head, "What happened to groceries?"

"I can head back out after I deal with this problem." I replied and pulled the Bluetooth out of my ear, "It might be a pain to drive back and forth, but I aint about to have some random people lurking around the house."

It was probably nothing. Some neighbors or friends of Aubrey that showed up looking for her. I kept trying to tell myself that I was getting worked up for absolutely nothing, but there was a nagging part of my mind that wouldn't rest until I solved the problem immediately. I was paranoid, sure, but I'd rather be safe than sorry and considering this dealt with the safety of the kids I wasn't about to take a risk.

* * *

 

The ride home was relatively short and quiet. It was a comfortable silence though and it didn't really bother Jazz. He had originally gone along with Aj because the Council of Overprotective Bots- _er_ , the Autobot Officers didn't want her to go alone, but Jazz didn't regret it. Talking to Aj was always an interesting encounter, but that was because she was an interesting human.

Jazz was confident enough to say that the relationship he had with the adult human was friendly. They were friends, though he did have to admit the word was probably held loosely in her eyes. Jazz liked to think that if he had met her under less stressful circumstance that they would've hit it off immediately. He couldn't be sure though. Talking with Aj was a lot harder than socializing with the younglings.

The kids seemed to like Jazz a lot, and he could honestly say he felt the same. Maybe it was because he hadn't dealt with younglings in so long and missed how honest and trusting they could be, not to mention fun, but he got on well with Peter, Tyler, and Taylor.

It was easy to get the younglings to open up to him though because they were extremely easy to read. It wasn't their fault. They hadn't reached the age where skepticism and defensive walls were thrown up so easily. Then of course there was Aj who lived behind a castle of defense mechanisms and skepticism. She was a tough one to crack, but the more he saw her personality the more he began to understand.

He had seen the human in a lot of settings. Jazz had seen her frustration dealing with Wheeljack and the microwave. He had seen her worry when talking to the older male human. He had seen her face illness and he had even seen her face a possible dangerous scenario when the bookshelf came down. She handled it without hesitation and with a brave face. She handled it like a _warrior_. Jazz was sure that this Aj would be his favorite. The Aj who could hold her own in battle, a fighter at spark.

That was before he saw the carefree Aj.

Jazz was fully aware that each setting he saw of her made up one whole person, but there was something about the singing, joking Aj that stuck with him. This Aj, the one who sassed Ratchet, joked with him, sang to the younglings, was fun and he hoped she'd stick around.

Jazz learned his least favorite side of Aj when the truck rolled to a stop in the driveway. Everything seemed fine until he glanced over at her. Her hands griped the steering wheel so tight that the tops of her hands, her knuckles, were a ghostly white. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes focused on something out the window that he couldn't see. Jazz knew fear when he saw it, but he hadn't seen it on Aj before. She hadn't been scared when a group of Cybertronians took the form of toys in her kitchen, but in this single moment she was filled with horror.

"Aj." Jazz spoke slowly.

She kept her gaze out the window, "Stay in the car. Don't move, Jazz."

"Is everything alright?" Jazz asked, ditching his accent. He hadn't seen her like this before and there was a part of him that yearned to help. He was sick and tired of not being able to do anything these days.

"Everything is-" She paused and took a deep breath, "Everything is fine."

Jazz watched her get out of the car and he wished more than anything that he wasn't the size of a useless, fragging toy.

* * *

 

Panic. Pure panic and terror was dumped into my systems at the familiar faces sitting on the porch steps. It never scared me to see these guys in a dark alley or in my apartment. Never was I ever worried around them, but seeing them here was a different story. They couldn't be in front of the house that Aubrey owned. They couldn't be sitting on the porch where Peter, Tyler, and Taylor currently lived. They just _couldn't_.

One was smoking a cigarette; the other stared at his hands. My first few steps out of the car were slow, but once I rounded the truck they quickened. Fear and panic turned to anger. Hot anger and blinding confusion. Conflicted was a good word to describe me. My shoulders remained tense as I stopped a few feet in front of them.

The guy to the left was younger. He was maybe around 35 with slicked back, light brown hair and light blue eyes. He wore a dark purple button up shirt, blazer, and dress pants. A cigarette hung from his thin lips filling the crisp air with the stench of nicotine. Beside him was an older man with thinning hair. What hair he had left was white as snow. His eyes were a soft brown and were sunken with age. He wore a suit as well with suspenders. Both had an expensive taste with what they were and both were from New York City.

I knew this because I knew them.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing here?" I snapped. My hands clenched by my side.

Joey chuckled and threw his cigarette on the ground in front of him. He stood, stamped out the burning embers, and straightened his jacket, "Nice to see you too, _bitch_."

Gellar stood up beside him with a grunt. I had never learned the old man's first name, and I didn't particularly care to. Both men came from Boss' inner circle which is why I was completely fine with pretending they didn't exist.

"Boss sent us." Gellar replied.

I scoffed, "I figured out that much on my own, thanks. I meant, _why_? And how the hell did you even find me?"

Joey stepped toward me with narrowed eyes. He was only around 5'9, and though the other guys I knew from New York were usually taller, his short frame still towered over mine. He rubbed his jawline, "So many fucking questions. How about you just give us the money, hmm?"

"What money?"

"The money you owe, Boss." Joey replied.

I shook my head, "I've owed Boss money since day one. I made my last payment on time. If you had seen me a couple weeks ago you would've seen the wounds to prove it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Joey snapped.

"I'm talking about the _unfair_ fight I had in the pit with that behemoth of a lady." I yelled, "The one where _I_ won, but she got pissed and-"

Joey grabbed the collar of my jacket and yanked me forward so we were face to face, "That is _not_ what we're here for."

" _Let go of me_." I growled.

"Or what?" He chuckled and tightened his hand around my collar. I wanted to punch him in the face. _Repeatedly_. I wanted to break his nose and wipe that smug grin off his stupid looking face, but to do that to someone in Boss' inner circle would only dig my grave deeper.

"Let go of her, you _idiot_." Gellar snapped. Joey was still for a few more seconds before letting go of my jacket. I fixed my collar without letting my glare drift from him. Gellar forced himself into my line of attention. He stood between Joey and me with a look of urgency drawn on his old face. "We're here for the 20k, Bradshaw. Just hand over the money and we wont have a problem."

My eyes narrowed in confusion, "20… I returned that already. Is that why you shitheads are here? Because Boss got his damn money back."

"She's lying, you old fool. I told you we should've come tonight and handled this." Joey shook his head and glared at me, "Couple bullets in the knees and she wouldn't even _think_ of lying."

"I'm _not_ lying!" I barked, "I gave the money to Ky- to _Osborne_." I corrected myself. Most fighters went by last names when it came to dealing with business. It made it easier to keep track of people, "He delivered it to you before coming down here."

Gellar sighed and stepped aside to text something on his phone, " _Shit_. It's probably long gone now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I demanded.

Joey stepped toward me again with a smirk on his lips, "Osborne. Kyle Osborne, that is, gave us this address when we asked where you had gone with our money. He said you bailed out on us."

"No, he didn't." I said firmly, "No, he fucking didn't. Kyle wouldn't do that to me. He _wouldn't_. Did you hurt him? Did you and the others-"

Joey laughed, "We didn't touch the asshole."

It was getting hard to breathe. It felt like the entire world was collapsing around me. Kyle didn't do that. He didn't lie, he didn't throw me under the bus, and it was a lie. Was my heart even beating at this point? It seemed like someone had thrust their hand into my chest and clamped their fat fingers around the vital organ.

"Kyle Osborne hasn't been seen." Gellar stuck his phone back into his pocket, "He gave us the address over the phone. We traced the call and it puts him in Europe. Probably used Boss' money to buy the damn ticket."

I bit down on my lower lip to keep from screaming out in frustration. Nothing made sense. Why would he do this to me? Kyle was all I fucking had. He was my best friend; he was my silver lining in the storm cloud that was New York City.

"Europe-" I shook my head, "This _isn't_ right. Kyle was visiting family in Florida, not…"

"Osborne doesn't have family." Gellar replied.

My eyes shut tightly. He ran. He fucking ran. Kyle took the money, sold me out, and ran away leaving me to deal with the mess. To deal with Boss. I had put all the faith that I could muster into him. He was one of the first people I truly trusted after Aubrey left. There were friends in college that I had, but I never fully put my trust in them. I never truly counted on them like I had with Kyle.

"Bradshaw-" Gellar began, but he was interrupted by my outburst.

" _Fuck_!" The word slipped from my lips as I bent over with my hands on my knees. It would've felt better if somebody had just kicked me in the chest. At least then I would've known how to deal with it. Right now it felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs and it was never coming back. My dangerous life was coming loose at the seams. I pushed my hands off my knees to stand straight, "You _know_ the truth, Gellar. You _know_ I wasn't a part of this! Just add-" My voice cracked slightly, but I continued on, "Just add it to my debt. I'll pay Boss back. I haven't stopped working for him, I'll be back in February."

Gellar took a deep breath, "This doesn't look good, Bradshaw, regardless of your cooperation with Kyle."

"I _didn't_ cooperate with him!" I cried, "I'll take on more marathon fights. Those always rake in a ton of cash." Marathon fights also raked in a ton of injuries. "I'm the best he has in the woman's division and y'all know it. _He_ knows it."

"Rules are rules. He gave you a loan, and now the loan is missing. You know, as well as I do, that the missing loan is in _your_ name. It was _your_ responsibility." Gellar said firmly.

Those words felt like the final nail in my coffin. I was being buried alive and it was all Kyle's fault. The worst thought was that I wasn't just bringing myself down. The kids were here. They lived under the same roof as me and that could make them targets.

"Aw", Joey chuckled, "Is the Small Fry gonna cry? You going to fucking cry for us, bitch?"

I had never been the type to linger on sadness. The betrayal was sharp and it did make me want to cry. The worry was clouding my mind and that made me want to scream. The confusion and fear was suffocating, but it never lingered long. My entire life seemed to be reigned by me returning to the one emotion that made things easier for me. Mind-clearing rage.

"Fragging shut it, Joey, or I swear I'll rip your throat out." I threatened slowly as

"Fragging?" Joey narrowed his eyes.

I didn't pay mind to his confusion and turned to Gellar again with fire in my mind, "Tell Boss that I'll be back earning him money soon enough. I'll get him the 20k with interest before summer."

"Why don't you come with us now? Tell him yourself." Gellar argued.

The urge to shift my weight came, but I ignored it and kept my feet planted about shoulder length away. I was ready to move if I needed to. "I can't come now."

"Right." Joey nodded, "We saw you this morning with the kids. We did our research, you're their aunt." I didn't reply and he waltzed toward me until he was in my face, "I can pick them up from school for you. Take them to visit the nearest bay or river that you _rednecks_ have down here and handle them. Cops wouldn't even find their-"

I grabbed Joey by the collar and yanked him down right as I brought my knee up catching him in the gut. He remained doubled over as a surprised cry of pain left his lips. Using my momentum, I shoved him to the ground and dug my knee into the top of his chest close to his neck. My fist lashed out making contact with his face.

"You even _look_ at those kids and I'll _end_ your _pathetic_ life!" I snapped at him. He grabbed me by the hair and yanked me to the ground successfully rolling over so he straddled me. His anger was in control just like mine. The difference was that his was blinding him and mine was helping me see. Joey went to punch me head on so I tucked my head to the side, letting his fist dig into the ground where my face once was, and then I threw my own punch in the dead center of his throat. He clutched his throat and I threw all my strength toward him so he fell over on his back and I was on top again ready to turn his face black and purple.

Admittedly, my biggest issue when fighting was tunnel vision. I'd focus all my attention on one target and completely forget the world around me. This is why I forgot that Gellar was even there. Hell, I didn't even know he was walking up to me until something hard and metal hit me in the side of the head.

I fell off Joey in a daze. I was seeing spots across my vision and my head was spinning. Hits to the temple were always a bitch to get over.

"Don't even- _Get off the ground_!" Gellar snapped, but it seemed like he was yelling at Joey not me. He grabbed the younger man by the arm and yanked him to the side. The two began to quietly argue as I tried to get my bearings back.

I forced myself off the ground and stumbled slightly. There was warmth on my face that was rolling down past the outside corner of my eye. I lifted my hand to check the wound. It stung, but it was small. Probably just broke the skin of the edge of my eyebrow. I was much more worried about the probable concussion Gellar had just given me by slamming me in the temple with…damn, what had he even hit me with?

My eyes drifted over to the two of them. My vision was blurred, but after a few more seconds of staring it slowly began to clear up. In Gellar's hand was a small, silver handgun. He probably hit me with the butt of his weapon. Guess that was better than shooting me.

"Why are you even yelling at me!?" Joey snapped, "She started it! Let me end her right now!"

I stood up and resisted from clutching my head in pain. I'd do that after I got these guys out of my hair, "Embarrassed I kicked your ass, Joey?"

"Stop it." Gellar said firmly. His hand clenched over the handle of his gun briefly before he stuck the weapon back into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. "We are far more civilized than this."

"Most of us." I commented while glaring at Joey. He sneered back at me. His brown hair was ruffled and now a few strands messily hung in his face. His cheekbone was already bruising under his eye. My gaze drifted back to Gellar, "Come on, Gellar. My word is good. I'll be back by February, ready to fight."

Gellar clenched his jaw before nodding, "I'll talk to Boss. See what I can do, hopefully convince him of all this. He's been in a bad mood lately so don't get your hopes too high." He chuckled after a second and wore a small smile on his face, "It's honestly the least I can do. I mean, do you know how much money I've won off your fights? You're putting my son and daughter through college, Bradshaw."

It was ironic that I was helping put two different strangers through college and couldn't afford to send myself to school. Hell, I could barely afford rent each week. I didn't mention this oh-so-funny tidbit though. Rather, I kept my mouth shut and gave him a brief nod.

He began to walk towards the small rental car and paused only to clap my shoulder like we were old friends or something. Joey stormed to the car without giving me a second glance. I remained where I was standing and just listened to the car start then drive away.

I took a ragged, deep breath and then made my way back to the truck to grab the Christmas gifts.

Just focus on each movement. Don't think about Kyle. Don't think about Boss.

I pulled the passenger door open and came face to face with Jazz. He was standing on the edge of the seat with his gaze set on me. I could tell that his jaw was clenched and his body was tense. Neither one of us said anything or moved for a moment. Until finally, he broke the silence, "Aj, are you alright? Your head is bleeding."

He wasn't speaking in his accent, but I didn't have time to linger on that question. I grabbed the bags with both hands, "Come on, get inside."

I left the door open so he could hop out and headed to the front door. This wasn't New York. I figured nobody would steal the truck if I left the door open for a couple minutes. Of course, this morning if someone had said two wannabe mobsters were going to show up asking for money I would've laughed. Still, I dared someone to try and steal the truck right now. To try and mess with me period. I was on edge. _Don't think about it. Don't think about it._

I set the bags down briefly to open the front door then scooped them up again to step inside. The moment I stepped inside I was greeted by every single Cybertronian, minus Jazz, standing in the foyer with their gazes locked on me. There was no doubt in my mind that they had heard it all. The look on their faces said that alone. I let out a harsh chuckle, licked my bottom lip, and glanced at each of them briefly, "Don't say a word to the kids."

Nobody replied so I made my way upstairs with the toys. My room was empty of course, so I set the toys into my closet away from sight and added wrapping paper to my grocery list. They sold that at Wal-Mart so I wasn't worried. I should probably get some extra tape too just to be safe.

Warm blood dripped from my face landing on my shirt. I silently cursed and then ripped off my leather jacket. Luckily, none had landed there. I had lost plenty of shirts to blood stains, but I was rather attached to my jacket. The first aid kit was on the desk so I walked over and opened it up. My hands grabbed a small Band-Aid and began to try and rip it open. My shaking fingers wouldn't cooperate though. They kept slipping on the thin paper and it wouldn't tear away. Wasn't that fitting? The big fuckup who couldn't even get a Band-Aid open.

The Band-Aid slipped from my fingers and in response to the small failure, I grabbed the edge of the first aid kit and threw it off the desk. The plastic box flew through the air briefly until it hit the wall with a crash and fell to the floor. First aid supplies littered the ground and there was a small chip in the paint from where the box had hit.

My hands went up and my fingers dug into my hair as I tried to suck in air. I didn't know what it felt like to drown, but it had to feel similar to this. My knees were starting to give out so I fell back onto my butt and let my back lean against the side of my bed with my eyes shut. Boss knew where I was exactly and that put ice in my veins. I knew agreeing to watch the kids would be a horrible idea. I knew, I just knew, that I would mess it up and hurt them.

The thought of Boss being anywhere near the kids made me want to vomit. It made me want to rip something to shreds. It made me want to rip Kyle to shreds. How could he do that to me? He knew there were kids here and he knew what Boss would do the moment he found out the money was missing. I wanted to kill him. It was his entire fault. All of it.

Was it though?

A broken chuckle escaped my lips. This is what I got for trusting someone. I knew it'd end in pain for me, but I still gave it a try. I didn't learn from my past. Well, now I'd learn from my mistakes.

The sounds of someone clearing their throat made me open my eyes. Ratchet walked by me and grabbed a few things off the floor. I swallowed the lump in my throat, "I'll clean that up later."

"Get over here." Ratchet ordered as gruff as ever. I sighed and crawled over to sit by the stage of boxes. He climbed up them and then stood in front of me eye level. "You shouldn't have attacked that man."

" _Don't_ , Ratchet." I said softly.

He used an alcohol swab to wipe the blood off my face and wound, "You were outnumbered and the older man had a weapon. You're lucky he didn't-"

" _Just don't_." I replied firmly.

Ratchet scoffed and continued to tend to the small wound at the end of my eyebrow. He stuck a Band-Aid over it, "How does your helm feel? Are your optics in working order?"

"I'm fine. Thanks." I said and stood up. I grabbed my leather jacket and pulled it on before heading for the door. Ratchet called after me, but I pretended like I didn't hear him and kept walking.

The foyer was mostly clear except a couple Decepticons by the door. Starscream had his eyes narrowed at Megatron who leaned against the wall by the front door. My gaze locked with his as I came down the stairs. Megatron put a small smile on his face and bowed his head at me in greeting as I reached the door.

"Aj! Where are you going?" Starscream questioned.

"I'll be back." I replied and closed the door behind me. The truck's passenger door was open and when I went to close it I realized Jazz was sitting in the seat now, "I said go inside."

Jazz shrugged, "I did. Came back."

"Why?"

"I went with ya this morning 'cause the others thought you were sick. I should probably keep a closer eye on ya now since ya got hit upside the helm." Jazz replied. I didn't feel like arguing and I didn't have the time. I shut the door and headed around to the driver's side.

It was silent as I pulled out of the driveway, "If you were gonna come with, why did you even get out of the car in the first place?"

"I had to go talk to OP."

"About me?" I glanced over at him.

Jazz was sitting in the passenger seat facing me, "We're worried."

I let out a chuckle, "Don't worry. If Boss decides to off me and hide me in a river I'll make sure it happens after y'all have had enough time to get home."

"We're worried about _you_."

"Well, don't be." I replied nonchalantly, "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

The rest of the car ride was quiet until we reached Wal-Mart. I parked the car, but didn't move to get out. Jazz rose and took a few steps over so he stood by my thigh. I shook my head, but kept looking ahead, "Why would y'all be worried about me?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"You've known me less than a month." I said and glanced over at him, "That's a really short amount of time for me, but for you…it must be the blink of an eye. You talked about a million years like it was _nothing_. So _why_?"

Jazz thought for a moment before answering my question with one of his own, "Why are you so convinced that you don't deserve people worrying about you?"

I chuckled and couldn't hold back the pathetic smile that graced my lips, "Experience, mostly."

* * *

 

Grimlock was curled in my lap. He was awake, but he didn't move or speak. I had been constantly moving since coming home from shopping and then picking up the kids and dinner of course. The kids were in the kitchen on the phone with their mom and I had finally decided to slow down. Of course, the moment I plopped down on the couch Grimlock had chosen to stomp over and rest in my lap. I didn't mind.

He was kind of like a metal guard dog. He even liked it when we scratched his neck, and scratching a metal neck was a strange experience let me tell you. He was the same with the kids these days too.

"We had our Christmas party and it was so much fun, mama!"

I could hear Tyler's voice from the kitchen and it brought a small smile to my face. The bots had been rather surprised when I came home with the kids wearing a bright smile on my face. It hadn't been too surprising though. I wasn't about to worry the kids with my own matters. Like I had told Jazz, the worry was pointless. I took care of myself, and more than that, I took care of my own. No one would touch a hair on those kid's heads. In a few days, I'd hear word from Gellar if Boss was satisfied with my solution or not and I'd work from there.

I was surprised when Megatron climbed onto the couch and walked over to stand beside me. Grimlock lifted his head and narrowed his frosty, light blue eyes, nearly white, at the Decepticon leader.

"It's fine, Grimlock. No fire." I said and continued rubbing his neck. He grumbled under his breath but lowered his head, "What do you want Megsy? I'm not in the best of moods."

Megatron chuckled, "Of that I have no doubt. Of course you seem to be in a better mood now."

"What can I say? My self-control is _superb_."

"I haven't met many of your kind", He basically sneered the last two words out, but continued tactfully, "but you seem very adept at wearing a mask."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Sorry, I'm pretty sure I have a _mild_ concussion from this afternoon and I don't really follow what you're saying."

Megatron shrugged, "You're wearing a mask. Hiding the truth behind a smile and cheerful words. It's very deceitful of you."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you know all about deceit, Mr. Decepticon." I replied sharply.

He shook his head and began to head to the edge of the couch, "Us Decepticons have no need for that. We aren't the ones wearing masks."

I watched as he hopped off the couch and left the room. My eyes drifted to the Christmas tree as I sunk in my seat and took a deep breath. My mind drifted to this morning. It had started off so well. I was so…happy. It was foolish of me to consider this a real vacation. There was no escape from my life. My reflection in the dark television screen was proof of that. The Band-Aid over the end of my eyebrow and the bruised temple were just proof that this was all my life would ever be. So I'd accept that and move on. My life may already be halfway down the drain, but I would do everything in my power to make sure the kids' lives were better. More than better. They deserved the whole damn world in my eyes.

I'd keep up the charade of smiles and cheerful words like Megatron had said if only to make the kids happy. Hell, I'll probably get lost in the pretending and enjoy myself, but I wouldn't lose sight again. There was no running from my past, no vacation from it, because there was no running from myself. The consequences of my bad decisions lingered around every corner and I'd be ready for the next domino to fall.

Everything would be ok. I'd make it ok, and I'd learn from my mistakes.


	12. Worth

* * *

_"Don't you dare, for one more second, surround yourself with people who are not aware of the greatness that you are." –Jo Blackwell Preston_

* * *

 

_"You're dead." The large woman growled and lunged forward one last time. The underdog, the small fry, watched her movements with careful eyes. She could see the muscles bulge in the woman's arm, it swung out with all the strength the woman could muster. It seemed like an eternity in her mind, but it all happened in the blink of an eye. She got on the inside and, before the woman could even realize her punch was useless, she lifted her elbow hard and crushed the woman's nose. Blood gushed out, splattering against the back of her neck and elbow, as the woman collapsed to the ground clutching her face. The crowd roared in excitement. The blood had sent them into a frenzy like a group of sharks. She let her gaze shift to the sea of faces. The underdog had prevailed. The small fry had won again._

_She heaved a sigh as her tired body began to relax. The aches of her muscle and the throbbing of her head were becoming more and more noticeable. The crowd didn't care though. They were much too preoccupied with collecting their winnings or slipping out the back before a collector came to hold them accountable for their losing bet. That's why nobody noticed the other woman stand back up with hatred written on her features._

_The small fry sure as hell didn't notice the mountain of a woman._

_As far as she was concerned, the fight was over. It was time to crawl back into her personal corner of this concrete hell and patch up her wounds. There were no other fights scheduled for her tonight. Maybe if she left now she could avoid the traffic leaving this place and get to her bed that much sooner._

_The other woman had no intention of letting that plan happen. The other woman was angry. Furious. Livid. Fuming. How dare that small woman make a mockery of her like that? How fucking dare she? Small Fry wasn't supposed to win. She was nothing. Nothing._

_She had let her guard down. Her body was completely relaxed and unprepared for another fight to continue. So when she turned around and spotted the behemoth of a woman storming towards her, there was nothing she could do. Her mind wasn't in the right place. It was at home ten miles away in bed. Even her muscle memory couldn't help her in this scenario. Her body couldn't react fast enough to stop the woman from rushing toward her. She pathetically backpedaled a few steps, spun around to flee, but the woman was being fueled by pure hatred and couldn't be stopped._

_The woman dove forward; wrapping her arms around what she could grab which just so happened to be her thighs. The crowd was watching now. Eager to see more bloodshed. Eager to watch someone hurt._

_She was falling now. Her hands should've shot out to catch herself, but they went to the wrong place. They went to the other woman's hands to try and untangle them from her own body. So she continued to fall, unable to do anything but watch the cold, hard ground come up at her at a startling speed._

_If she hadn't moved when the attack first started it wouldn't have been so bad. Those few steps she took when backpedaling though had put her that much closer to the edge of the pit where the concrete made a hard step up._

_Her head came down on the concrete corner and the room erupted in shouts. The only sound she had heard though was the sickening crack of her skull. There was nothing after that. Just darkness, and shockingly enough, Aimee Jane Bradshaw found comfort in that darkness._

My eyes snapped open as I sucked in a sharp breath. I quickly sat up and glanced around the room. It was still dark outside and the only light came dimly from the lamp on my desk.

"Are you alright?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and focused my eyes on Ratchet who was standing on the edge of the desk now. His sea foam blue eyes were glowing in the dim light and narrowed in my direction, "W-What?"

"Are you alright? Is your helm aching?" Ratchet asked again firmly.

It was then that I had noticed my hand was cradling the side of my head. My fingers traced over my hairline briefly. The hideous bruise was long gone, but there was still an indent under my skin where the bone had been injured. Sometimes, I could still imagine hearing the cracking of bone echoing through my head.

"Aj?" Ratchet was on the bedside table now. His narrowed eyes had widened slightly in what I assumed was concern.

I let my hand drop into my lap, "I'm fine. Bad dream."

"Your helm?"

"It's…" I was going to say nothing, but what was the point of lying? I didn't lie unless there was a legitimate reason for it, and my legitimate reason toward the bots and cons had gone down the drain when Gellar and Joey showed up at my door. "It was an old injury. Couple months ago."

"What happened?"

I briefly clenched my jaw, "Skull fracture." Ratchet's eyes narrowed again and I shook my head, "It was a closed fracture. The best kind of injury I could've gotten in my situation, honestly."

Ratchet let out a small scoff, "And you got this injury from fighting?"

My thoughts drifted back to the dream, "I got it from _winning_."

The room was quiet. I didn't have anymore to say and Ratchet seemed to be in his own thoughts. One last deep breath and then I pulled myself out of bed and towards the closet. The medical bot didn't say anything until I changed my cotton sleep pants to a pair of work out shorts and tore off my sleep shirt to leave on a tight sports bra.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Just starting my day, Ratch." I gave him a forced grin before quietly walking out of the room. The kids were still sleeping and the stairway was empty as I quickly bounded down them towards the garage.

In the kitchen, I ran into Soundwave who was coming out. I quickly flipped the light switch on the wall to my left. My eyes darted around before landing back on him, "What are you doing?"

"Mission Orders: Patrol. Inquiry: Human female is active during anomalous time for reasons unknown."

Peter and the kids were really good at talking to this con, but for some reason I sucked at it, "Um, ok. I'm just gonna workout. Do me a favor and let me know if the kids wake up?"

"Request: Accepted." Soundwave replied before stalking past me. I lifted my eyebrows once before continuing on my way to the garage with no further interruptions. It wasn't that I didn't like the faceless con. In fact, he was still one of my favorite cons for the simple reason that he seemed civil with no ulterior motive. Still, there was something about him that I just found unsettling so I tended to avoid him. The kids on the other hand had no issues with chatting up the polite-ish con. To be honest, Soundwave seemed to like talking to the kids too. I didn't understand it, but Soundwave seemed to like the kids most out of all the cons.

The garage was freezing which wasn't surprising in the slightest. There were goose bumps on my exposed body, but I ignored it. My tape was sitting off to the side by the punching bag and it only took me a couple minutes to hastily tape up my hands before I was going at the bag.

Soon the goose bumps were replaced with sweat. My mind was focused and calm. There had never been a chance that I'd fall into drugs like so many of the others taking part in the fighting rings up north. I never worried about falling victim to a needle or bottle. This was addicting enough. The rhythmic sound of my fists hitting the punching bag. This was my drug of choice.

I hadn't been down in the garage long, at least not long enough, when I was interrupted. The cracked door was being pushed open and I quickly stopped in worry that one of the kids was going to come stumbling in looking for me.

"Oh", I said and paused to try and catch my breath, "It's just you."

Optimus Prime stood in the partly open doorframe with his gaze focused on me, "May I enter?"

I lifted my hand towards him in a 'why not' manner, "How could I say no to the Autobot King-General-bro?"

Optimus didn't react to my comment and began to walk across the garage. I set my hand against the bag to stop the swinging then sat down on the ground. By time Optimus reached where I was sitting, I was halfway done with pulling the tape off my first hand.

"You are up rather early this morning." Optimus spoke up.

"Do you know what time it is?"

He nodded, "Nearly 6:30."

"Huh, the sun should rise soon then. Kids'll probably be up by 7 or 7:30."

"Most likely."

It was silent as I ripped up the last of my tape and balled it all up to throw away. I was starting to feel the cold again, but at this point it felt rather good. My eyes drifted to Optimus as I rested my elbows against my legs, "So, can I help you? I assume you came to talk or something."

"I did." Optimus replied.

"Well go on then." I said firmly, "Spit it out, OP."

"I'd like to know more about you, Aj." He said, "I want to know what exactly you are involved in."

I chuckled and shook my head, "Why would you want to know that?"

Optimus tilted his head, "Would you prefer the truth or the rational reply?"

A small smile grew on my features, "I guess it depends. If the truth is something _stupid_ like you caring or something than you better go with the rational answer."

Optimus didn't reply. He glanced around the garage briefly before finally speaking up, "Perhaps we should take this conversation to the kitchen. My sensors show it's rather cold for a human to be sitting in her with so little outward armor."

"Armor." I scoffed and stood up with the ball of used tape in one hand. I offered the other to Optimus and he stepped on. Quickly, I set him on my shoulder so I'd have use of both hands and then left the garage. I stopped in the laundry room to grab a clean shirt from the dryer and then continued on into the still lit kitchen.

I set Optimus down on the dining room table before tossing the used tape into the trash, pulling the shirt on over my head, and then heading to the fridge for a bottle of water, "You want some coffee?"

"I am fine, thank you."

I used my foot to shut the fridge before coming over to the dining room table to take a seat across from where Optimus stood. My back was to the walls and windows while I faced the arch to the left, leading to the garage and laundry room, and the right, which showcased the foyer and the edge of the stairs. Light was beginning to peek through the slits in the window shades showing that the sun had already started to rise.

"So", The world fell out of my mouth as I let my thumb swipe at the condensation on my water bottle, "How do we start this fun conversation?"

Optimus took a full step toward me and firmly replied, "Is your life in danger?"

My eyebrows lifted and I let out a slow whistle, "You don't beat around the bush."

"Aj."

"I'm _not_ in danger." I dismissed him with a shake of my head. The statement had been so sure and true six months ago, but now the words tasted wrong on my lips. My voice wasn't as strong when I said it, "Boss… He won't kill me. Not when he can still make money off me."

Optimus didn't look entirely convinced of my supposed safety, "Jazz told me you said something along the lines of you being dumped into a body of water. Even if you had meant it as a joke, it alarms us."

"What a tattletale." I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair.

"Aj."

"Stop saying my name like that." I said quickly and resisted the urge to squirm in my seat. The last time a conversation had taken a tone like this was when my favorite college professor had pulled me aside after class to scold me. It left me with the same sinking feeling in my gut and shame in my mind. I took a deep breath and made the quick decision of where to start my story, "My sister, the kids' mom, moved away from here when I was 16. I lived in a foster home for two years until I graduated high school. That summer I moved up to New York for college with only a thousand bucks to my name. My major was Cell Bio with a pre-med focus. I wanted to be a doctor." I chuckled and forced myself to make eye contact with him, "College wasn't eventful for me. I had a few friends, nobody I let past arm's length, and I graduated in four years. Had a high enough MCAT score and did well enough on my interviews to get accepted into a nearby medical school with a minor scholarship. That's kind of a big deal for us squishy humans."

There was a pause where I didn't continue in an attempt to find my next words. Optimus cleared his throat before breaking the bout of silence, "It is a big deal anywhere. Only certain Cybertronians can qualify for medical programming and even if they qualify they still must prove themselves through school and training." He nodded his head, "You should speak to Ratchet about it. I'm sure he'd be impressed as well, even if he doesn't admit it aloud."

"Thanks." I replied softly. "You know, I wanted to be a doctor because… because I thought- I _hoped_ , that it'd make me _worth_ something." Optimus' eyes widened slightly and he took a half step forward, "Up to that point, I was _nothing_. I figured if I could become a doctor, save lives, then maybe- _just maybe_ , I wouldn't be such a _waste of space_."

Optimus looked alarmed at my words. He shook his head and it seemed like he was going to speak behind that battle mask of his, but I quickly started up again so I wouldn't have to hear his reply on my pathetic thoughts.

"Anyways, I didn't have enough money for medical school. Like I said I had a small scholarship, but I needed more and I was beyond determined to make it work out." I sighed, "The summer before I started school I went out looking for jobs. Anything, really. I met this guy while applying at a grocery store. His name was Kyle Osborne."

Optimus let out a low hum, "This is the male who was first here?"

"The male who sold me out? Yeah, _him_." I replied in a sharper tone than I had intended, "We hit it off, he was fun to be around. I told him about my past, the fighting, and he told me that he was a boxer. Few days later he invited me to this place in a shady part of town."

"And you went?" Optimus asked.

"I went." My voice was quiet and filled with more regret than I intended to show. How many days had I spent wondering what would have happened if I had never accepted that invitation? Too many to count. "I knew what it was probably going to be, but I went anyways."

"What happened?"

I paused in thought, "We call it the Circle. It's an illegal fighting ring owned by this rich guy. I don't know his name. Hell, I don't know how many people actually do. Most just call him Boss." I shrugged, "I went that night and watched a few matches with Kyle. It had been the first underground match I had seen since my high school days. It was… It was something else. I hadn't realized how much I missed fighting until I saw it again. It just sucked me in. I didn't even try to resist. One week later, and I was in the ring myself for a marathon fight. That's where one person fights around five or six matches back to back. They either make it to the end and win or they fall short. It was me versus a bunch of other newbies to the ring."

"Did you win?" Optimus asked gravely.

A sad smile lit up my features, "I _destroyed_ them, OP. After all those years, my body had been a bit slower, but it remembered the rhythm. The pulse of a fight, the movements. It was like I had just been drifting before, but suddenly I was wide awake." I shook my head, "I kept fighting for the rest of the summer, convincing myself that I was just earning money for school and that when Fall came around I'd be done for good."

My words came to a gradual halt as my thoughts took over. I still remember how it felt during that summer. Things had seemed so good. I wasn't dirt poor, I was enjoying myself, and best of all it seemed like I had an actual shot at the future.

"Aj?"

My eyes snapped back to Optimus. He didn't press further and instead just kept his gaze locked on mine. I took a quick swig of water before continuing, "It was one last fight. I had already decided I was done, but this guy came up to me…Boss came up to me. He asked me for one more fight. An all or nothing type deal." My jaw clenched, "I should've said no, but I didn't. I figured, hey, it was just one last fight." I shrugged, "I was the rising star of the Circle, but that was just the shallow water. That last fight, it sucked me into the deep end like a riptide. They call it the Pit."

"The Pit?" Optimus questioned.

"Yeah", I nodded, "It's where all the big fights take place. It's literally just an indent in the concrete floor about the size of half the kitchen where two people just beat the shit out of each other. Anyways, the chick I was supposed to fight was supposedly sick so they brought out her replacement, which was the top fighter of the woman's league. It was too late for me to back out and keep my money. Besides, I've never just called it quits on a fight."

That fight was still fresh in my mind. It'd always be fresh in my mind. Thirty years from now it would still feel like yesterday. The pain, the blood, the feeling of absolute dread as her fist continually pounded into my cheekbones. I brushed off the invading memories and took a deep breath, "I lost. Made a name for myself though. I had become the little girl who wouldn't stay down. The _small fry_ that kept bouncing back up until the very end when she got her lights knocked out. I woke up the next day in debt."

"You've been stuck in this illegal fighting ring since then?" Optimus demanded, "By this Boss fellow?"

"I can leave if I paid off my debt in full plus interest, but…I don't see that happening anytime soon. Especially not after Kyle-", My sentence fell apart as a lump formed in my throat. An awkward silence filled the kitchen. At least, it felt awkward to me. I forced myself to clear my throat, "That's it. That's my pathetic story."

Optimus took a step closer. I could tell he had something to say, but I honestly didn't want to hear it. Quickly, I rose from my seat and shook my head. His gaze turned questioning, "Aj, I-"

"No." I held my hand up, "I told you my story because you said you wanted to know more about me, not because I wanted comfort." I took a deep breath, "I don't want people or- or Cybertronians telling me they understand and that they're sorry. I got myself into this mess. It's _my_ problem, and I'll handle it _alone_ without the pity of the ones around me."

The sound of doors opening and running footsteps made me stand up straighter. I expected the kids to come speeding down the stairs and into the kitchen, but the footsteps stopped.

"What's going on?" Peter asked aloud from the other room. I crossed the kitchen and peeked my head around the corner to see three kids standing in the middle of the staircase, and nearly every Cybertronian currently staying in the house sitting along the bottom step.

Taylor grinned when she saw me, "Good morning, Aj!"

Some of the bots and cons managed to look sort of guilty when their eyes landed on me. I narrowed my gaze at them. Tyler shook his head, "What are you guys doing?"

"They're being _nosy_." I replied. To be honest, I wasn't annoyed at any of them for the obvious invasion of privacy. It didn't really matter in the end. They already knew something was up with me. Now they just knew the details. "You kids hungry?"

"Yeah!" Tyler bounced on the stairs before rushing down and over the Cybertronians, "Can we have bacon?"

"I want waffles!" Taylor cheered and followed her twin quickly into the kitchen. Peter wasn't far behind them after he gave me a warm smile. Taylor spoke again from the kitchen, "Morning, Optimus Prime!"

I let my gaze fall back to the nosy robots, "If any of you breathe a word of this to the kids, I'll sell you on eBay."

I wasn't pissed that they listened in and knew about my life, but if the kids ever found out from them they'd witness a whole new level of anger from me.

* * *

 

Winter in Alabama was a tricky thing. Some days it'd be close to freezing outside and other days one could walk out of the house in shorts and a t-shirt without so much as feeling a chill. Despite the early morning being cold, the sun had come up and turned today into one of those warm winter days. It was nearing 75 degrees Fahrenheit outside and it wasn't even noon. Which is why I planned to wash the grime off the truck. It'd probably be one of the last warm days until after Christmas so why not take advantage of this opportunity?

"Where are you going?" Peter asked from the couch as I stepped out of the kitchen and into the foyer. I had an old t-shirt on, work out shorts, and a bucket filled with sponges hanging from one arm. At Peter's words, Tyler and Tyler turned around from the couch to look. After breakfast they had settled down on the couch to watch a movie.

"I'm just gonna wash the car since it's warm outside." I shrugged.

"Oh!" Tyler grinned, "Can I help?"

Taylor nodded, "Me too? Please?"

I chuckled, "Sure, guys. You wanna help too, Pete?"

"Ok." He shrugged and slid off the couch.

"Go get changed and meet me outside." I said before exiting the house. There was a slight breeze in the air that carried a chill, but as long as the kids and I didn't get wet we'd be fine. Although, there was a seriously low chance that none of us were going to get wet in some form or fashion. I did plan on washing a truck with a ten year old and two six year olds. What exactly was I getting myself into?

I let that last thought drift away as I set down all the materials and went around to the side of the house to unroll the green garden hose. My eyes drifted away from the hose as my hands continued to work. They landed on the house next door which was unoccupied. It looked similar to Aubrey's house, but with a different paint job. This house was painted in darker shades and warm tans. The paint was also different from Aubrey's in the sense that it was peeling from the walls. From what I could see through the windows, the house was completely empty. I briefly wondered why there was no 'For sale' sign or something of that nature stuck in the front yard.

"Aj! We're ready!" Taylor sung cheerily as she rushed down the porch steps. The three kids clothes they could get dirty in and for the first time in a while they didn't have any autobots or decepticons hovering around them.

I gave them a wide smile, "Let's get to washing then. Who wants to be in charge of the hose?"

Things went smoothly for the first ten minutes of washing. Pete had been in charge of the hose while Taylor, Tyler, and I soaped up the car. Of course, then Peter wanted to wash the car so I took the hose from him. Now, I am a responsible adult, for the most part, but even I couldn't let this perfect opportunity go to waste. The breeze had vanished leaving the weather to be bright and sunny, all of us were beginning to sweat, and honestly, what's the point of washing a car if you cant get into at least one water fight?

A smirk crossed my lips as I changed the setting on the hose from jet to shower. I raised it into the air slightly and turned it onto full blast so the water began to rain over all three kids' heads.

" _Aj_!" Peter cried with a laugh as the twins squealed in excitement.

"I'm just trying to rinse the car!" I called out innocently, "Why are y'all in the way?"

They began to rush away, but I followed with the hose. I let my mind run from the painful memories of my past as I chased after their laughter.

* * *

 

Thundercracker stood on the kitchen table staring out of the window against the wall furthest from the laundry room on the other side of the kitchen. From here he could see what the humans were doing outside. Briefly, they had been bathing the simple motor vehicle, but now they were running around the soapy car laughing. The younglings had acquired the green tubing and were now shooting water at Aj who was trying, rather pathetically, to hide behind the car where she could.

He glanced around the room and noticed that many of the other decepticons had left, his trine members included. The autobot twins stood by the window next to the door and Thundercracker could hear them mumbling about wash racks and the unfairness of it all. Wheeljack was tinkering with the hinges on random cabinet doors and Thundercracker briefly caught sight of Optimus Prime right before he turned the corner with Ratchet, Jazz, and Prowl by his side speaking softly.

The seeker turned his attention back to the scene outside to find that Aj had gotten the hose back and was seeking a joy filled revenge on the kids. His processors lingered back to what he had overheard not long ago. It had surprised him. Pit, it had surprised everyone, but Thundercracker couldn't wrap his thoughts around it completely. How could one human femme experience that much in so little time? He hadn't spent much time on Earth yet, but to say he didn't see much value in the humans of Earth was an understatement. However, maybe it was just because he hadn't ever even tried to see the humans as individuals. In the short time he spent here, he had to admit, the younglings had grown on him. Even Aj had some redeeming features mixed into her confusing past.

Skywarp zoomed through the air, around the corner, into the kitchen and Thundercracker pulled his attention away from the humans. Perhaps it'd be better for him to not linger on thoughts of these strange aliens.

* * *

 

"Ok, ok!" I cried with a pant, "You win! I give up!"

"But I wanna keep shooting you!" Tyler replied and kept the hose trained on me. The kids were wet, but I was soaked. There was a literal puddle forming around me as my clothes and hair dripped.

Peter chuckled, "How about you shoot the car?"

"Yeah, shoot the car, Ty." I replied with a grin. Taylor giggled as she watched me peel my shirt away from my body and try to wring it out. Only in Alabama could you get soaking wet in the middle of December. I missed this weather. I was definitely not Elsa in the sense that the cold bothered me a whole damn lot.

Tyler turned his attention to the truck as he finished spraying off all the soap that we left on the car when we turned our attention to soaking each other. Loud rumbles of an engine from down the road made me narrow my eyes in suspicion. I took a few steps down the driveway to see a large black truck a few houses down.

"Soap up that back bumper, Pete." I called and nudged Taylor closer toward the truck and further from the road. As the kids continued to work, I stood at the base of the driveway with my body half facing them and half facing the truck. I wasn't taking any chances.

The truck itself seemed to be cruising with no destination in mind. I was no car expert, but I could tell it was an expensive car. It was worth a hell of a lot more than the POS truck sitting in my driveway. As it neared I began to make out details of it like the silver smokestacks on the back and the red letters that red 'GMC' on the front grill. The thing was massive though.

"Pete, Pete, Pete!" Tyler shouted so quickly that his words smashed together, "It's Ironhide, Pete! Isn't it? Like from the movie!?"

My eyes darted to Peter and Taylor as they both turned their attention to the truck. Their eyes brightened in excitement as mine filled with dread. This was Ironhide? Oh my God, what if it was really Ironhide? I could barely manage the mini versions of these guys, and now I had to handle a life-sized version? Life-sized version being bigger than the damn house. The beginning of a headache lingered behind my eyes. I was worried enough about the little guys growing as they changed.

The truck slowly drove by our house as the kids squealed and geeked out over the truck. I kept my narrowed gaze on the black vehicle as it passed and turned to face it completely. My eyes landed on a familiar robotic face printed on the tailgate. Suddenly, the red taillights lit up as the car came to a halting stop. The truck then immediately reversed so the driver's door was right in front of me. However, I had to tilt my head up to look at the driver's window.

"Is it really him, Aj?" Taylor asked and clasped my hand.

" _God, I hope not._ " I mumbled and wrapped my hand tightly around her smaller one. The tinted window slowly rolled down and I was slightly relieved to see some scrawny dude sitting behind the wheel. He was probably a couple years younger than me and had slicked back brown hair that looked more greasy than styled. He gave us a cheesy grin and a slight nod. I raised a single eyebrow in response, "Are you lost or something?"

He readjusted the thick glasses over his dark brown eyes and I watched as his gaze darted from my chest then back up to my eyes in a very indiscreet manner. He winked, "Lost in your eyes, honey."

"Keep driving, lover boy." I scoffed and shook my head with a laugh. A part of me felt like I should maybe be creeped out by him, but honestly the attempt to flirt with me was more awkward than pervy.

"Your car looks like Ironhide, mister!" Taylor chirped with an innocent smile.

"That's fragging right, girly." He replied.

" _Hey_." I snapped making him jump, "Watch your language."

His eyes widened slightly before he pushed open the door and basically fell out of the cabin. The guy nearly face planted as he struggled to climb out of the large truck. He was around my height and I was stating to wonder if I guessed his age right. Was he even allowed to be driving?

"Have I found a family of Transformer fans?" He asked with a growing smile.

"No." I replied in hopes to get him to leave, but the kids chorused a positive response.

He ignored me entirely and I crossed my arms as the kids followed him to get a closer look at the truck. As he began to point out different features of the vehicle I made sure I was always within arms reach of the kids.

"You see, this is an exact replica of Ironhide from the first Michael Bay movie." He patted the side of his truck, "I hate those movies, but Ironhide did look pretty badass."

I frowned and snapped again, " _Language_."

Tyler frowned, "How come you didn't like the movies? I liked them."

"Why? _Why_? Those movies are an abomination to the any of the previous series and any true fan would-"

"Hey." I barked again making the guy jump in shock and stop ranting, "Slow your roll there, _poindexter_." He pushed his glasses up his nose again and looked slightly miffed at my wording before I continued, "They're just kids and it's just a movie. Relax."

"But Aj-" Tyler began.

I shot him a pointed look, " _Just_ a movie, remember Ty?"

He paused before smiling with a nod, "Right! Just a movie!"

The guy shook his head disappointedly, "Three young minds poisoned by the fake Transformers. I bet they wouldn't recognize a G1 bot if it hit them in the face."

"How about you get out of here before I hit _you_ in the face, ok?" I threatened when I noticed the defeated frown slip into Peter's face. I wasn't above decking this guy in the nose. He let out a huff before turning back to his jacked up truck. His foot slipped on the railing, "Want me to get you a step ladder?"

He shot me a glare before slamming the car door and speeding away. I scoffed, "What a fragging jerk."

"Yeah, a fragging-"

" _Tyler_."

"Sorry." He replied with a bright grin. Tyler grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her back towards the hose and bucket.

"No more getting wet!" I called before focusing my attention on Peter who still looked upset, "What's wrong, buddy?"

Peter shook his head, "Why did he say that? We liked the movies, but we like the G1 cartoon too, and I read the comics and-"

"Hey", I knelt down and offered him a smile, "Every popular series has fans who think they're better than everyone else because of some stupid reason." I shrugged, "You love Transformers. Don't ever let anyone put you down for that even if they say they're Transformer fans too."

Peter nodded and shook slightly as a breeze floated through the air, "It's starting to get cold."

"Yeah", I nodded, "Come on guys. Let's head inside." Peter drained the bucket, the twins wrung out the sponges, and I put away the hose. It didn't take us long and then we were all rushing toward the porch. "Alright, stay in the foyer and I'll get…"

My words drifted away as I pushed open the door and noticed a stack of towels by the window. The kids were quick to snatch up towels and wrap them around their shoulders without question. I set down the bucket and picked mine up with a questioning look. Had the bots and cons got these for us?

"Aj, look!" Taylor giggled and pointed into the kitchen. I glanced in and my eyes widened at the sight of a line of brightly colored cars lined up across the kitchen floor. There were even three jets near the end of the line. The only ones who weren't there were Megatron, Soundwave, Barricade, Ratchet, Prowl, and Grimlock. Even Optimus Prime was lined up in his truck mode.

I nodded with a growing smile playing on my lips, "I guess we aren't done washing cars huh?" The sound of someone clearing their throat filled the room. I rolled my eyes playfully, "And jets."

They all began to transform back into their bipedal modes. Sideswipe slapped his hand against his brothers back, " _Fragging finally_!" 

"Pete, how about you and Tyler use the living room sink to wash up some of these guys?" I suggested, "Taylor and I can use the kitchen sink here."

"Ok." Peter replied and then told his brother to grab a few supplies.

I watched as Taylor scooped up Bumblebee to wash first and chuckled as Sideswipe groaned in response, "I'll be back. You go ahead and start, sweetie." Taylor chirped back a response and I began to head toward the stairs in the foyer. I paused at the base of the stairs when I heard footsteps following me. "Didn't we already have our heart to heart, OP?" I questioned as the leader of the Autobots stood tall by the doorway of the kitchen, "Or would it be heart to spark?"

Optimus nodded, "We did. Where are you going?"

"To get the others. If we're having bath time I plan to get everyone clean at once." I replied and shook my head, "Lord knows Grimlock needs a bath."

There was a brief pause in which I planned to continue up the stairs, but Optimus cleared his throat, "You are a better person than you realize."

My gaze focused on the red and blue bot who remained unmoving where he stood. His sky blue, glowing eyes were glued to mine and made me feel as if I was the foot tall being and he was the giant. I forced a scoff, "I don't need a pep talk, Optimus. I know who I am, I know my sins."

"You are a _good_ person." He replied firmly, "Not many would drop their lives to watch the younglings of their sister while their sister is…unable to do so."

"Not many would ignore their older sister for ten years either."

Optimus shook his head and let out a slow chuckle, "Aimee", my shoulders tensed at the sound of my actual name, "You are _not_ a waste of space. You are worth far more than you believe."

When was the last time I heard anything like that said aloud to me? I couldn't even remember. It definitely had to be before my dad left us. Hell, it might've been before my mom died. Maybe someone since then had thought that about me, but to actually hear it struck a chord in me. It wasn't life altering and I didn't expect to have a new viewpoint on the world or who I was, but it still felt good.

It felt like I had someone on my side again.

Before I could reply the doorbell rang. It broke the daze that Optimus' words had put me in and I had never been so thankful for a visitor before. Mostly because I had no idea what I was going to say back to him.

Optimus glanced at the door, gave me a brief nod, and then slipped into the kitchen where whoever was at the door couldn't see him. I took a deep breath before yanking the door open carelessly.

My eyes narrowed at the guy from earlier, "What do _you_ want?"

"I came to apologize for my behavior." He replied quickly, "I shouldn't have snapped at the children like that. In fact, I think I can teach them about the Transformers world. Show them all the-"

"Yeah, _no_." I cut him off, "I don't know who you are and-"

"My name is Nicholas." He interrupted me, "I live a few roads behind you actually-"

I shook my head, "Fantastic, but I still don't want you around my kids, buddy."

" _Your_ kids?" He questioned, "You hardly look like you've had three children." Rather than replying I just leaned against the doorframe with a bored look drawn across my features. Maybe I was being a tad bit on the rude side, but something about this guy didn't sit right with me. Not just because he was rude to the kids, but something just felt off. He chuckled nervously and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "You're Aj, correct? That's what one of them called you? I really think we got off on the wrong foot, you see-"

The sound of a familiar voice yelling a Cybertronian curse filled the air and something slammed into my foot making me stumble in place. I resisted the urge to stomp down on the hood of the cherry red car still pressed against my ankle.

"Oh my word." Nicholas breathed, "Is that-" Before I could answer or even move he bent over and picked up Sideswipe. My mouth fell open, but no words formed as Nicholas studied the car in his hands, "This is amazing. It's a perfect replica. I can't believe this, do you know who this is?"

I forced an unhappy smile, "I usually just refer to him- err, _it_ as the obnoxious piece of shit from hell."

"This is Sideswipe. The _Sideswipe_!" Nicholas began to pull at the car as if looking for seams to make him transform. I reached forward and snatched the red car from his hands. "Wait, hey-"

I held Sideswipe close to me, "He belongs to the kids. They don't like strangers touching their toys."

" _Toys_? That has to be a collector's item!" Nicholas shook his head, "How much?"

"How much what? How much _grief_ does he- _it_ cause me? I'm positive numbers don't go that high."

Nicholas scoffed, "How much to buy it?"

"Wait, what?"

"How about $500."

My eyes widened, "You'd pay $500 for this hunk of junk?" I wasn't entirely sure how the little shit did it, but Sideswipe pinched my stomach making me flinch. Rather than throwing him in the Nicholas' arm and slamming the door I shook my head with a forced smile, "It's _not_ for sale."

"But- But-"

"Not for sale." I repeated firmly, "So as fun as this was… _Bye_."

Nicholas didn't say a word and just stood on the porch with his mouth agape as I slowly closed the door in his face. There was a second of silence before I heard him rush off the porch back to his car. Sideswipe shifted and transformed in my hands and looked up at me with narrowed eyes and crossed arms, "Hunk of junk?"

Instead of giving him a reply, I just dropped him. He let out a slightly startled cry, but activated his jet pack before he hit the floor to roughly. The jets flew over my head toward the living room bathroom where Peter and Tyler were waiting. Wheeljack and Bluestreak sped past my legs.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sideswipe called out as I began to walk up the stairs.

"I'm going to get the others to wash them up too. I'm also going to ask Ratchet to take you apart and turn you into something useful like a paperweight." I replied, only half-joking. Sideswipe mumbled something under his breath, but was quick to duck back into the kitchen and avoid the glare I tried to shoot in his direction. I shook my head with an exasperated chuckle, " _Bath time, guys_!"

I could hear Ratchet scoff from my room. Prowl stepped out of the office, but the look on his face suggested he was not eager to engage in the activity I had planned. Before I could look around for Barricade, Megatron, and Soundwave, Grimlock came charging out of my room with a roar.

" _Grimlock no want bath_!"

A wave of fire was shot into the air and I sighed. Here I thought Tyler was tough to get into the bath. At least the six year old wasn't a fire breathing, metal dinosaur.


	13. Married

* * *

_"I love being married. It's so great to find one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." –Rita Rudner_

* * *

 

"You grumpy old fart."

Ratchet paused in his movements to slowly lift his gaze from the datapad in his hands to shoot a glare in my direction. I leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed and a slight smile on my lips. Mocking Ratchet always seemed to lighten my mood. I'm sure if he were his true size though this would be a different story. He scoffed, with a shake of his head, and then began to mumble under his breath in Cybertronian.

I groaned, "I have managed to convince everyone, _even Grimlock_ , to go downstairs for a bath and _you're_ giving me a hard time? I expected this behavior from Megsy."

"The only reason Grimlock is down there is because you lied to him-"

"I _didn't_ lie." I argued with a slight grimace, "I…stretched the truth."

Ratchet pointed at me with the datapad in his hand, "The moment he finds out you plan to wash him he'll go on a rampage."

The statement wasn't false and it definitely wasn't something I was exactly looking forward to when I got back downstairs. I made my bed though so I'd lay in it when the time came.

"I can pick you up." I said firmly, "This is me trying to preserve your dignity, Ratch." He didn't reply and instead let his eyes dart back down to the information in his hands. I sighed, "Why are you-"

Ratchet shushed me, "I'm busy. I'll come down in a moment."

"You better." I replied and began to leave, "Fragging little shit-"

" _Language_!"

The sound of boys laughing drifted from the living room as I stepped into the foyer. I took a detour from the kitchen to check on how they were doing. For some reason, maybe it was because they had stationed themselves in the makeshift base of the red-eyed little monsters; Peter and Tyler were washing most of the decepticons. Peter was rinsing Thundercracker under the tub's faucet while Tyler stood on a step stool and covered Wheeljack in soap in the sink. Standing by the doorway waiting was an eager Bluestreak, an impatient Skywarp, a distracted Prowl who had his attention on a datapad in his hand, a blank faced Soundwave, and a pissed off Megatron.

"Everything going alright in here?" I questioned.

"Fantastic!" Wheeljack answered as Tyler whipped around to give me a wide, excited grin.

My eyes darted down to Megatron who hadn't been happy when I forced him down here, but now he looked nearly livid. I used my foot to push him slightly to the left and the guy basically growled, "Who kicked your puppy?"

Megatron glared up at me and Bluestreak stopped bouncing in place to narrow his eyes in confusion, "Wait, a puppy? Aren't puppies the younglings of dogs? Who would kick a puppy? They're so adorable and so defenseless. It'd be like kicking a sparkling and-"

"It's just a saying, Blue." Peter chuckled, "No one kicked any puppies." He used his elbow to try and push his glasses further up his nose and then spoke to me, "Starscream went first. He's already clean."

Tyler nodded, "Barricade too!"

"Well that explains-"

" _Femme_!" Sunstreaker roared from the kitchen, "Will you get your _aft_ in here already!?"

I turned to yell back at him when Tyler snickered under his breath. Peter smiled, "It sounds like your customers aren't too happy, Aj."

"Are you sassing me?" I replied with a growing smile of my own. It did my heart good to hear Peter joking around and just being light hearted in general. The two of us had come a long way since my first day in this house.

" _Femme_!"

"I'm _coming_ , you jumbo sized _lemon_!"

The guys in the small bathroom got a laugh out of the newest nickname and I jogged back over to the kitchen. It probably wasn't safe to leave Grimlock in there waiting on me for too long anyways. As I entered the kitchen Sunstreaker glaring at me from on top of the kitchen island greeted me.

"Get it?" I grinned and pointed at him, "Because you're yellow like a lemon and your attitude is just as sour."

"I get it, Aj!" Taylor giggled from the sink. She had already finished watching Bumblebee who was still sitting on the counter beside her happily and was now soaping up a very content T-Rex.

My eyes widened in shock and then shot around the room to see if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing. Sideswipe was lying on his back by his brother moaning about it not being his turn, Jazz was on the counter like Bumblebee but on the opposite side, and Optimus was standing on the counter leaning against the fridge. Optimus and Jazz both seemed amused at the very least at the sight of Taylor washing up the usually irate, metal lizard.

"Grimlock!" I called making the T-Rex unhappily open his eyes. Bright white optics glared at me.

He grumbled under his breath and lifted his head so Taylor could get the creases there, "What you Aj want?"

"I thought it was going to be World War III to get you washed. Hel- _ck_ ", I caught my language again, "You basically threatened to bite my hand off when I told you it was bath time!"

Grimlock shifted and allowed Taylor to get his back, "You Aj demand. Femme sparkling ask."

"But I thought we had something, Grimlock?" I questioned jokingly. Honestly, I was just happy he was being washed without that much of a fight, "Aren't I an honorary dinobot or something?"

Grimlock narrowed his eyes like I had said the stupidest thing, "You dinobot pet. Dinobot pet not tell dinobots what to do."

I ignored the laughter filling the room at Grimlock's statement and bit back a deadpanned chuckle myself. His answer didn't surprise me all that much in the end. Taylor glanced over her shoulder and gave me a happy smile. Sometimes it was so easy to make these kids happy. The smallest things would make their day and I wished it wasn't always like that. I was glad they were happy, but it felt like I wasn't giving them enough. They were happy with what I had, but what I had was useless. They deserved so much more. They deserved everything.

"Come on, OP. Let's get you shiny again."

"What?" Sideswipe sat up, "Aj!"

"Don't ' _Aj_ ' me." I shot back, "You're lucky I'm not dismantling you for that stunt earlier. You'll be last."

Sideswipe groaned even louder and fell back onto the counter with a 'clunk'. Optimus chuckled to himself and came over. Taylor and I stood side by side at the sink, her on a My Little Pony stool, washing and rinsing the bots. By time I began to rinse off OP she was already starting on Sunstreaker. I had expected the yellow pain to whine and moan about a human child touching his paint, but he seemed rather pleased at the work Taylor was doing. That meant he probably noticed the same thing I noticed about the little girl.

All three kids had their own little quirks. Peter was smart as a whip and ever since he started hanging out with the more scientific Cybertronians he would randomly begin talking about things that were well above my pay grade. Stuff I had no idea how a ten year old could even begin to comprehend. Tyler was an active kid who not only had barrels full of energy, but he also had a good amount of talent in the athletic sense. More than just that, the kid was competitive as hell. Taylor, on the other hand, was an artist. I had figured that out early on, but it wasn't just putting pictures on paper or whatever. She had an eye for detail. Even at six years old, she noticed the littlest things and paid attention to things I probably wouldn't.

All in all, these kids never ceased to amaze me and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they'd go places in this world.

"Alrighty, who's next?" I asked as Optimus used a hand towel to try and dry off the beads of water on his armor. Sideswipe jumped up again but I shook my head, "Didn't I say you were going last?"

"Oh come on!"

I glanced over at Jazz and raised an eyebrow at him. He chuckled and shook his head, "I can wait. Let 'im go 'fore he has a spark attack."

Sideswipe beamed, but the happiness was short lived as Ratchet came into the kitchen. I grinned, "Just in time, Ratchet, it's your turn."

" _Aj_!"

"Jazz said you could go before him, but I'm still punishing you, you _cretin_." I replied and scooped Ratchet off the ground. The medic complained about being picked up in that manner, but I ignored him entirely and began soaping him up.

Washing the bots didn't take as long as I thought it was going to and they didn't raise hell like I thought they would either. It got even easier when Taylor finished Sunstreaker and started on the tomato red loudmouth. As I helped Ratchet dry off, which mainly consisted of him drying himself off and whacking my fingers when they got near him, sounds of laughter could be heard from the living room. Tyler and Peter had apparently finished their jobs and one of the boys had turned on Netflix. This made Taylor go faster and Sideswipe complain louder as she quickly rinsed him off, shouted a quick apology, and then raced into the living room with an excited Bumblebee in her arms.

"Stop whining, you scrap for processors." Ratchet snapped, "Aj told me about the male at the door and you nearly blowing our cover!"

"Oh come on, Hatchet." Sideswipe began to dry off with a rag as large as him. His eyes darted to Sunstreaker in a pleading fashion, but the yellow bot was too busy shining his arm with a smaller rag from his own subspace to notice his brother's dilemma.

Ratchet growled and pointed at him, "Don't Hatchet me. Prowl's waiting for you upstairs." Sideswipe groaned loudly, but Ratchet forced his gaze toward me, "Get me down now."

"Only because you asked so nicely." I replied and helped the medic bot down to the kitchen floor. Sideswipe gave me a wide grin when my eyes darted to him. From the look on his face he expected me to help him down as well. I gave him a brief smile before bumping him off the counter with the back of my hand. He fell a short bit before his jetpack kicked in and he landed on his feet. The bot mumbled something under his breath, but stopped as Ratchet began to yell at him in Cybertronian. A sigh slipped my lips as I ignored Sunstreaker who had sat down to shine his legs and looked to Jazz who was smirking at me, "Ready, Jazz?"

"Born ready, sweetspark."

Something had to be said about the visored mech's patience. Although, I was beginning to think he had only decided to go last because then he got to sit back and be amused by the antics of all the others. Then again Jazz was a really hard mech to get a read on. I wasn't about to lose sleep trying to figure him out when I was content with what I did know.

A stray thought crossed my mind as I washed a spot in the middle of his back, "Isn't this weird for y'all?" The question wasn't meant for Jazz alone, but something told me Sunstreaker wasn't going to be answering me anytime soon. "I wouldn't be comfortable with someone giving me a bath."

"You help the younglings with their bath." Sunstreaker surprisingly did reply.

"The twins are only six. It's different. They need my help occasionally." I shrugged, "You guys aren't children though, despite how you sometimes act."

Jazz chuckled, "It's differen' with us." He used his own hands to rub soap across his chest as I continued with his back, "We rarely wash alone. Pit, we need the help too. We ain't as flexible as you humans."

As if to prove his point, Jazz reached his arm back, but he wasn't able to touch his back let alone lather it with soap. I nodded. It made sense and I scolded myself for not thinking of the answer on my own. The look Sunstreaker was shooting made me think he was also questioning my intelligence.

"Plus, we're all in armor." Jazz shrugged, "Ain't like we stripped down to our protoforms."

That was a term I did remember from an earlier conversation. It was their equivalent, or as close to it, to humans being naked. Late night conversations with Ratchet never were exactly the most normal in the world. Sunstreaker stood and walked to the edge of the counter. I rinsed the soap off my hand, tried pathetically to dry it against my damp shirt, and held it out to him, "Need some help?"

"Don't touch me, squishy." He snapped and jumped off the counter. He landed on his feet easily and began to stalk out of the kitchen.

"Love you too, Tulip."

"Frag off."

Jazz whistled, "You like makin' an enemy outta 'im?"

"What can I say?" I shrugged with a smile, "It's a hobby of mine."

The bot chuckled, "You're a reckless one."

There was a pause before I replied, "Well, after hearing my sob story this morning you would know."

Jazz's smile faltered slightly. The look on his face grew a tad bit somber, but his visor made it hard to really read his features. He wasn't like Bluestreak or Bumblebee who were ridiculously easy to read. Jazz was worse than stone-faced Prowl in some ways. Prowl was hard to read because he didn't really show much emotion as far as I saw. Jazz showed all kinds of emotions, but his emotions were easily forged.

"Sorry about that." He accent disappeared for the short apology.

"Not a big deal." I shrugged and began to rinse off the saboteur, "As long as the kids don't know, I don't care. Hell, y'all will be gone in less than two months." Jazz didn't reply and an afterthought occurred to me, "I should check with Jackie and Screamer. See how things are progressing."

"Slowly." Jazz answered.

The kitchen air had an almost awkward tinge to it that didn't sit well with me. I took a deep breath and decided to change the topic, "So…"

"So?"

Jazz shook his arms sending a spray of droplets around the sink. I grabbed the driest rag on the counter and began to help him wipe the water droplets away. His visor glowed a faint blue, "Is it time for you to let me see what color your eyes are??"

The bot apparently hadn't expected that question and let out a bark of laughter. A smug smile grew on my features as I reveled in my success in changing topics. Jazz shook his head, "I would tell ya femme, but…"

"But?" I questioned with an amused tone. The smirk on Jazz's face told me his answer would be interesting in the least.

"But then all the surprise is taken outta our relationship."

It was my turn to let out a quick, surprised laugh. I moved toward the fridge still chuckling as Jazz continued to dry himself off. It was nearing lunchtime and I needed to see what we had to eat, "Come on. Does everything about you have to be secretive?"

"It's one of mah charms." Jazz argued, "I'm mysterious."

"Someone has to know what color your optics are." I closed the fridge after realizing there was nothing in there that would work for lunch, unless of course the kids wanted to eat just plain cheese. Actually, Tyler probably would if I let him.

Jazz shrugged, "A few. Ratchet knows. He kinda has to bein' the docbot and all."

"Are they a weird color? Do you have like rainbow eyes or something?" I questioned then snapped my fingers, "Brown? That's unique for Cybertronians."

"If a mech or femme has brown eyes somethin' is _seriously_ wrong." Jazz chuckled. "But now I got a question for you."

I rolled my eyes in good nature, "Oh Lord, here we go."

Jazz grinned and tossed the rag to the side. He strolled across the counter and leaned against the fridge to look at me, "Don't you have anyone back home missin' ya?"

"Nope." I replied simply.

Jazz didn't seem to like my blunt answer, "No one? Friends? Neighbors? Do you have a sparkmate? Or the human equivalent?"

"Jazz, are you asking if I'm _single_?" I joked.

He shook his head with a smile, "I'm serious, Aj. How come you don't have someone in your life?"

It was weird to hear Jazz go from his usual accent to his voice without it, but it definitely got his point across. I couldn't help but take the unaccented Jazz seriously, "We talked about this before. I'm bad at making friends. I've never actually met my neighbors except the one time they knocked on my door asking me if they've seen their pet _anaconda_." I cringed at the memory and ignored Jazz's look of curiosity, "Anyways, don't even get me started on boyfriends." I began to check the cabinets hoping that by making my hands busy this would be easier to talk about. It wasn't. "The last guy I wanted to be in a relationship with stole my money, sold me out, and then moved to Europe."

"You need people in your life. You can't go it alone."

"Words of wisdom from Jazz." I shut the cupboard and moved to the next one, " _Inspirational_."

Jazz shrugged off the sharp comment and forced a grin, his accent slipped back into place, "Ah try."

"You know, if you show me your eyes I'll consider you a friend. Then I technically wont be alone in life, right?"

Jazz held a hand to his chest in mock hurt, "An' here I thought we were already friends."

I knelt down to check the lower cabinets and Jazz sat down on the counter with his legs hanging off the edge in response. There probably wasn't anything in the cabinets that could be served as lunch, but now I was just taking stock of everything we had considering I would be grocery shopping soon. As I pulled open the cabinet I watched as the hinges fell apart and the wooden door slipped from my hand and fell to the floor. Jazz snickered and I bit back a groan. It was bad enough he broke stuff, but Wheeljack had a gift at making things look like things were fine until I touched them.

" _Wheeljack_!" I barked and picked up the wooden cabinet. A sigh slipped my lips as I leaned it against the opening and stood back up. Jazz remained sitting with an amused look on his features.

He snapped his fingers, which I wasn't aware he could do, and then motioned toward me, "I got it."

"Got what? An answer to keep Wheeljack from tearing this house down screw by screw?"

"Primus don't even have a solution to keep Jackie from tinkering." Jazz replied, "I have a solution to your ' _boyfriend_ ' problems."

"Oh, this should be good." I replied dryly.

"'Til you find someone.. I'll play the role." He crossed his arms.

The sound that came out of my mouth didn't sound human and it ranged somewhere between shock and laughter, "You'll play the role? You'll be my boyfriend?"

" _Mechfriend_." Jazz corrected and jokingly added, "I'll love and protect ya, sweetspark."

"My knight in shining armor." I replied sarcastically. A chuckle escaped my throat, "Honestly speaking though, you're still probably better than half the guys I've been with." Jazz held his arms out in a ' _See_?' motion and I rolled my eyes. There was a giggle in the doorway that made me turn to see Taylor standing there looking smug for a six year old. I nodded toward her, "What's up, sweetie?"

Taylor glanced from Jazz and then back to me, "Nothing. You called for Wheeljack, but he was busy so I came."

"Well I can't exactly tell you what I was going to tell him." I said sheepishly. Most of the things I planned to tell Wheeljack were R-rated. Hell, a part of me just planned to throttle the foot tall alien. "You hungry?" Taylor nodded quickly and I continued, "Go get cleaned up. Tell Peter and Tyler to clean up too. We're gonna head out for lunch."

"Can-"

"The bots and cons are gonna stay here." I interrupted her before she could even finish her obvious question. My eyes darted over to Jazz mockingly, "Hope you don't mind, honey."

Jazz grinned and stood up, "Not at all. Family time is important time."

I had to once again resist the urge to roll my eyes. Taylor giggled again before running off. "Hey", I said as I helped the mech down to the floor, "Tell Wheeljack the cabinet better be fixed by time I get home."

Jazz gave me a mock salute before wandering off. My mind briefly thought over the past conversation before I shook my head and headed upstairs with the plans to get ready myself. Here I thought conversations with Ratchet were weird.

* * *

 

"No fire."

"I give you my word. We shall be on our best behavior." Optimus reassured the jumpy human femme. Aj bit her lower lip before sighing and giving the crowd of Cybertronians a quick nod. She hustled the younglings out of the house and closed the door behind her.

"I've said this before, but… She's _real_ paranoid about the fire thing. Like, Red Alert paranoid." Sideswipe commented as he leaned against the wall.

"Can you blame her?" Thundercracker muttered under his breath before leaving the foyer. Ratchet let his optics wander from each mech before they settled on Wheeljack who was happily strolling into the kitchen. The medic bot was well aware that the kitchen was the very last place Wheeljack needed to spend his time. Especially if the main goal was to _avoid_ a fire.

"What the _slag_ do you think you're doing?" Ratchet spat as he followed the walking safety hazard into the spacious area.

Wheeljack jumped at the sound of Ratchet's voice and spun around. His fins glowed a bright blue, "Oh, Ratchet. What brings you in here?"

"Prowl's in charge of keeping the Unicron spawned twins from wreaking havoc and my job is to keep you from burning the human's dwelling to the ground." Ratchet snapped. On one servo, he was entirely overjoyed that he wasn't the one put in charge of making sure the twins stayed in line, yet he still couldn't feel joy at the prospect of sparkling sitting his mad scientist of a best friend.

Wheeljack chuckled good-naturedly, "Don't be ridiculous. I'm only in here to repair the cabinet door. Jazz told me Aj wants it done before she gets back. It should be an easy fix."

"Just put back the screws you took."

He tilted his head, "Well, technically speaking, the screws I took don't exactly exist anymore so…"

Ratchet resisted the urge to cradle his helm between his servos. _'It could be worse_ ' he reminded himself. Flashbacks of explosions and missing limbs danced through his processors. Those memories were only the ones caused by Wheeljack in the Ark too. It didn't even take into consideration the many wounds caused by the sheer stupidity of some of his other comrades. He watched with wary optics as Wheeljack pushed the cabinet door where it belonged and began work on the hinges. The sound of revving engines filled the foyer, followed by tires squealing against the wood floor, but Ratchet let the noise fall into the background.

It was strange to see Autobots residing in the same area as the Decepticons without engaging in a full out war, but it was stranger to see both sides uncomfortable in their boredom. There wasn't a long list of errands to complete or tasks to be done. As Aj had said early on, this was a vacation for both the bots and cons and neither side truly knew what to do with it. Ratchet kept himself busy by continually checking the status of everyone in the house, even the humans, but the lack of stress was almost unnerving. He could admire his newly found quiet time, but there was a portion of it that put him on edge. He felt like something was bound to happen because something always did happen.

Wheeljack and Starscream were still relatively busy with the project to get everyone back to their own universe, but there was only so much progress they could make with what they had. At the moment they were trying to gather more data on the relative location. Wheeljack's first invention had done its job well, if you don't count the pulse that nearly ended Wheeljack's life, but it didn't hurt to have more information on their location. One mistake and they'd end up who the frag knows where.

"Do you think that'll hold?" Wheeljack questioned with his servos planted on his hips. Ratchet lifted his optics to study the loose hinges and watched as they began to shift from the weight of the wood. He reached forward, grabbed Wheeljack by the shoulder and shoved him aside roughly before sidestepping himself. The cabinet door's hinges broke and the door fell with a thud in front of them. Wheeljack nodded, "Right. I can fix this."

"Of course you can." Ratchet said in a tone that made his words sound not so encouraging. Wheeljack was used to said tone and barely paid any mind to it whatsoever.

Wheeljack struggled to pick the cabinet door back up and Ratchet didn't move an inch toward him. He got himself into this slagging situation; he could get himself out of it.

Ever since they had arrived their systems hadn't been at 100%. Radar, GPS, commlinks, and so on were still there but inactive for the most part. It was more than a nuisance, it was basically a handicap, but most of the bots and cons had adjusted to it. However, it led them to rely solely on their senses. This is why Ratchet could hear the approaching footsteps coming from halfway down the stairs. Wheeljack seemed to have noticed as well, but was too preoccupied with the door to give it much time. Ratchet narrowed his optics trying to place the footsteps. It wasn't the twins, one set of footsteps was too heavy and both were going too slow. It wasn't Jazz considering Ratchet probably wouldn't hear the special ops mech coming. Before he could fully narrow down his list of possibilities two faces turned the corner.

Ratchet tensed as Megatron and Soundwave stopped in the doorway. Their optics lazily glanced from the fallen cabinet door to both Ratchet and Wheeljack. The engineer had paused in what he was doing to stand beside Ratchet and hold his ground. Regardless of whatever truce had been drawn up for the time being, things had still remained tense between the Autobots and Decepticons. They hid the tense edge from the humans for the human's own good, but a miracle hadn't occurred between the two warring sides.

Hopeful Optimus thought perhaps this temporary truce could blossom into an understanding, but deep down in the sparks of every Cybertronian here they knew the chances of this war ending in a servo shake was slim to none.

Another few moments passed and not a single mech in the kitchen moved. Megatron's lips curved slightly into a small smirk and Ratchet could feel his entire body grow rigid. Wheeljack stiffened beside him as well as both bots mentally prepared for the possibility of a fight. Without any humans in the house, it was entirely possible the war would continue. Aj and the younglings were still entirely unaware that occasionally during the night a brawl would break out. It was always hand to hand and it only caused Aj to stir, not wake up, but it still happened.

New footsteps approached from behind Ratchet and Wheeljack and before Ratchet could even begin to worry that the new footsteps would belong to more Decepticons he recognized the pace and weight of each step. How could he not considering the many times he heard them running around the Ark causing mayhem?

Ratchet couldn't see them, he wouldn't take his eyes off Megatron and Soundwave, but he heard the footsteps stop in the doorway on the other end of the kitchen.

"Would you look at this, Sunny?"

"Would you stop with that fragging name?"

"They're looking like they're gonna start a fight." Sideswipe crossed the room to stand on the other side of Ratchet as Sunstreaker came to stand on the other side of Wheeljack, "And you mechs didn't invite us? _Rude_."

The twins were both the best mechs to have here at the moment and also the worst. Their fighting experience and talent alone would give the four Autobots in the kitchen the upper edge at the moment, but their energon lust could very well push this tense situation into the fight alone. Ratchet did not want to start a fight.

Megatron chuckled lightly before turning on his heel and striding away with Soundwave by his side. Wheeljack made a sound very similar to a human sigh of relief, "Good timing. That would not have been very fun."

"Yeah, bet you've never been so happy to see us before, Hatchet?" Sideswipe beamed at the medic.

Ratchet scoffed, "I'm never happy to see you glitches."

Wheeljack chuckled and turned back to the cabinet. His fins lit up, "Oh! While the two of you are here, can you hold this door up while I fix the hinges?"

"Sure thing, Jackie. As long as you promise to put in a good word for me with Aj." Sideswipe replied and slapped his brother on the back. Sunstreaker swung his arm out to punch him in the back of the helm, but Sideswipe ducked and moved to grab the cabinet door, "She got Prowl to yell at me for crying out loud."

Sideswipe picked up one side of the door and Ratchet recognized the twins having an internal argument before Sunstreaker cursed under his breath and went to pick up the other side.

"When _isn't_ Prowl yelling at you?" Ratchet replied.

"Well, it's not as bad here." Sideswipe shrugged, "Though something tells me he's keeping tack of everything and just waiting till we get back."

Ratchet chuckled to himself because he knew Sideswipe was completely right. Pit, Ratchet had seen the growing list himself. Wheeljack nodded and moved to work on the hinges as the twins pushed the door into place, "I'll let her know you helped me fix the cabinet door."

"If you really think that alone will get you on her good side then you're stupider than I thought." Ratchet spoke up.

Sideswipe turned and leaned against the door so his back was holding the wood rather than his servos. He crossed his arms, "Good point. I should talk to Jazz. She's pretty close to him, right?" His optics darted to Sunstreaker as the two shared thoughts once again. Sideswipe grinned, "I could show her a few moves. I'm sure something would be able to translate over into human fighting."

" _No_." Ratchet snapped. None of the three mechs there jumped at Ratchet's sharp tone because all three mechs were very used to being yelled at in the same tone. Sideswipe turned an innocent look toward the medic who narrowed his optics at him, "The last thing we need to do is encourage her fighting habit."

"Why not?" Sideswipe questioned.

Ratchet stumbled over his words from the sheer shock of the red moron asking such a ridiculous statement, "Because it's going to get her fragging _offlined_ , you slagging _glitch ridden terror_!"

Sideswipe made a humming sound, "Words are hurtful you know that, Hatchet?"

The medic stepped toward the red mech threatingly and Sideswipe flinched with a sheepish smile on his faceplates. Sunstreaker shrugged, "She took care of the human filth that showed up at her door."

"She kicked that one male's aft." Sideswipe nodded.

"And the other nearly knocked her into stasis with a weapon." Ratchet growled, " _Primus_. He could've just shot her!"

Sideswipe tilted his helm slightly, "Ok. I see your point."

The amount of self-control it took to not lunge forward and strangle the red frontliner was immense. Ratchet honestly deserved an award for the many times he resisted the urge to maim the morons he found himself looking after.

"If I find out anyone is encouraging her fighting habits I'll beat them into the ground with their own fragging limbs." Ratchet warned. It was a warning he planned to blast to every bot or con in the household, but he knew the terror twins needed to hear it first considering they were probably, once again, going to be the main issue.

"You got it, Ratch!" Wheeljack replied cheerily without much thought behind his words. He was too busy focusing on the task at hand. Besides, why would he ever feel the need to push Aj toward fighting?

Sideswipe held his hand up and grinned, "You got it, Ratch."

Sunstreaker didn't reply, but his facial plates gave off the vibe that he could care less about the situation. It was usually the red terror that dragged Sunstreaker into things anyways. Ratchet shook his head and began to march out of the kitchen with plans to head back to his temporary medbay.

Ratchet didn't spend much time wondering why he was so determined to keep that insufferable femme in working order. It was probably the same reason why Bluestreak and Bumblebee kept watch on the twin younglings at all times and why Prowl mostly did his work in an area where he could keep an optic on Peter. Protecting the innocent from Decepticons came naturally for nearly any Autobot. It was basically hardwired into their systems at this point, and most times once they began to protect someone it became difficult for them to ever even consider not protecting them, whether the threat comes from Decepticons or some other outside force.

As far as Ratchet was concerned, these humans were his patients for the time being and like slag he was going to let them become injured. The younglings were fairly good at staying out of harm's way, but that fragging femme managed to get herself into problems nearly as often as the frontliner twins that plagued his life. Ratchet was more than determined to keep this femme from offlining herself. He'd protect her from harm even if that harm came from herself.

* * *

 

" _Wow_ ", I held carried the word out for longer than it was supposed to be held, "Those chicken nuggets _sound_ delicious."

Peter snickered from the seat beside me. My eyes drifted to the rear view mirror where I could see both Tyler and Taylor sitting in the back with a Wendy's to-go bag sandwiched between them. Taylor was too busy sucking down her soda to catch my joke and Tyler, the kid who was smacking on his food like a cow, only smiled. It looked like he considered replying, but decided instead to shove another chicken nugget into his mouth.

"Thanks for Wendy's, Aj." Peter smiled. He had finished his burger already and had crumpled up his trash. It now rested in his lap as he waited for a trash can to become available.

I shrugged and began to press down on the brakes as the light ahead turned red, "Don't mention it, kid."

"We're going to Wal-Mart, right?" Peter asked.

"For groceries, yeah. Speaking of which, what do you guys want to eat for Christmas dinner?" I glanced over my shoulder at the twins and then let my gaze carry over to Peter before settling back onto the road.

Tyler decided to take a break from inhaling his food to answer, "I want ham! Lots of ham, and corn on the cob!"

"Can we have the mashed potatoes with marshmallows on top?" Taylor questioned.

Before I could reply with a question of my own, Peter clarified, "Sweet Potato Casserole. Mom makes it sometimes."

"Oh. Uh, why not?" I replied and the twins cheered. Oh God, I had just figured out how not to burn the pancakes in the morning and now I had to make some fancy casserole? I was in desperate need of a Christmas miracle. "What about you, Pete?"

Peter didn't reply immediately as he thought to himself. The light turned green and I pressed my foot against the accelerator. Peter grinned, "Can we have peach cobbler?"

"Heck yeah. Let's eat some peach cobbler too." I announced and the twins cheered some more as Peter grinned. Never mind that it wasn't exactly prime peach season. Canned peaches would do the trick, right? Technically I was allergic to peaches. Slightly. It didn't stop me from ever eating the fruit. I'd enjoy the peach and spend the next hour or so complaining about an itchy tongue, but that wouldn't be a problem. Probably. Honestly, I was still more worried about cooking a damn ham and making a casserole.

I parked the car in the mess that was a Wal-Mart parking lot and began to walk in with the kids. Taylor and Tyler held both my hands as we walked through the crowded lot and I kept Peter walking a few steps in front of me where I could see him. He slowed his steps and turned to talk as we walked, "Hey, Aj?"

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Can we buy Christmas gifts for the Cybertronians?"

His question didn't get an immediate response, but seconds after the words left his mouth the twins began to jump up and down in excitement. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was something along the lines of begging me to say yes.

I chuckled, "Sure. Why not? Good idea, Pete."

Peter beamed at my praise and jogged to get a buggy for me. Christmas gifts for the Autobots and Decepticons, huh? I didn't have the slightest idea what to get for them. If anything I could name a few who deserved coal.

"Thanks." I said and let go of the kids' hands to push the buggy. Taylor hopped onto the end of the buggy so she was facing me and riding the cart at the same time. Peter walked beside me and Tyler bounced around to different things he saw that were interesting but stayed in sight. The Christmas shopping was done first because I didn't want to grab the groceries and let the cold stuff get warm as we searched Wal-Mart for presents.

Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as I thought it was going to. It turned out that the kids were chockfull with ideas for what to get our newest housemates. The few bots and cons they got stuck on I managed to come up with something that would work. I grabbed extra wrapping paper, labels, and bows before moving into the grocery section.

 _'What the fuck do you put into a sweet potato casserole?_ ' I texted Aubrey in hopes that she would get it. Sometimes she called using the hospital phone and other times she used her cell. Hopefully today she had her cellphone on her.

Peter and Tyler were arguing over which gummy snacks to buy as Taylor leaned against my hip with a silly smile. I glanced down at her and chuckled, "Why are you so happy?"

Taylor clasped her hands together and began to twist her body so her hair swayed around her petite features, "Aj, can I be your flower girl?"

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, "Flower girl?"

"Yeah! At your wedding!"

"I wasn't aware I was going to get married." I chuckled back and called out for Peter and Tyler to hurry up and pick one.

Taylor's smile faltered slightly as confusion filled her own features, "But I heard you and Jazz talking. He said he was your _boyfriend_. Girlfriends and boyfriends get married."

What? It took a moment for my mind to connect the dots and then it took everything in me not to burst into laughter. Hell, the only reason I didn't burst into laughter was because I didn't want the poor little girl to think I was making fun of her. No wonder she was giggling earlier in the kitchen. I knelt down slightly so we were face to face, "Sweetie, Jazz and I aren't actually dating. He was _joking_."

Taylor pouted, "But _why_?"

"Well, we can't date." I tried to explain, "We aren't…the same."

Taylor crossed her arms and a look of determination crossed her features, " _Are too_! Both of you are really funny and good and you play nice together."

There was a brief sense of pride that filled my heart at the young girl's words. Some people couldn't even see past couples of different skin color and yet here Taylor was claiming that my soul mate was a foot tall metal alien. Way to not see race, honey, or species. Actually, I should seriously clear this up.

"He's _not_ human, Tay, and I _am_ human." I chuckled.

Taylor sighed, "But I want you two to get married."

"Why?"

"If you get married to Jazz then he has to stay here and if he stays here then the other bots will stay too. I don't want any of them to leave."

My heart dropped at her words. The last thing I wanted to talk to the kids about was the bots and cons departure date. I knew it was coming and I was prepared to handle it when it did, but I had no idea how the kids were going to take it. Well, that wasn't true. I knew exactly how they were going to take it. Badly.

"So please get married?" She begged with wide, pleading eyes.

Shit. Slag. Ugh. I couldn't ever say no to a face like that, but the girl wasn't exactly asking to stay up an extra hour or for a puppy. Hell, it would be easier to get her a puppy. I racked my brain for something to say, "Er well, see Taylor…He didn't get me a ring."

"What?" Her eyebrows scrunched together.

I nodded quickly and continued with my reasoning, "Jazz didn't buy me a ring. You can't get married without a ring, right?"

Taylor tore her eyes away and gazed off into nothing as she let this last statement process through her mind. I slowly watched as realization dawned across the little girl's face as she accepted my 'from the hip' excuse.

"Aj! Can we bake a cake?"

"Yes." I blurted and stood up. That conversation was beyond over, "Taylor, how about you pick the icing flavor with your brothers?"

Taylor nodded and bounced over to where her brothers were looking over a variety of icing flavors. Thank God for six-year-old attention spans. I still had two months to figure out how to get the kids to handle the bots and cons leaving and I planned to wait until the very last moment. It didn't help matters that in two months I'd have to leave too. My mind had thought about what it'd be like to stay for longer, but after what happened with Kyle and Boss' money I knew that was no longer an option.

The fact that I said yes to make a cake didn't actually hit me until the kids ran back over with cake mix, icing, and sprinkles. Damn it, I've never made a cake before. It couldn't be too hard, right? I mean the cake mix came out of a freaking box for crying out loud.

My phone buzzed and I was relieved to see Aubrey had texted me casserole ingredients. By the end of these two months I was going to be a certified chef. Well, maybe not, but I wouldn't be as kitchen handicapped as I used to be.

* * *

 

"We're home!" Tyler yelled loudly into the foyer. I chuckled and continued to carry the many bags of food and Christmas goodies into the kitchen. Peter helped me set most of the bags down.

"We'll put the food away. You can go wrap the bots and cons gifts." Peter said in hushed tones.

"I wanna wrap the gifts too!" Tyler cried loudly and his brother shushed him.

"We'll go and help her after we put food away." Peter reassured him.

I laughed, "Guys, I'll just help put food-"

" _No_!" The kids argued. Taylor shook her head, "They might see what we got them! You have to go _now_!"

"But-"

The reply given to me was Peter and the twins pushing me out of the kitchen with the bags of knick-knacks hanging from my arms. Skywarp and Thundercracker came around the corner and looked confused at what was happening.

"What is this?" Skywarp questioned.

"Mutiny." I replied and bit back a grin. Peter motioned for me to go and I shook my head before jogging upstairs toward my room. It amused me to no end that the kids planned to put away all the food while I wrapped gifts. Although the more I thought about it the more I worried. Did they even know where the stuff went? Could they reach the top shelf of the fridge? I shook my head. They had stools and Peter was fully capable of kicking my ass at checkers and chess. They could manage.

I pushed open my room door and paused to see Ratchet and Grimlock in the room. Their presence wasn't too surprising.

"Finally, you human back." Grimlock stomped over, "What you human have?"

"It's a surprise."

"For me Grimlock?"

"Yes, for you Grimlock and for every other bot and con here." I replied.

Grimlock took another step toward me, but I took one back and held the bags higher, "Nuh uh. Not until Christmas."

"But me Grimlock want it now!"

"Too bad." I grinned then glanced over to Ratchet who seemed confused, "Now both of you need to get out."

Ratchet's confusion turned to annoyance, "I will not be bossed around _my_ medbay."

"Your medbay, _my_ room." I replied, "Now seriously, get out."

He scoffed, "Think again, youngling."

I pressed my lips together. Ratchet was the only one who referred to me as a youngling and as a 26-year-old woman I didn't take it too well. I rolled my eyes, "Really, Ratchet? We talked about this earlier. I'm three times your size right now. I could just pick you up and throw you out. You're lucky I'm allowing you to walk out on your own."

"Oh, I'm lucky, am I?" Ratchet replied sharply.

"Yeah! We both know who's gonna win this argument!" I said stubbornly.

Needless to say, ten minutes later I was sitting in Aubrey's room with the door shut wrapping up gifts while cursing the wrench-wielding medic under my breath.

When I had first come in, there were some bots and cons that tried to follow. I spent the first six minutes kicking out the condiment twins, yelling at Skywarp to not warp in here while I was wrapping, and scolding Jazz for trying to waltz in like he owned the place. Genius had struck me around the seventh minute though and I told Grimlock that if any bot or con tried to sneak in and see the surprise he wouldn't get his. Now the robot dinosaur stood guard outside and there wasn't a spark in this house that even wanted to attempt getting by him and his white-hot glare.

So far I had wrapped six presents. For Grimlock we got him an assortment of dog toys, which sounded strange, but I could already picture Grimlock playing with the multicolored rope and bright orange ball. He could chew on these instead of the couch now. The seekers were hard to shop for, but Taylor managed to find mini pillows in the same color scheme of each flying con so we bought those. They could put them on top of the entertainment system and sleep on them. It didn't seem like enough though so Peter also suggested giving them these 'Flying Coupons'. Taylor was going to draw and color them but it basically meant I was going to let them go outside to fly for an hour or so. God help the world on Christmas morning when I hand those out. The fifth gift I had already wrapped was for Megatron. Unsurprisingly, it was hard to shop for the evil overlord but Peter managed to pull through for the win. The kid had found a Starscream plushy, but this Starscream didn't look anything like the one flying around the house. The kids said it was the Starscream from the Transformers: Prime cartoon rather than G1. At least, that's what I think they said. Either way, Megatron could beat the shit out of this plushy and none of us would have to hear Starscream's whiny cries of pain. It was a win-win for all. I also threw in some Glitter Remover because I like to flirt with danger. Optimus, much like Megatron, was a really hard bot to shop for. I had drawn a total blank on what to buy the mech, but the kids finally settled on getting him a sweater. A Christmas sweater that was technically the size to fit a small dog, but it would work for his size as well. I questioned it, but the kids insisted that they wanted to buy the Autobot leader a sweater.

"No one come in!" Grimlock roared from outside the door.

"But Grimlock we already know the surprise!" Tyler cried.

"They can come in, Grimlock!" I yelled in hopes that the metal lizard would hear me. Seconds passed before the door opened and all three kids rushed in happily.

Tyler bounced in place, "Can I wrap up Blue's?"

"I wanna wrap Bee's!" Taylor cried in agreement. Luckily, I had saved those two gifts for the twins to wrap. Did I know my niece and nephew or did I know them? I handed the racing obstacle course for Bumblebee to Taylor and the shooting targets for Bluestreak to Tyler along with a good sized chunk of wrapping paper for them to use. Then I did the same with Prowl's gift, one of those grow your own crystal things, for Peter.

"You know what?" I stood up, "I have an idea for Prowl. Just something to add, maybe. Hang on."

I could feel the kids eyes on my briefly, but I continued out of the room. I closed the door behind me and then knelt down to scratch Grimlock's neck, "Make sure no one but me comes in now, ok?"

He gave a grunt of confirmation and I moved down the hall back toward my room. I stepped in and Ratchet scoffed, "Back to argue more?"

"No." I mumbled and stuck my tongue out at him when he turned his back to me. Wheeljack who was sitting on the desk beside him chuckled to himself and I moved over to my suitcase of crap. Kyle had packed a bunch of random stuff. He brought the clothes I needed and some other essentials, but then he also threw in stuff I hadn't used for years. For example, as I dug through my suitcase for the first time I found a dress I hadn't worn since freshman year of college and the pile of junk mail I had left on my kitchen counter and never thrown away. To think I used to consider his scatterbrain traits adorable. Now I just wanted to claw his eyes out. Go figure.

"What are you looking for?" Wheeljack asked. I glanced over to see him craning his neck to try and look into my suitcase from where he sat, but he wasn't curious enough to stand up and step down from the desk. A smirk grew on my lips as I shifted to block his gaze.

"It's a surprise for Prowl." I replied and continued digging through my junk looking for an old book of mine. I distinctly remember spotting the book as I was putting my jeans away.

Ratchet scoffed, "All these surprises, what even is the point-"

"Nobody likes a scrooge, Ratchet." I interrupted and threw aside a stained T-shirt. "Aha!"

The book was worn down on the edges because I hadn't taken the best care of it. I had thrown it around some and shoved it into far too many purses and book bags, but it was still in decent enough condition that Prowl wouldn't have to worry about it falling apart on him as long as he didn't let Grimlock chew on it.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. The book had been assigned reading to me in an old Literature class I took. The only reason I still had it was because I tended to keep all the books I actually paid for. It had been lying under a pile of crap on my desk back home and Kyle must have shoved it into my suitcase for some random reason. I flipped through the pages and glanced over all the handwritten notes I had taken. Prowl seemed like the kind of guy who'd enjoy this read. Any of the autobots or decepticons could enjoy it actually, but Prowl seemed to be one of the few Cybertronians who would actually read it.

"What is that?" Ratchet demanded.

I shoved the book under my shirt and stood to leave, "Nothing."

Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me and I only smiled innocently in response. Wheeljack snickered to himself and I gave them both a brief wave before rushing out. Grimlock was still doing a fantastic job of keeping the others at bay and I gave him another pat before walking back into the room.

"We did it, Aj!" Taylor held up what she had wrapped. Both the twins had indeed wrapped the gifts, but it definitely looked like a six year old had wrapped it.

Peter pointed to the pile, "I waited for you to wrap Prowl's. So I wrapped Wheeljack's instead."

The model airplane and tool kit we bought for Wheeljack was wrapped as nicely as a ten year old could. They had even written names down on labels so we could tell what went to whom.

"Good job guys. I grabbed this for Prowl." I held up the book, "I thought he might like it."

"Cool. Can I wrap Sideswipe's gift now?" Tyler was already moving onto the next task. I chuckled and handed Peter the book so he could finish wrapping all of Prowl's stuff. Taylor beamed, "If he wraps Sideswipe's can I wrap Sunstreaker's gift?"

"Sure." I answered and began to cut them out more wrapping paper to use. The twins had apparently been easy to shop for and the kids knew exactly what they wanted to get them. For Sunstreaker we bought actual art stuff. I wasn't entirely sure if he'd be able to even use the sketchpad, paints, and fancy pencils we grabbed, but here's to hoping. Sideswipe was even easier. The kids picked him out what looked like a bunch of gag gifts. There was a yo-yo, a whoopee cushion, a mini joke book, and an electric hand buzzer. Peter had explained Sideswipe's pranking tendencies to me in the store and I was beyond relieved he hadn't shown that side of himself yet. There was almost a sense of dread that filled me as I watched Tyler wrap Sideswipe's gift. Giving him pranking materials was like opening Pandora's box.

As the kids worked hard on their wrapping, I managed to wrap up Jazz's and Ratchet's gift. The kids didn't know what to get the grumpy medic so I suggested a little light reading. I had managed to find a small booklet that was filled with emergency treatments for first aid situations. The anatomy book he was flipping through now had information about the human body, but he was always questioning me about what to do in specific scenarios. Now with this book he wouldn't have to ask. The kids had said Jazz was a big music fan so I figured why not give him a taste of Earth music for Christmas? We bought him an iTunes card and on Christmas he could use it to buy whatever he wanted on my old iPod touch. Speaking of which, I needed to find and charge that electronic device up. I had received it as a gift years ago, but I usually only used it when I was working out.

"I'm gonna wrap Soundwave's now." Peter said as he set Prowl's gifts aside. Soundwave's gift made the least sense to me. The kids had told me to grab a book about languages and the only one I could find in our nearby Wal-Mart was a medium sized book talking about the English language, dialects, slang, and other aspects. It seemed like a really dry read, but the kids claimed the Communications Officer might enjoy it.

"Go ahead, Pete." I replied.

I took it upon myself to wrap the last gift, which was to none other than Barricade. The kids wouldn't let me buy the fragger a bucket of coal like I originally wanted to so I had to settle for my second idea which only came to me when I accidentally walked through the office supply aisle. Wal-Mart had this 'desk punching bag' on sale, which was exactly what it sounded like. It looked just like the type I've used in the gym except this one you left on your desk for decoration and stress relief. I figured he could beat the hell out of this thing instead of my feet.

"Can we put them under the tree?" Tyler asked.

"Um, how about we wait until Christmas Eve?" I replied. The less time these gifts spent under the tree the higher the chance they would make it to Christmas. Tyler frowned but he didn't complain. They helped me hide all the gifts in Aubrey's closet before rushing out of the room.

As I stepped out I took notice of Skywarp leaning against the wall with a wide grin as Grimlock continued to stand guard considering I hadn't told him otherwise yet.

"You even think about coming in here Skywarp-"

"And you'll what?" Skywarp replied with a smug smile.

I grinned and nodded toward Grimlock, "I'll let Grimlock eat you." Grimlock glanced up at me at the sound of his name, "You don't get your surprise until Christmas and if anyone sneaks a peek…"

"Me Grimlock rip them apart." Grimlock growled.

Skywarp's smile went from smug to sheepish in record time. He transformed into a jet and warped away, but his warp didn't end as planned. It could have been his rush to get away or maybe it was just Skywarp being Skywarp, but the jet misjudged the distance he was supposed to go and ended up warping right into the hallway wall.

" _Frag_!" He cried before tumbling in the air slightly and zooming away.

I began to laugh to myself at the sight of it all. It still amazed me that Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp were grouped together like they were. They all seemed so vastly different that the combination didn't seem like it could possibly meld together well.

Sideswipe stopped at the top of the staircase in front of me and shot me a grin. I expected him to question why I was laughing, but he just stared at me instead. I gave Grimlock a quick thanks and smile and moved to walk down the stairs past Sideswipe.

"See you later, _babe_."

I came to a rocking stop with one foot still stuck in the air from the step I was going to take. Rather than continue down the stairs, I began to backpedal up the top few steps so I stood in front of the smiling Sideswipe, "What did you just call me?"

"Nothing." Sideswipe replied innocently. His smile took on the edge of a smirk and one of his eyes blinked in a wink like fashion, " _Babe_." A reply formed in my mind, but instead of letting it fall from my lips I scooped him up without warning. "Whoa. I know I'm _irresistible_ , but I can still walk on my own, femme."

I walked down the hall back to my room and ignored all Sideswipe's curious questions. The only other person in the room was Ratchet who looked up as I came in. His eyes darted from me to Sideswipe and he sighed irritably, "Now what?"

"Sideswipe hit his head or something and now he's broken."

"What?" Sideswipe cried, "That is not true!"

Ratchet held a bored look on his features, "Are you certain you're not confusing being broken with his personality?"

" _Hey_!" Sideswipe complained, "I resent that."

"You _represent_ that." I replied and set the red bot down, "And you're most certainly broken if you think you can continue calling me babe."

He shrugged, "You let Jazz call you sweetspark."

It suddenly occurred to me that he was right. I had noticed it of course, but it wasn't the same thing. At least, it didn't feel the same. I rolled my eyes, "Where did you even hear the word babe?"

"Internet." He grinned.

"Of course." I mumbled. "Listen, I already warned Skywarp, but I want you and your brother to stay the hell-"

" _Language_." Ratchet snapped.

Curse the day Ratchet started recognizing Earth curse words. I took a deep breath, "Stay the _heck_ away from the surprises. They're your Christmas gifts and if I found out you peeked I'll murder you."

"If I promise not to peek will you let me call you babe?" Sideswipe nudged my shin with his elbow.

"Sure, whatever." I nodded then scrunched my face up, "Why would you even want to call me babe?"

Sideswipe shrugged and began to leave the room, "So we can be best friends, duh."

"But why-" Before I could question him further he was gone.

I turned my attention to Ratchet who shook his head, "I'll never understand what goes through his virus riddled processors. I'll tell you this though, he's planning something, Primus help us."

"Fantastic." I said dryly when the phone began to ring. The house phone was downstairs in the kitchen last I saw it. I rushed down the stairs, but slowed when I heard Peter answer the phone.

"Hello?"

I peeked my head into the kitchen. Peter smiled at me and pointed at the phone, "Hi mom! How are you?"

"Mama!" Tyler yelled from the living room. I glanced over my shoulder to see Taylor and Tyler speed out of the living room to run into the kitchen. With an amused shake of my head I headed toward the living room to relax and wait for my turn on the phone.

The kids took turns talking to their mom over the phone as I flipped through the different movie options on Netflix. I had only been alone on the couch for a few minutes before others began to join me. The first had been Thundercracker, then Jazz, then Bumblebee, Bluestreak came next, and the last to join on us on the couch was Prowl.

"How 'bout that one?" Jazz pointed to another movie.

I glanced over at him, "That is the third scary movie you picked out. You're a horror flick junkie aren't you?"

He just shrugged his shoulders and then rested his hands behind his head in a resting position. I set down the remote when I heard Tyler run in with the phone, "Here you go, Aj!"

"Thanks buddy." I took the phone and Tyler grabbed the remote as his sister ran in. "Aubrey?"

"Hey Aimee." She replied cheerfully.

"How do you feel?" I asked and let my eyes glance down at the twins who were shooting through movie options.

"Good. I feel good. Everything is going fine." She answered, "I told you about the things coming in tomorrow right?"

Tomorrow I was supposed to receive the Christmas gifts from Aubrey to the kids, "Yup. I'm ready for it."

"Alright, well on Tuesday you should be getting their bigger gifts. The ones from Santa."

Tyler began to tug on my sleeve, "Aj! Aj! Can we watch this?"

"Tuesday?" I spoke to Aubrey and turned to look at what the kid was pointing out. He had selected The Walking Dead of all things. I narrowed my eyes at him and shook my head.

"But Aj! Please?" Taylor begged with her brother.

Aubrey had been speaking but I interrupted her, "Hang on, Aubs." I pressed the phone against the crook of my shoulder and shook my head at the kids, "That's a scary TV show. You don't need to watch it."

"My friend at school says he watches it with his brother!" Tyler replied, "Please, Aj! We won't be scared!"

"Guys." I sighed. Personally, I had seen all of the episodes of the show. It was one of the only things I watched on TV, which is why I knew there were things they didn't need to be seeing in it. "Can't you watch something else?"

"We won't be scared!" Taylor repeated what her brother said, "We'll leave the lights on and we have Thundercracker here and Jazz and Prowl and Bee and Blue and-"

"Please Aj?" Tyler finished.

I sighed and shook my head, "Just- Just watch the first episode. That's it. Got it?"

The twins cheered and I left the room to finish talking to Aubrey. The first episode wasn't too bad was it? Did they even show walkers in the first episode? The kids would probably grow bored of the drama in it.

"What was that about?" Aubrey questioned.

"Nothing." I replied quickly, "So Tuesday?"

"Santa is bringing them something good this year."

* * *

 

The weirdest feeling in the world came from being woken up without a sound. It was a situation where the person didn't touch you or say a word, they just stared at you until you came out of slumber.

My eyes fluttered open and adjusted to the dark. Ratchet wasn't in here tonight, something about a meeting, so the lamp on my desk wasn't on. After a second of realizing where I was I glanced over and nearly jumped out of my skin when I spotted Tyler standing by my bed clutching Bluestreak to his chest.

"Fuc- _Shit_." I replied and groggily realized I had replaced my curse word with just another curse word. "Tyler?"

"Aj, we're scared."

The twins had watched the entire first episode of The Walking Dead and loved it. They said they weren't scared at all. However, as I got them into bed I could tell they were a bit on edge, but both the twins and the bots that stayed with them through the night assured me they'd make it to morning.

"Walkers aren't real, right Aj?" Bluestreak questioned quickly, "I told Tyler they weren't real, but then again I don't actually know myself and then I started thinking-"

"Walkers _aren't_ real." I said sleepily and glanced over to see it was 2 in the morning. It was silent for a minute as Tyler shifted his weight and held on tighter to Bluestreak who was staring at me with his wide, glowing eyes. "How about you guys stay with me tonight, hm?"

Tyler nodded and basically jumped into my bed. He crawled over me and cuddled into the pillow and sheets without a word. Bluestreak laid with him. I tiredly chuckled and laid my head back down. I fell asleep for a total of five more minutes before the same feeling washed over me.

" _Taylor_?"

"Aj, can Bee and I sleep with you too?"


	14. Mail

* * *

_"Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas." –Johnny Carson_

* * *

 

In his own honest opinion, Prowl felt he had adjusted rather well to the circumstances. He had only crashed a couple times since being here. That being said, there were plenty of close calls. Nearly everyday came a close call where Prowl could physically feel his logic center try and catch up to what was occurring around him. They came often when speaking to the human twins. He was sure the younglings didn't mean to push him close to crashing, but it occurred nonetheless. Peter was better about keeping him from crashing and Prowl found he rather enjoyed speaking to the youngling. He didn't speak to Aj as often, but the few times he did so he found that the way she spoke often reminded him of Ratchet or Jazz depending on her mood.

Regardless, the easiest way to avoid crashing was to just not think about the specifics of their circumstances. He kept track of what was happening with a good amount of distance between him and the more illogical details. Just thinking about the alternate universes and their toy like bodies now was beginning to make his processors feel like they were filled with static.

He continued down the hall on his search for Bumblebee and Bluestreak. Peter was still sleeping, it was early enough in the morning where this wasn't too startling, but the twins and their respective guards were missing. Bluestreak and Bumblebee hadn't attended this morning's meeting.

The gathering itself wasn't too important so it continued on without them, but it was still strange for them to be absent.

"Shouldn't the younglings be waking up for school?" Wheeljack questioned from his left.

Jazz, on his right, shook his head, "Nah, they're all on break accordin' to Aj."

"Is Ratchet coming with us?" Prowl asked and paused in his steps to glance back over his shoulder.

"I'm fragging coming." Ratchet barked from where he stood in the doorway of the office. He shot Prowl a quick glare before returning to his conversation with Prime. The CO gave the CMO a brief nod and returned to the office as Ratchet caught up with the three of them, "I don't know why the younglings would be in here with Blue and Bee."

"Well if they ain't in here then we got a problem, Ratch." Jazz replied as they continued down the hall toward the Medbay.

Ratchet shook his head, "Just don't wake up Aj. She needs the extra rest. I've been trying to get her to recharge earlier, but the femme is more stubborn than the fragging dinobots."

Wheeljack chuckled, "Accurate."

The door was left open a crack just like all the other doors in the household, minus Aj's sister's room of course. Ratchet pushed it open slowly, hoping to keep the moving door silent, and all the bots stepped into the room cautiously. They paused in surprise at the sight before them.

"Well she looks like she's getting' good rest." Jazz snickered and Prowl knew the TIC was taking mental snapshots of the scene before him. The twin younglings had definitely come in here with their guards at some point in the night, and the four of them had basically taken over.

Tyler was hugging his sister with his body in the middle of the berth and Bluestreak lying on top of his side in recharge. Taylor on the other hand laid on the left side of the berth with Bumblebee on top of her in recharge. Her brother's arms were wrapped around her waist, but her own arms were wrapped around Aj who was partly on the edge of the left side of the berth and partly on the floor. If any of them moved at all they'd all go toppling with Aj on the bottom of the pile.

Ratchet sighed irritably and dragged Jazz toward the mess to try and find a way to get them up without making an even bigger, more painful, mess.

" _Don't_."

All the bots jumped slightly at the sound of Aj's voice. Prowl had assumed she was still recharging because of her closed optics and lack of motion. He was sure the others had thought the same.

"You are straining your back and arms holding yourself in that position." Ratchet snapped quietly. As if to prove him right Aj's face scrunched up in discomfort as she shifted slightly. The right side of her back was hanging off the berth and her right arm was pressed against the wooden structure by her berth to try and hold her in place. "How long have you been in this position?"

Aj didn't answer immediately and Prowl assumed she was counting back the time, "Er, maybe… wait, what time is it?" She slowly cracked her optics open and flinched at the light filling the room. "Wow it's already 7:20? They came in around 2."

"So you've been like this since then?" Ratchet's voice level rose.

Aj shushed him, "No. Maybe since 3?"

Prowl could tell that Ratchet was about to delve into one of his rants and he knew that these rants never ended well for anyone. Still, he found himself surprised at the human femme.

"Why? Just why?" Ratchet questioned after cursing her in his native glossa under his breath.

"The twins didn't sleep well last night. They woke up scared." Aj replied, "It was my fault, actually, but they need as much sleep as they can get."

"And you don't?"

"I'm fine." Aj scoffed and shifted uncomfortably again.

Perhaps saying he was surprised at the human femme wasn't accurate. He wasn't surprised at all that she would sacrifice personal comfort for the younglings, but he was still impressed by it. Despite the trust issues she had because of her past, she obviously had no issues with loyalty or being protective of those around her. That was originally shown when she saved Wheeljack from his own misadventures. Besides, most of the conversations he had with Jazz during their time here so far was spent by the saboteur either obsessing over figuring out her past or praising her traits.

Impressed was the fitting word in this scenario.

Prowl suddenly realized his processors had trailed away with his thoughts and he had missed most of the angry rant Ratchet was still delivering. He wasn't too disappointed by this discovery. However, the rant only managed to wake Bumblebee and Bluestreak from recharge. They both slowly sat up and their slight movement caused Tyler to release his sister and roll over on his other side. Everyone stiffened as Taylor began to shift to the other side as well. Aj slid off the berth, but her eyes snapped open before she completely fell and she managed to catch herself with one hand clutching the nightstand and one knee resting on the floor.

"Aj?" Wheeljack questioned with a step toward.

She lightly shushed him and kept her eyes on the twins who continued to sleep. Slowly, she stood up and fixed the coverings on the berth so they covered the twins. Then she scooped up both Bumblebee and Bluestreak and set them on the ground.

"Oh no, did we miss the meeting?" Bluestreak blurted as he took notice of his internal chronometer.

"You both did." Prowl replied and got back to business, "Come with me and we'll have a quick briefing over what you missed."

Prowl led the two bots out the room as Ratchet continued his rant to a human femme who still wasn't paying attention to it. Aj's optics remained glued to the twins as a small smile decorated her faceplates. It was painfully obvious to anyone that she cared for the younglings. Prowl had the nagging assumption that she cared more for the three younglings in the house than she did for herself. That type of behavior, where a mech or femme cared more for the others around them than they did for themselves, was actually a bit troubling. Being protective and loyal was one thing, but to not care what happened to one self was dangerous. There was a line, that if crossed, could cause more damage than good in the end. Prowl had seen it before in the war and dealt with it often.

Her caring about the younglings in this way made logical sense considering they were family. It was only natural for one to feel protective of family ties especially if the family ties were younglings. However, he knew for a fact she showed this same thought process toward the bots and cons in the household. The bots and cons she had only met around an orn ago.

Perhaps the word impressed didn't fit the situation as exactly as he thought it would. Worried seemed to belong as well.

* * *

 

I flipped the pancake and beamed at the lack of burned edges. With ease I began to pour out another pancake beside it. My eyes darted to Thundercracker who stood on the counter next to the stove where I was working, "So like a sonic boom?"

"Correct." Thundercracker nodded. His eyes continued to dart to the doorway of the kitchen as if he was expecting someone to come in. The con had waltzed into the kitchen as I prepared breakfast and I had dragged him into having a conversation with me. He seemed wary at first, but looked a hell of a lot more comfortable now.

"That sounds pretty cool." I commented and flipped the newest pancake I had prepared after moving the done one to the stack I already had on the plate beside the stove. So Skywarp could warp around and Thundercracker brought the thunder? I chuckled to myself in amusement. All their names made sense, including Starscream whose voice made it seem like he was almost always screaming. "I'd love to see that in action sometime, but definitely not in my kitchen."

"Of course." Thundercracker nodded, "The crazed Autobot engineer does enough damage in here as is."

It took me a minute to fully register his words. Had he just cracked a joke with me? I mean, one couldn't really call it a joke considering it was very true, but still. I grinned and shook my head with a chuckle, "You took the words outta my mouth, TC."

As I finished making the last of the pancake batter, Skywarp warped into the kitchen and then landed on the counter by Thundercracker with ease. He came super close to landing on my beautiful pancakes, which made me narrow my eyes at the seeker.

"There you are, TC!" Skywarp cried, "Oh, you're with the femme."

"Hi to you too, Skywarp." I replied and set the last of the pancakes on the plate. He watched me as I pulled the pan off the stove and moved it to the sink, "Warp into any walls recently?"

Skywarp forced a laugh, "Very funny, organic."

I gave a short, mock bow before grabbing the door to the microwave. I pulled it open only for the door to fall off into my hands again, "Frag." Skywarp laughed at my distress and I glared at him in return. I had forgotten that Wheeljack had done this to the microwave door. Hadn't he fixed it though? Obviously not considering I was holding the door in my hands. I glanced back at Skywarp, "I'll hit you with this door. Don't tempt me."

The seeker didn't reply. He nudged Thundercracker instead with a wide grin and seconds later the two of them transformed and then flew out of the kitchen. I set the microwave door down and went to get the syrup from the pantry, "Kids! Breakfast!"

I placed the syrup bottle into the microwave, placed the door back where it went, and then turned it on. One of the boys yelled back that they were coming and it sounded more like Peter than it did Tyler. I grabbed cups out of the cupboard and began to pour the kids their milk. Mornings like this where I made big breakfasts, poured glasses of milk, and called for the kids were strange. Something about doing these very domestic actions made me comfortable. One would think that someone like me would hate playing the stay at home mom, but as it turned out I kind of liked it.

Taylor was the first in the kitchen, "Can I help you pour the coffee for the bots and cons?"

"Oh, right." I replied and opened the fridge to see their supply was basically gone. Immediately I moved to begin a new pot of coffee. How could I forget that I needed to feed them too? It was kind of like forgetting to feed the pet goldfish, except the one fish I owned years ago never shot and breathed fire at me. Then again if it had maybe it'd still be alive today. Oops. "Take the milk cups to the table?"

"Okie dokie." Taylor chirped and slowly began to take the drinks one at a time.

Peter came into the kitchen next with Ratchet standing in his hands. The medic tore his gaze away from the boy to look at me, "We need our ration of pseudoenergon this morning."

"You can call it coffee, you know?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

Ratchet ignored me, "The supply in the fridge isn't enough. You'll have to make a new batch."

"Already on it." I crossed my arms triumphantly. The microwave began to beep that it was done.

"That's surprising."

"How dare you doubt me?" I replied and grabbed the large plate of pancakes to take to the table. "I am a responsible adult, I'll have you know."

Ratchet scoffed as Peter set him on the island counter, "Who reminded you?"

Before I could reply with a snide comment Taylor bounced over, "I did!"

The look on Ratchet's face was downright smug and his smirk only grew when I rolled my eyes at him. Taylor jumped on top of her stool and reached up to grab the syrup out of the microwave. I had been pulling out plates for the kids when I noticed the small girl trying to help.

" _Wait_!" I snapped and threw the plate to the counter just as Taylor opened the microwave. The door fell off toward her head, but I was able to catch it before it made impact with her forehead. The plate I had thrown bounced on the counter, but I must have thrown it too hard because it didn't stay there. The white ceramic plate hit the ground and shattered into pieces.

"Sorry, Aj." Taylor frowned.

I set the microwave door down and glanced over her head just in case I had somehow looked over an injury, "You didn't do anything wrong. Are you alright? Did it get you?"

Taylor shook her head and then leaned forward to hug me. Since she was on her stool her face rested right under my chest. I guess when I had yelled out at her the sharpness of my voice had startled her more than the microwave door. They hadn't ever heard me really yell at them before.

"Uh, Aj?" Peter called out.

I turned my head to see he was standing by the island counter with Ratchet. The plate hadn't fallen on his foot or anything, but when it shattered it surrounded him shards of glass.

"Don't move." I said firmly. With ease, I picked up Taylor and she wrapped her arms and legs around me in response. Carefully, I made my way through the kitchen and placed her into her seat at the table, "Stay here, ok?"

"What was that?" Tyler yelled from the living room. I could hear his footsteps as he rushed over.

"Don't come in! I broke a plate!" I yelled back and his footsteps slowed down. He stopped at the doorway with Bluestreak on his shoulder and Bumblebee in his hands. "Hang out right there."

"What happened?" Bumblebee questioned.

"Wheeljack." Ratchet answered sharply.

"Jackie didn't break the plate." I said with a shrug and came over to help Peter walk backwards to the table. He sat down in his seat and I went over to where Tyler was.

Ratchet scoffed, "He broke the microwave which led to you breaking the plate."

"I guess… Technically, I can't argue with that." I replied. Tyler set Bumblebee and Bluestreak down and then I picked him up to carry him over to the table. After getting the kids seated, I grabbed them their plates and forks and then put the syrup on the table. "Eat up. Call me if you need something, don't get up. Coffee needs…" I glanced at the pot, "Three more minutes, Ratch."

"I can read." He snapped and I rolled my eyes again before going to grab the vacuum from the laundry room. As I came out with the bulky thing I ran into Optimus and Prowl who were coming into the kitchen from the back way, "Morning, OP, Prowl."

"What was that crash?" Prowl questioned.

I shrugged and continued on into the kitchen with the vacuum, "I broke a plate. No biggie. Coffee is almost ready if you want to tell everyone."

Prowl turned around, to go get the others I assumed, while Optimus came into the kitchen behind me. I plugged in the vacuum and began to clean up the shattered mess on the floor. Occasionally, I'd stop to pick a big piece off the floor and toss it into the trash. It only took me a minute or two to clean up the mess and by the time I was done the kitchen had filled with every bot and con.

"What are you doing?" Starscream questioned with a sneer.

" _Ballet_." I answered sarcastically before wrapping up the cord and setting the vacuum aside. I'd put it away after breakfast. The coffee had finished a few seconds before I did so while the kids continued to eat I moved over to begin pouring the right amounts of coffee. Back when I had bought the large supply of coffee for them, I also bought a ton of those kids' medicine cups so they wouldn't all have to share the same one.

"One and one half teaspoon is plenty." Ratchet ordered as I poured each one, "Grimlock, Optimus, the twins, and Megatron need two and one half teaspoons and the seekers need two teaspoons."

I nodded, "Are you sure you're a medic and not a drill sergeant? 'Cause with the way you're _barking orders_ at me…"

"That's just part of his charming personality." Sideswipe snickered.

Ratchet threatened Sideswipe with bodily harm, but since it was such a common occurrence I didn't pay much mind to it. I began to hand out the small cups of coffee to each bot and con, "Just leave the cups on the floor when you're done."

Finally, I'd get to sit down and eat myself. I dropped down into my seat and moved to grab a pancake when the house phone began to ring. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

"It's in the living room. Do you want me to-?" Peter began.

"Nah, I got it." I sighed and stood back up. Quickly, I jogged into the living room and searched around for the ringing phone. It had been buried under the couch pillows for some reason. When I glanced at the small caller ID screen on the bulky phone my eyes narrowed. It wasn't Aubrey's cell number and it wasn't the hospital number either. "Hello?"

There was a pause before a woman spoke up, "Hi, I'm sorry, is this the Williams household?"

"It is. Who is this?" I replied with narrowed eyes as if the person on the phone could see me.

"My name is Joanna Burgess. I'm looking for Aubrey, is she there?"

My face relaxed, "Oh. No, she's not. She's…on a…trip. She won't be back for a couple months."

"Oh my- That's a long time. Is she alright?"

"She's fine." I replied quickly, "Do you want me to take a message or something?"

The woman paused, "No, it's fine. Are you…Are you a house sitter?"

"I'm her sister. I'm watching over her kids while she's gone."

"Oh!" Joanna perked up, "Aimee right?"

Good Lord, how often did Aubrey talk about me? I sighed, "Yeah, but you can just call me Aj."

"It's very nice to meet you. I've heard great things." I bit back a scoff as she continued, "I was calling because I'm taking my kids, Carter and Kiana, to the park to play and was wondering if Peter, Tyler, and Taylor wanted to come?"

"Hang on a minute." I said and pulled the phone away from my face before waiting for a reply. The kids turned in their seats when I entered the kitchen again with looks of curiosity on their features. I could tell they were hoping it was their mom calling. "Do you guys want to go to the park with Carter and Kiana today?"

Tyler nearly fell out of his chair with excitement as he sat up, "Yes! Can we? Can we?"

"Sure." Peter nodded and Taylor clapped her hands in excitement.

I put the phone back to me ear, "They say yes. Should I drop them off at your house or-"

"Don't even worry about it, sugar." Joanna replied, "I'll swing by and pick them up. Your house is on the way to the park anyways. We'll be there in about ten minutes?"

"Ok. See you then." I hung up the phone, "Alright, you guys need to go get ready then."

Before the sentence was even fully out of my mouth they all left the table and raced upstairs. They ignored my cries to be careful running up the stairs. I chuckled and shook my head. It would be good for them to get our and hang out with friends that weren't a foot tall and made of metal.

"They seemed excited." Wheeljack commented. Most of the bots were still sitting on the kitchen floor drinking their coffee, but all of the cons had disappeared and left their empty cups. Grimlock and Sunstreaker weren't around either.

I shrugged, "Most kids get excited for play dates." I paused and then pointed at him, " _You_."

Wheeljack's fins lit up and he motioned toward himself, " _Me_?"

"I thought you fixed the microwave!"

"I couldn't! I didn't have the right supplies. The screws I took from the door were melted down to use for my last project." Wheeljack cried in defense.

I shook my head and went over to the table to grab some pancakes, "I need to take you shopping at Lowe's or something. Somewhere you can get tools and supplies."

"Can we?!" Wheeljack perked up with bright eyes and in that brief moment he reminded of how Tyler looked when I mentioned going to the park. So tools and supplies equaled to a play date in Wheeljack's eyes and probably absolute fear in everyone else.

"After Christmas." I nodded and began to eat. The bots across the kitchen from me were speaking to each other, but they were talking in their own language, which meant I couldn't exactly jump in. I didn't really mind though. It was interesting to hear them speak Cybertronian. The language consisted of sharp sounds, whistles, and metal grinding on metal. It was also spoken really fast so all the sound jumbled together to sound like metal in a blender.

The kids got ready in record time, but Tyler had rushed downstairs wearing a short sleeve shirt and no jacket. Rather than send him back up, I just jogged up the stairs myself to grab something from his closet. His red zip up jacket was dirty so I grabbed an orange hoodie for him and headed back downstairs.

"Aight you three. I expect the best behavior from our Autobot cadets."

"Yes, sir!"

"The human femme is 'ere to pick you up. You best listen ta her 'nd follow directions."

I got halfway down the stairs to see Jazz standing in front of the three kids who were trying their best to stand at attention. Tyler couldn't keep still though, Taylor was too busy giggling to salute, and Peter was grinning much too widely. I chuckled and stopped where I was. A few minutes earlier I had banished all the mechs upstairs so they wouldn't be seen. I guess I couldn't be too surprised that Jazz slipped through the cracks.

"Here they come." Jazz commented and I peeked out the window by the door to see two kids running up to the porch. The boy, I assumed Carter, was around Peter's age with short blond hair, and his sister, Kiana, was probably a year older than the twins. "Have fun, cadets. I'll see ya real soon. Autobot cadets Starlight, Lightspeed, and Fireflight dismissed."

Before I could question the last unrecognizable name, Jazz ducked away into the living room and Tyler pulled the door open. I rushed down the rest of the steps, "Hang on, Ty! You need your hoodie!"

Two minutes later I was standing in the front doorway saying goodbye to the kids. The kids were so excited that they gave me only a quick wave and hug before running to the car.

"Be good, you guys!" I yelled at them.

"We will!" Peter called back.

A woman with short, curly brown hair leaned over the passenger seat to wave at me with a bright smile, "Don't worry! I'll take care of them!"

"Yeah, you fragging better." I mumbled under my breath with a fake smile and wave. The idea of sending the kids out with someone I didn't know made my stomach turn, but I didn't want to keep them prisoner in the house and I didn't want to leave the bots and cons home alone for too long.

"I'm sure the kids'll be fine." Jazz commented.

"For her sake, they better." I shut the door. He didn't reply to my comment and I didn't wait around for him to think about it. My eyes narrowed at him, "So what was all that about?"

Jazz shrugged, "What was what about?"

"Autobot cadets?" I emphasized, "I didn't realize the kids got drafted."

"They didn'." Jazz replied firmly. He paused before continuing, "It's just good fun."

I nodded, "No, I get it. They certainly are excited at the idea of being honorary Autobots with Jazz as their commanding officer." He chuckled and I continued, "Fireflight…Is that-?"

"Peter." Jazz answered.

I smiled, "I knew he had a pretend Cybertronian name, but the kids never told me and I never asked."

"Took meh a while ta get it out of 'im too, but I finally did." Jazz boasted.

I laughed, "Sounds about right. The Jazzman leaves _no_ information untouched."

Jazz shrugged, "What can I say? I'm a curious mech." He came a few steps closer and smirked, "So, Aj, what does a femme like ya want for Christmas?"

"World peace." I answered sarcastically with a smirk of my own.

Without another word I shook my head and turned left out of the foyer. The kitchen was a mess from breakfast, but it didn't take me too long to get it all cleaned up. The last thing I did was put away the vacuum. With the kids gone, I figured this gave me a chance to head into the garage and work out a little. I headed toward the stairs, but paused in the foyer when I saw The Walking Dead playing on the TV. Curiously, I took a step into the living room and craned my neck to see who exactly was watching the show. It was the same mechs who were watching it last night with Tyler and Taylor minus Bluestreak and Bumblebee. They were on episode two. I chuckled and headed upstairs to change out of my pajamas.

Ratchet wasn't in his medbay, which was great. It meant I didn't have to argue with him. I pulled off my pajamas and changed into some spandex shorts and a long sleeve work out shirt. As I walked down the stairs I tied my long hair up into a messy bun just to keep it out of my face. I'd have to cut it before I got back to New York. The longer your hair was in the fighting ring, the higher the chances of it being ripped out of your scalp.

I had only been pounding away at the bag for about twenty minutes when I was interrupted. Honestly, I should've known that just because the kids weren't here didn't mean I'd be able to work out in peace.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe managed to open the door leading into the garage, the one I purposely closed, and then waltzed in. I shot them a glare, but didn't stop what I was doing. Maybe if I ignored them they'd go away.

Just like with all the problems I ignored in my life, they didn't go away and only bothered me more. They had moved so they were within my eyesight and anytime I shifted my stance to look away from them they moved back into my line of sight. After about five minutes of playing this game, I ripped the headphones out of my ear and snapped, "What?"

"Someone came to the door and rang a bell." Sideswipe replied.

"When?"

"About a breem ago." The red one answered again, "The organic left a box at the door."

I nodded, "It's a package for the kids. I'll grab it later. Thanks." They didn't get the hint that they were supposed to leave now that their message was delivered. I bit back an aggravated groan, "Is there something else I can help you two out with?"

Sunstreaker crossed his arms and glanced at his brother, but he didn't say anything aloud. Sideswipe chuckled and then shrugged at me, "We just wanted to watch you work out."

"That's _creepy_."

"To see your style." Sideswipe clarified.

I narrowed my eyes at them, " _No_."

Sideswipe moaned, "Oh come on, babe!"

It took everything in me not to face palm at that nickname. Why did I ever agree to let him call me that? Sunstreaker scoffed, "This is a waste of our time. She obviously isn't very good if she owes another human that many credits."

"Can it, Apollo." I replied sharply.

"What the frag is an Apollo?" Sunstreaker growled.

"He's a…" I paused and let my sentence all away. It seemed to be in my best interest to not tell him I had called him the name of the mythical god of art and light. To be fair, it was getting harder to think of new nicknames for the guy. "Never mind."

I tore my gaze away from them and began to rip the tape off my hands. A twenty-five minute work out was better than nothing, I suppose. Still, I could feel the desire to go longer buzzing in my brain and I knew it'd stick around for a while until I calmed down.

"It's probably best you stop now anyways." Sideswipe commented nonchalantly.

I tossed the tape into a trash can in the corner, "Why's that?"

"Ratchet is on his way to yell at you."

That's just what I needed. I pulled the last of the tape off my left hand and then threw that away too before leaving the garage. The twins followed behind me and I waited until they were out before I shut the garage door. I should've just locked them in there. The heat from the house hit my chilled cheeks and I shivered as I pulled off my tennis shoes and set them by the door. I tossed my dirty socks into the laundry room as I passed it.

Using the crook of my arm, I wiped away the sweat from my forehead as I stepped into the kitchen. Unluckily for me, Ratchet stepped into the kitchen from the opposite doorway about the same time I came in. A groan escaped my lips and my obvious annoyance didn't stop Ratchet from glaring at me.

"I told you I don't like your 'work out' sessions." Ratchet growled. "You're going to hurt your servos and catch a virus. It's too cold for humans to be down there."

"I wore more tape this time." I replied then motioned toward my shirt, "And look! I'm wearing more armor."

Ratchet's eyes glared at my bare legs and I knew he already had the upper hand to this argument. So I did what any sane person would do in my situation. I ran.

The entire time I sprinted up the stairs I could hear Ratchet yelling behind me, but there was no way in hell I was going to stop now. It may have seemed a bit pathetic to be running from a metal alien that was only a foot tall, but Ratchet still managed to be scary. Plus, I had enough small bruises from his little metal wrench to last me a lifetime. Quickly, I grabbed a change of clothes from my room and then jumped into the bathroom just as Ratchet reached the top of the stairs. I gave him a wide grin then shut the door and locked it. I was safe for the time being. Besides, maybe if I was lucky I'd drown in the shower and wouldn't have to hear the rest of the rant he had planned. Fingers crossed.

As I tore off my clothes and hopped into the shower I realized I hadn't stopped by the front door to bring in the package the mail guy had brought. Oh well, I could always grab it after my shower.

* * *

 

"Whatever you say, Ratchet." I said airily as I dried my hair with a towel. He stood in bathroom doorway with his arms crossed. The look in his eye dared me to try and run past him before he was done speaking. It seemed like his rant was drawing to a close though.

"I am serious, youngling."

"Yes, _Dad_." I mocked and he let out an irritated sigh. A smile lit my features as I glanced down at the bot, "Thanks for caring, Ratch. Sorry for stressing you out. Your paint's going to go gray at this rate."

Miracle of all miracles my words managed to get his lips to twitch up slightly, but it was short lived as he shook his head, "Please. This is still a vacation compared to a normal business day back on the Ark. If the twins aren't in my medbay with injuries then Wheeljack is with a missing limb."

I chuckled and ran through my hair again with the towel, "Do you like what you do? Being a medic?" My eyes weren't on him, but after a moment of silence I glanced over at him curiously. Ratchet was paused in thought at my words, "Ratchet?"

"It's the best and the worst thing in all the universe." He replied honestly. There was an almost haunted look in his sea foam green eyes. Ratchet snapped his gaze to mine, "To have the ability to bring my comrades back from the hands of Primus is an incredible thing, but…"

He didn't finish his sentence and he didn't have to. Ratchet's silence was all the answer I needed. How great it must be to have the power to put people back together in working order, but what a curse it must be to constantly see your teammates and friends near death. This moment was one of those rare moments where I remembered that these aliens were in the middle of a bloody, brutal war. They had seen millions of years of carnage and watched God knows how many people die.

"It isn't worth much, but I'm sorry." I said sincerely then quickly hung my towel up against the shower rack, "The more I think about it, the more I feel like I would've been a horrible doctor."

"You?" Ratchet narrowed his eyes, "I don't see why."

I shrugged, "I have a few good doctor traits. I'm determined, stubborn, protective... Despite what some people believe I'm actually pretty smart too." Most people I knew in New York saw me as some stupid street fighter, not worth anything more than her name. Nobody I fought against knew I had a Bachelor's degree in Cell Biology, but then again even if they did it wasn't like it'd make them try and hit me any less. Hell, it might make them try and hit me harder. "But I was in it for all the wrong reasons. I didn't want to be a doctor to help people. I wanted to be a doctor to help myself."

Ratchet took in my words and took a few steps back as I exited the bathroom. He shook his head, "I assumed once you got past this debt, once you were done fighting, you'd go back to medical school. Can you not?"

I had no idea if they'd ever let me back in. I hadn't even shown up for my white coat ceremony. Sometimes I thought about what it would be like to go back. To pretend like I hadn't wasted years in some fighting hole, but the ugly truth was I couldn't afford to think like that. With the way I lived my life, I didn't get to think about the future. It was pointless. My focus needed to stay on the present. How to live, day by day.

"I don't know. Maybe I will one day." I lied through my teeth and then wondered why I had done so. What difference would it make if Ratchet knew the hopeless truth? Yet, I couldn't bring myself to say it, to tell him that that life was long dead and gone.

I gave him a firm smile before heading down the stairs to grab the package from outside. With a navy hoodie on and skinny jeans, I was dressed for the cold, but I still braced for the chill that was sure to come from having damp hair in this 40 degree weather. To think, it was 70 degrees only yesterday.

Indecisive weather was a bitch, and said bitch tended to make her home in the southern states.

I swung the door open, flinched at the cold front that hit me, and then quickly glanced around for the package. Usually they would get left on top of the doormat, but there was no brown box in sight.

"Where's the package?" I yelled out into the house with the twins in mind. Had those shit heads lied as some sort of weird prank? It would be considered a pretty petty prank.

"The guy put it in front of the door!" Sideswipe yelled back from the living room. He must have joined The Walking Dead crowd on the couch. I leaned out the door and then noticed a white note taped under the doorbell. With quick movements, I ripped it off the wall and read over the scribbly handwriting.

' _Picked up your package since you weren't home! Feel free to come pick it up at my place: 4700 Blue Ridge Circle. Your friend, Nicholas'_

My hand folded around the white note as I crumpled it into a tiny ball. I could feel the familiar burning of anger in my gut. Nicholas had driven by, saw my package, and then picked it up? Good friends did that for each other, not creepy strangers. I recognized the street name as one that was a few over. The asshole must have really meant it when he said he lived nearby.

I slammed the door shut and went to the kitchen to grab the truck keys that were lying on the counter. My phone was already in my back pocket and since I was driving just a few streets over I didn't bother running upstairs to grab my wallet.

"Inquiry: Human femme departure. Location?" Soundwave spoke up suddenly from beside the stairs. I jumped at the sound of his voice and paused in my stride to look at him. A few others in the living room had paused the TV show to peek over the couch at me.

"I have to go commit homicide. I'll be back in a bit, don't set my house on fire." I replied plainly then turned on my heel and left without another word. My answer probably left them with more questions than answers, but that wasn't my highest concern right now. Nicholas better not have opened the damn box. If he did I'd knock his teeth down his throat.

It took me five minutes to find his house. I spotted it five blocks away because of his huge monster of a truck. His house was on the small side. It was one story home with red brick walls and a black roof. There really wasn't anything that stood out about his house other than the Decepticon Christmas wreath hanging on his door. I parked my truck by the curb and walked up to the front door.

I was half tempted to steal his Decepticon wreath just to show him how it feels to have your stuff taken by a stranger. If I did though I'd have to listen to Sideswipe bitch and moan about the fact that I didn't grab an Autobot one too so in the end it wouldn't even be worth it.

Rather than ringing the doorbell, I pounded on the front door with my fist three times. There was a brief pause before I heard the sound of a lock being disengaged. Moments later Nicholas swung the door open with a smile that I assumed he thought was alluring.

"Why hello, Aj."

"It's illegal to mess with other people's mail." I snapped, "Just FYI."

Nicholas shook his head, "I didn't mess with it! Here, come in and I'll explain."

He sidestepped and motioned for me to come in. The guy still gave off a really weird vibe, but I didn't hesitate to step into his warm home. I wasn't scared of him in the slightest. The people I associated myself with ate guys like him for breakfast. If the situation arose, I could easily put him down without blinking an eye.

The inside was just as small as it looked outside and the front door led straight into the carpeted living room. There was a TV hanging from the wall, a couch, a fireplace, and the doorway to my right looked like it led into a kitchen. My eyes lingered on the many Transformers themed items decorating the room though. There were framed posters against the wall, action figures lined a bookshelf, and his mini Christmas tree was decorated with red and blue blinking lights. I doubted the color choice was a coincidence.

"I took your package because it had been sitting outside for a while so I assumed you weren't home." Nicholas explained, "It's nearly Christmas so I assume it's gifts meant for the kids and I didn't want some stranger to steal it from you."

"Funny you say that considering a stranger did steal it from me." I scoffed.

He chuckled, "We aren't strangers! We're neighbors."

My mind backtracked to something he had said, "Wait, what do you mean it had been sitting outside for a while?"

"Well I passed by your house a couple times and saw it still there."

"A couple times?" I stepped toward him with a glare.

Nicholas shrugged, "Or four times. Maybe five."

And with those words the creepy vibe shot straight through the roof. I began to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. This guy was picking the wrong girl to stalk. I took a deep breath and forced a tight smile onto my lips, "Bring me my package so I can leave."

"Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Water? Tea?"

"I want my package." I said slowly. Nicholas nodded once and turned on his heel heading for the kitchen. While he was gone I took a step further into the house and glanced around at all the stuff he had. Dozens of action figures stared at me with a blank gaze making me uncomfortable. The closest one was a smaller, plastic version of Sideswipe. I waved my hand in front of its face and then cringed. After this whole 'living toys' thing I'd never be able to look at action figures the same way again. I kept expecting them to move. My eyes drifted to a Barricade figure that stood a few inches away. I paused before reaching out and knocking the con onto his back. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't the biggest Barricade fan. I wonder why.

My eyes drifted up to the framed posters hanging on the wall. They looked like artwork, like someone had painted the posters. There was one of Optimus Prime and Megatron brawling it out in the middle of nowhere. Another of two bots I didn't recognize, but I could tell they were Autobots from their eyes. The third one closest to me was of the front liner twins. My eyebrows scrunched up at the sight of them standing back to back fighting. Both of them looked worse for wear. I couldn't have pictured vain Sunstreaker looking that horrible if I tried. Parts of their armor were missing and they were coated in a purplish blue liquid.

"My roommate bought this amazing tea. He wont be back until New Years so he probably won't notice this is even gone." Nicholas came out with a cup of tea for me.

He forced the warm cup into my hand as I just stared at him with dead eyes. After a moment I spoke, "I can see how you could confuse the word package with tea, they're so much alike, but I seriously want my damn mail, Nicholas."

"I can see you're admiring my compilation. This is what I do. I'm a collector. I've collected all these items from around the world." He bragged.

The guy was basically ignoring every word that came out of my mouth, "Do you speak English? I mean, I haven't suddenly started speaking French or something right?"

"I bought these paintings from a guy in Arizona." He replied. Damn, maybe I was speaking French, because there was no way this guy was that dense. "I saw you looking at the Lambo twins one rather intently."

"Lambo twins?"

"Their alt forms are Lamborghinis." Nicholas chuckled. I glanced back at the poster. Lambo twins. That made sense. I just rarely saw them in their alt forms and the few times I did I didn't recognize the car. "Are they your favorite?"

"They wish." I scoffed. Well, one of them wished. The other still hated me.

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They're fairly popular with the fandom, but I honestly don't see why." Nicholas commented.

I set the tea down against the bookshelf. Like hell I was going to drink anything this guy gave me. His statement stuck in my brain. The two of them seemed like alright mechs, though I use the term alright pretty loosely. Sideswipe was annoying and Sunstreaker was antisocial, but everyone had his or her quirks right? I crossed my arms, "How come you don't like them?"

"They're _monsters_." He answered simply, "People put them on a pedestal and try to sympathize with their backstories, but the truth of the matter is that they're both bloodthirsty monsters." Nicholas chuckled, "Or should I say energon-thirsty?" He pointed across the room, "Let me show you my Seeker collection I-"

"Couldn't the same be said of any of them?" I blurted, "They're in this long ass war, that could make anyone crave bloodshed."

Nicholas shook his head, "They were like this _before_ the war. The two of them became gladiators early on in their lives and they _dominated_. Both of them were unstoppable in the ring and they enjoyed ripping other mechs to pieces." He shrugged, "No amount of reasoning will change the fact that Sunstreaker is a sociopathic killing machine and his brother is a crazed murderer that will do anything to win. They only joined the Autobots so they could murder even more."

His words didn't sit right with me. I didn't like them sometimes, but I couldn't bring myself to hate them. This creepy mail thief was judging them from the outside and I didn't like it. People did the same thing to me all my life. They only saw what they wanted to see and refused to see any other aspect of who I was. Nicholas didn't understand what it felt like to need to fight. As much as I hated that portion of my life I couldn't deny the thrill and excitement of being in the ring, of standing over my opponent after knocking them down. In the end, I couldn't bring myself to say that I was truly the same as these twins. I wasn't in some billion-year war. I never had to take a life. I never had to watch comrades die. However, there were enough similar pieces to the puzzle that made me hate this guy for what he said about them.

"Go get my package." I said firmly.

"But-"

I reached forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. He was an inch or two taller than me, but that didn't stop me from holding him in place and glaring at him, "You're going to get me my package and then I'm going to leave. Do you understand?" I yanked on his shirt slightly making him rock in place, "I am not the cheerful girl next door, Nicholas. I will put you down on your ass without a second of hesitation." I shoved him back, "Now go."

Nicholas scrambled backwards and ran back into the kitchen. He came out a minute later with a medium sized box. He handed it over and I snatched it away then turned to leave. "I took karate classes you know. You can't just threaten me like that."

I paused in front of the door and an amused smile crossed my lips. Slowly, I turned around to look at him and in that moment I was no longer looking at him as an annoyance. Now, I was looking at him as an opponent, not that he was a very threatening one. He stiffened under my cold glare, "I'm not the type of person you mess with. This is your last warning, if I see you around my house, around my kids, again…It won't end well for you. Got me?"

He gave a quick nod. I gave him a small, mocking smile before walking out his front door. The breeze made the air feel even cooler, but I wasn't far from my truck. Then I could go home and wrap up these gifts before the kids got back.

I climbed into the cab of the truck and started it up. My mind drifted back to the Lambo twins. Sunstreaker was an antisocial sociopath and he seemed to always be on the verge of snapping, but I had also seen what he could do with paper and a pencil. I had watched him give Taylor drawing tips in his own brutal, rough way. Sideswipe was an obnoxious little shit, but there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't make the kids laugh at least once. Deciding how I felt about them was hard. I went from indifferent to being jealous of their brotherly bond and then to being flat annoyed. Maybe I'd try being nice to them. It was nearly Christmas and it was the season of giving, right?

When I got home nearly all the mechs questioned where I had run off to so quickly, but for the most part they accepted my answer of showing them the brown box. It helped that they were more curious about what was in the box rather than where I had gotten it.

"It's gifts for the kids. Their mom sent it." I replied and set the box on the living room floor. Wheeljack apparently was in charge of Netflix at the moment because a random episode of Mythbusters was playing. I pointed at Grimlock who was staring down the package, "Don't touch it."

Grimlock glanced up at me with narrowed eyes, but I ignored him and jogged into the kitchen to grab some scissors to cut the box open. Of all the possible mechs to run into in this house, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were the ones lounging in the kitchen doing God knows what.

"Hey, you're back." Sideswipe spoke up. I dug through the kitchen drawers looking for the pair of orange house scissors. "What took you so long, babe?"

"Had to go get my mail back, sweetie. Why? Did you miss me?" I replied. The red bot look startled briefly but was quick to overcome his own surprise. He was probably surprised because this was the first time since yesterday, when he drove into my leg, where I wasn't being snippy with him. I paused before leaving the kitchen. A part of me wanted to ask them about the whole gladiator thing, but the other, more rational side, wouldn't let me. I didn't like it when people stuck their noses into my past. With a shake of my head I ran upstairs to grab the wrapping paper and labels and then moved back into the living room.

The box had drawn a bit of a crowd. Wheeljack, Grimlock, and Bluestreak had already been on the couch when I came in, but now Jazz, Optimus, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Soundwave had shown up.

"Package: Contents include?"

"Christmas gifts." I answered. This was the second time Soundwave spoke to me today. At this rate we'd break the record of how long are conversations usually lasted. "For the kids."

I sat down by the box and Grimlock didn't hesitate to crawl into my lap and place himself in a front row position of looking into the box. The package wasn't very large, but Aubrey had packed this thing tight. I picked up the box, flipped it over, and watched as toys and other items fell out into a large pile.

"There was a note." Thundercracker pointed out. I shifted through the stuff and picked up the small white letter Aubrey had packed. All it said was: _'Taylor-Pink. Tyler-Blue. Peter-Green.'_ I set the note down and noticed most of the stuff had colored stickers on it. Good job, Aubrey. Now I didn't have to stress about what she wanted to go to who.

In total, each of the kids got two T-shirts. Peter got a navy blue shirt with the Captain America shield on the front, Taylor's shirt was light gray with an outline of her favorite Disney queen, Elsa, on it, and Tyler's shirt looked like a baseball jersey. Along with those shirts each of them also got a matching shirt with the Autobot and Decepticon logo pasted on the front. It was split in half so one half of the Autobot face was showing and one half of the Decepticon face was showing. Each kid also got a bag of sorts. Tyler got a Optimus Prime book bag, Taylor got a Bumblebee lunchbox, and Peter got a messenger type bag with some weird logo that had the Autobot face on it but also had more around it including the word 'NEST'. I asked the mechs around me what it stood for, but none of them recognized it.

Aubrey had also bought the Percy Jackson book series for Peter, the game Jenga for Tyler, and a couple new barbies for Taylor, which was great considering Grimlock had roasted most of Taylor's current dolls.

"See these?" I held up the a boxed Barbie doll to the dinosaur in my lap, "I'll be pissed if you set these on fire too, Grimlock."

The bot only huffed in response. I pushed him aside so I could begin wrapping all the gifts.

"What about that one?"

I paused at the sound of Sunstreaker's voice. He was sitting on the couch with a scowl on his face, but he was motioning toward the pile of gifts. I followed his gaze and noticed a small box that was already wrapped up in wrapping paper.

"From Aubrey, to Aimee." I read the label as I picked it up. "What did she get me?"

The question had been mostly directed to myself. I began to pull at the wrapping paper when Grimlock snapped his jaws at me, "You human stop! No looking until Christmas."

"I was talking about the other gifts, Grimlock. I don't count." I replied and began to open it again. Before I could pull it open, it got snatched from my hands, "Hey!"

Skywarp was laughing as he warped up to the tree and dropped the present among the top branches. I rolled my eyes and ignored the smug look on his and Grimlock's face.

"If we can't open ours, you can't open yours." He taunted.

I could've just stood up and gotten the gift down myself, but I didn't feel like standing. So instead, I just went back to wrapping up gifts. The surrounding bots still seemed shocked to see their faces plastered on different things. Sideswipe began to complain about why he wasn't on anything, but he stopped when Skywarp began to complain about the same thing.

About halfway though with wrapping all the gifts, and after I yelled at Grimlock for stomping over the wrapping paper I had spread out, I heard the sound of kids laughing in the yard.

"Shit." I said and jumped up. Quickly, I began to throw everything back into the box so I could carry it all back upstairs and finish what I was doing. My eyes darted to the bots and cons around me, "Make sure the kids don't come into the Medbay!"

Before any of them could confirm my order, I raced upstairs with the box in my arms, and the rolls of wrapped paper tucked to my side.

* * *

 

Sunstreaker watched as the three human younglings stepped through the front door hesitantly. His eyes narrowed at the filthy organics as they glanced around sneakily.

 _'What are they hiding?'_ Sideswipe's voice rang across the bond. He didn't have to turn around to know that his twin was curiously peeking over his shoulder. _'They look like we do when we're avoiding Prowl._ '

"Aj?" Peter called out and the younger two snickered behind him, "Mrs. Burgess wants to talk to you!"

There was a pause before Aj's voice yelled through the house, "I'll be down in a second!"

The older youngling that Prowl kept an optic on turned around and handed the other two a white, plastic bag. They nodded with wide grins and then ran into the kitchen so they were out of sight. Sunstreaker raised an optic ridge at them. A couple nano-kliks later Aj rushed down the stairs, "Where are-?"

"They're here." Peter replied in a rushed manner. The organic wasn't very good at lying.

 _'You can say that again.'_ Sideswipe agreed.

The look on the femme's face showed that she could sense something was off as well. She shook her head, "Mrs. Burgess?"

"She's outside."

"Alright. I'll be back." Aj walked toward the door with strong strides, "Stay out of the Medbay. Ratchet's doing something and he's cranky about it."

"Ok." Peter nodded. Sunstreaker noticed the femme was much better at lying, but then again that's basically all she had been doing to the younglings. Some of it was a lie of omission, but it was still all a lie. Their creator wasn't away on some business trip, she was sick. Aj wasn't in training to be a medic, she was an organic warrior with a group of rough males after her helm.

Sunstreaker could care less about her lying to the organic younglings, but what didn't make sense in his processors was the fact that she felt the need to hide her life away. What was so horrible that she was ashamed to admit what she was?

 _'She's protecting them._ ' Sideswipe explained.

 _'She's a coward.'_ Sunstreaker replied sharply. She was a coward that didn't want to face the consequences of how she lived her life. Him and his twin had done some not so great things. They had been fighting for basically their entire lives, but they stood behind what they did. They didn't lie to the mechs around them about who they were. Everyone understood exactly who Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were.

 _'You know that's not true._ ' Sideswipe hummed over the bond smugly.

Sunstreaker responded him by sending a punch over the bond. Sideswipe only chuckled behind him. Tyler and Taylor came out of the kitchen with the plastic bag.

"Where is the wrapping paper?" Peter questioned his siblings.

"I don't know. The Medbay?" Taylor shrugged, "But Aj said not to go in there. Will Ratchet be mad at us?"

Bumblebee and Bluestreak rushed into the foyer. Bumblebee grinned, "Don't worry. We'll go get the wrapping paper for you."

"Yeah! We can handle Ratchet." Bluestreak said. Sunstreaker scoffed. The Datsun continued, "How about you guys go hide in Peter's room? I assume you're hiding from Aj at least. If you go there then we'll bring it to you!"

The crowd agreed and all of them rushed up the stairs. Sunstreaker turned back around and settled on the couch. Wheeljack still had that one show playing where the humans blew slag up. For a human program, it wasn't too bad. Sunstreaker could admire a good explosion. He just wasn't the biggest fan of the ones caused by Wheeljack. Especially if he was in the immediate area.

 _'We hide who we are too, you know._ ' Sideswipe said over the bond. He apparently refused to let the mental conversation die. _'She hides her warrior like side. She doesn't tell others about her fighting.'_ Sideswipe paused briefly, _'We hide the part of us that doesn't deal with fighting. How many mechs do you talk to about painting?'_

Sunstreaker knew his brother was right and he knew that the moment he felt that way in the slightest Sideswipe was aware of it. It was slagging hard to hide his thoughts and emotions from his twin. He didn't like doing it, but he had no problem speaking in denial.

_'Shut the frag up, Sides.'_

_'Now that we're on the topic of the human femme though-'_

_'Didn't I say shut up?'_

Sideswipe was right beside him, but he didn't speak aloud a single time. Sunstreaker assumed it was because he didn't want the others hearing them talk about the femme. Not that he minded. The last thing he wanted the others to think was that he gave a frag about the organic.

 _'She's being nice again, did you notice?'_ Sideswipe questioned. Both twins had noticed the constant change of behavior around them. It seemed like they had come full circle now that she was joking with Sideswipe again. ' _This is good. Do you think it's because I'm calling her babe? I didn't think that was actually going to work.'_

_'Why the frag do you want to be her friend? It makes no Primus damned sense.'_

Sideswipe poked him over the bond repeatedly, ' _I already explained all this to you!'_

Sunstreaker knew that some of the others like Ratchet, Jazz, and Prowl had taken notice of Sideswipe's attempt to befriend the femme. Pit, he had already been scolded by two of the three to rein his brother back. As if he had any control over Sideswipe's obsessions. All he needed now was Jazz to pull them aside and threaten them over the femme or something and they'd be three for three.

What they didn't know though was that Sideswipe didn't have some greater plan. He wasn't scheming this time or planning a prank. The slagging glitch seriously just wanted to be the femme's friend and Sunstreaker just couldn't comprehend that.

 _'I like her, Sunny.'_ Sideswipe chirped casually, _'She's interesting.'_

* * *

 

Mrs. Burgess was a talker. She was one of those people that once they get going they don't really stop. I spent most of the conversation mentally comparing the chatty woman to Bluestreak, who also liked talking my ear off. I finally managed to get out of the conversation by lying about having something cooking in the oven. However, after I got back inside after telling the lie I realized we hadn't made the cake batter yesterday. An hour after the kids got back from the park, I was in the kitchen with the kids trying to get this cake together. It seemed to be going well, everything was mixed up and ready, I just had to stick it in the oven.

"Will you call us when it's done?" Tyler asked as he pressed his nose against the oven door to peek at the baking cake batter.

"Promise." I agreed and dried my washed hands against the kitchen towel. The kids rushed out and I let out a sigh. For some reason I was feeling more tired today. Maybe that was because I woke up hanging off my bed. My eyes landed on the Lambo twins who stood in the same doorway the kids had just ran though. I chuckled, "Are we back to the whole stalking thing?"

"Just bored and thought we'd see what you were up to." Sideswipe replied innocently as he strolled in. His brother followed behind him with the usual look of distaste on his features. Had Sunstreaker smiled a single time since being here? He definitely hasn't in front of me.

"Right." I nodded. That seemed like a real reason. A sudden nagging pulled at the edge of my mind as I thought back to Nicholas' house. Every time I looked at the twins now I couldn't help but see that horrible poster. "Hey, I-…"

Neither twin said a thing, but I obviously had their attention now. What was I even trying to say? I didn't want to question their past. Well, I did want to, but I knew better then to try. So maybe what I was trying to get out was an apology? But then what was I sorry for exactly?

"Are you glitched?" Sunstreaker snapped and broke my train of thought.

"Lately I'm starting to think so." I chuckled and leaned against the island counter, "Things have been weird between us from the beginning." I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, "I'm sorry for being so…I don't know. Flip floppy?" Both twins glanced at each other and I shook my head, "I mean, I'm sorry I've been so back and forth on how I treat you. I promise to be nicer and more consistent." I paused and narrowed my eyes at them, "Unless you do something stupid. I'll still throw you in the dryer."

Sideswipe grinned, "I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship, babe."

Sunstreaker and I both gave him similar looks of regret and exasperation. I took a deep breath and shrugged, "It'll be _something_ , alright."


	15. Facts

* * *

_"Fact, bears eat beets. Bears, beets, 'Battlestar Galatica'." –Jim Halpert (The Office)_

* * *

 

From the moment the kids woke up this morning, they were bouncing off the walls. It wasn't a huge shock to me. I'd be more worried if the kids weren't excited. It was Christmas Eve after all, and Santa was visiting tonight. Even I was a bit eager. This was my first Christmas with the kids and I wanted it to be perfect. Unfortunately for me, there weren't many things in my life that could be described as perfect.

"Ok, so the ham needs to be cooked first. Casserole is thirty minutes, the cobbler is about twenty-five…" I mumbled to myself as I scribbled into the notebook in front of me. It had been years since I took notes on anything, but I had taken the time to write out all the recipes I needed. Beside the recipes were notes from Aubrey on what to add and what to do, and I even wrote down some tips I had read online. I was ready to kick this Christmas dinner in the ass tomorrow. "Corn doesn't take as long, I can start that last…"

"Ya still talkin' to yourself?" Jazz's voice pulled my attention away from my notebook. He had strolled into the kitchen with his usual confident steps. I noticed early on that Jazz walked around like he owned the place. It was amusing to say the least.

I closed my notebook and tossed the pen onto the dining table as I leaned back into my seat, "It's called thinking out loud, thank you very much."

"Call it what ya want to, sweetspark." Jazz chuckled. I watched as he used his grappling hook to get onto the top of the table. He crossed the wooden surface to come closer to me, "The younglin's are real zoned into that movie you got playin'."

"Because it's the _greatest_ Christmas movie on the planet." I replied. In my attempts to get the kids to calm down a few levels, I suggested they watch a Christmas movie. They had decided on Elf with Will Ferrell and I commended the decision. I'd be in there watching it with them if I didn't think this Christmas dinner needed more planning. "How come you're not watching it anymore?"

Jazz held his hands up at my accusing tone, "I liked it, I liked it. Pit, some of the bots and cons optics are glued to the screen." He dropped his hands and shrugged, "I just thought I'd check on ya. That's what a good mechfriend does after all."

"Has Taylor said anything to you about the whole mechfriend thing?" I questioned.

He hadn't expected the question and thought for a moment before shaking his head, "Nah, why?"

"No reason." I mumbled.

"Aj!" Taylor called. I began to call back to her, but she skipped into the kitchen before I could. She was holding a mech in her arms, but this time it wasn't Bumblebee. My curious gaze lingered on Soundwave who didn't complain about being carried around by the little girl. "Aj?"

"Where's Bee?" I asked. Was the yellow bot hurt or something?

Taylor glanced over her shoulder, "He's watching Elf still. He likes it."

That made sense. It didn't explain why Soundwave was playing the role of Taylor's best mech friend at the moment though. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Soundwave obviously liked the kids and they enjoyed his company as well. I rubbed the back of my neck, "Ok. What did you need?"

"Oh." She chirped as if she had briefly forgotten what she had come in for. A bright smile lit her features and there was a gleam in her eye that told me she was about to ask for something and I probably wouldn't be able to say no. "Can we hang our stockings up now instead of later?"

Jazz, Taylor, and Soundwave all just stared at me as I let her words sink in. Stockings. She wanted to hang the stockings. Shit, I hadn't bought stocking stuffers. Damn it all to fragging hell.

"Can we, Aj? Please?" Taylor pleaded.

"Sure." I blurted and Jazz's lips twitched up in amusement. He must be able to tell that I was sinking and sinking fast. "Where- Where do you guys put yours up usually?"

Taylor rocked back and forth on her heels making her blonde hair and her dark blue skirt sway, "We hang them on the staircase. We don't have a chimney for Santa to use so mama leaves the front door unlocked for him."

Like hell I was going to leave the front door unlocked as we slept, but I got the idea. I nodded, "Of course, how silly of me to even ask." Taylor nodded her head in agreement that I was silly and I chuckled, "Do you know where your stockings are?"

"Peter can get them." Taylor set down Soundwave and then rushed back to the living room, "Peter!"

The moment I knew she was completely out of earshot I whispered, "I fucked up."

"Don't let the Hatchet hear ya talkin' like that." Jazz waved a finger at me in a scolding motion.

Soundwave stepped forward, "Dilemma: Stockings inadequate?"

"No." I sighed, "I forgot to buy the stuff to put in the stockings. Usually you put in candy or knick-knacks. Shit."

Taylor suddenly stuck her head into the kitchen. I tensed in my seat, but the look on her face told me she hadn't heard a word I said. She smiled at Soundwave, "Hey Soundwave, do you wanna see my stocking?"

"Affirmative." Soundwave replied.

The little girl scooped him up again as Peter came over to stand beside her. She lifted her gaze toward Jazz, "Do you wanna come too, Jazz?"

"Nah, ya go on ahead, darlin'."

She turned and walked upstairs with Soundwave and her older brother. Tyler hadn't gone with them, but the last time I checked on the kids he had been beyond focused on the movie playing. So I assumed he was with the bots and cons watching the movie.

"Hey", I nudged Jazz with the back of my hand. He turned and gave me his full attention, "Soundwave seems really…paternal for a Decepticon. I mean, the cons haven't been mean to the kids or anything, except Barricade who's a little shit, but Soundwave has gone a step above being civil or friendly. Why?"

Jazz chuckled, "He adopted the younglin's."

"I'm sorry?"

The bot put his hands on the back of his head, "We're just speculatin', but it seems to us like Soundwave is missin' his cassettes."

I paused, "So… Soundwave adopted the kids because he misses his music?"

"Nah", Jazz laughed, "His cassettes are like his…well, they… It's kind of like a symbiotic relationship. They're smaller mechs that live in 'is chassis."

"That's a big word, Jazz." I mocked.

"Ha ha." He replied before continuing, "Poor mech's probably going crazy without 'em and I'm sure they ain't doin' so hot without 'im either."

I frowned, "Poor guy. He just misses his own kids."

That actually explained a lot. No wonder he hung out with the kids. If he wasn't with Megatron he was with Peter, Tyler, or Taylor and now that made perfect sense. It was interesting information though. It made me wonder what else I don't know about the mechs residing under the same roof as me. I leaned forward onto the table and smirked at Jazz.

Jazz, who took notice of my look almost immediately, crossed his arms, "Can I help ya?"

"Tell me something about you I don't know yet."

"Somethin' 'bout meh?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I know you like music, I know you're a saboteur and that you're good at what you do. I don't know your eye color, but I seriously doubt you'll tell me that." Jazz chuckled, but I continued, "I know you're good friends with Prowl. You're always hanging out with him, though I'll admit there's times where he looks more exasperated by your company than excited."

Jazz laughed, "You notice more than I give ya credit for, sweetspark."

"I pay attention." I replied with a shrug, "I always pay attention to what's around me. It's…kind of a habit of mine." There was a pause before I winked at him, "Think I could be in Special Ops?"

Jazz put his hands on his hips, "I don' know. Could use some trainin' from a real professional." I chuckled and watched as Jazz rubbed his chin with one hand in a very human like manner. He nodded and used that same hand to point at me, "I got somethin' for ya."

"Hmm?"

"Gotta keep it between us though. Not many mechs know 'bout it."

"Alright."

"I mean, ya gotta take it to ya grave."

"Ok, ok. I got it."

"I'm serious-"

"Jazz!" I blurted, "Come on already."

He chuckled to himself before taking a step closer to me. I responded by resting my head on top of my arms against the table so I was closer to him. Jazz glanced over his shoulder once before looking back to me, "One of mah first, big special ops missions for Prime was to infiltrate the cons headquarters." My eyes widened slightly as I listened. The only times I heard about infiltration missions were spy movies. "So I got mahself 'drafted' as a mech named Meister."

"Meister?" I snickered.

"Ya heard meh." He grinned. "I started workin' mah way up the con ranks. Got pretty high too."

"How high?"

Jazz smirked, "High 'nough that I was bein' commended by Megatron 'imself. In fact, I was gonna be promoted to an officer position."

"What happened? Why didn't you?"

"Well", Jazz leaned against my arm and I lifted my head so we weren't in each other's personal space, "I kinda already had a position as Third in Command with the Autobots. Thought takin' a role with the cons might be bitin' off more than I could chew. Prowl was already on mah case 'bout not doin' the data work for the Autobots."

I chuckled, "So what? You just told him no? Meister didn't wanna be an officer?"

"Nah", He crossed his arms and tilted his head at me, "I faked mah death. Meister died tragically in the line of duty." My eyes widened and he continued, "Megatron still don't know it was meh."

I laughed and shook my head. Technically, I had already known how good Jazz was at his job, but this only confirmed my thoughts. Plus, I didn't know that he had pulled the wool over ol' Megatron's eyes as a mech named Meister. That was pretty funny.

"Good 'nough fact for ya?" Jazz questioned.

"It'll do." I replied as my chuckles died down, "Hey, you wanna go shopping with me? I gotta pick up the stocking stuffers."

Jazz grinned, "I'd be honored, femme."

I stood up and held my hand out for Jazz to jump onto. After he landed in my hand, I moved him up to my shoulder and headed toward the kitchen doorway. The moment I stepped out into the foyer, Peter and Taylor began descending the stairs. Peter was holding three brightly colored stockings as Taylor held Soundwave.

"Look!" Taylor chirped. She glanced at her brother and in response he held up the stockings so I could see them. Taylor's was light blue with navy hearts, Peter's was light green with dark green stars, and Tyler's was light red with maroon lightning bolts.

"They look good." I smiled as they reached the bottom stair, "Can you put them up Peter or do you need help?"

Peter shook his head, "I can do it."

"Good." I clapped my hands, "Because I have to run out to the store real fast. Can I leave you guys here with the mechs? Do y'all think that'll be ok? I won't be gone long."

Peter was already in the process of hanging up Taylor's stocking to the lowest portion of the stair's railing, "That's fine. We'll be ok."

To say I was still nervous about leaving all three of them here with only the mechs as babysitters was the understatement of the century, but I didn't really have a choice. I couldn't exactly bring them with me to buy their stocking stuffers. Like I said though, I shouldn't be gone long.

My eyes darted to the door and I realized my shoes weren't there which meant they were probably in the garage. I had to run through the kitchen anyways to grab my cellphone, wallet, and keys.

"Alright, well I'm taking Jazz with me, but everyone else is gonna stay here." I said and ignored the wide grin Taylor was shooting my way. Instead, I set Jazz down by the door, "I gotta go grab my stuff and boots. I'll be back."

Jazz nodded, "I'll be 'ere."

Without another word, I strolled into the kitchen and grabbed my cellphone off the counter. I stuck it in the back pocket of my jeans and grabbed my wallet and keys next. Typically, I left my wallet upstairs, but I had forgotten to put it away the last time I set the keys on the counter. It worked in my favor this time. Now I didn't have to walk all the way upstairs.

As I began to head toward the back doorway towards the garage my eyes landed on two mechs who had stopped talking the moment I stepped into the hallway. My eyes narrowed at Optimus Prime and Megatron who tensely stood about a foot away from each other, but both their eyes were glued to me now. I turned to face them and crossed my arms, "Should I be concerned?"

"Everything is fine, Aj." Optimus reassured me, "We were just…discussing something."

I nodded, "Yeah, that's comforting." There was a pause where neither of them said anything else. I cleared my throat, "I have to run to the store and needed to leave the kids here. Can I trust y'all not to fight while I'm gone? I don't want the kids trying to break apart your fights."

"We will not battle, Aj." Optimus replied.

"But if we decide to we will wait until you return." Megatron added snidely. Optimus leveled a glare at the con while I simply raised an eyebrow at him.

A part of me was really curious about what they were talking about before I stepped into the hall. The hushed voices had been speaking in Cybertronian, but I was still lousy at deciphering Cybertronian tones. They always sounded angry when I heard them.

"Enjoy your trip, human." Megatron sneered with a smirk before turning on his heel and stalking away. I tried to give the mech the benefit of the doubt, but for some reason it always seemed like he had some ulterior motive. Maybe it just came with the whole 'Decepticon' thing.

Optimus still seemed tensed, but I didn't want to pester him about it. What he spoke to Megatron about was none of my business. So rather than ask him about his previous conversation, I thought back to my previous conversation with Jazz.

"Tell me a fun fact about you, OP."

Optimus turned away from where Megatron had left and curiously looked at me. His eyes were widened slightly and he didn't reply as if he were trying to figure out if he had heard me wrong or not, "I'm sorry?"

"Tell me a fun fact." I replied, "Something I don't know about you. It should be easy considering all I really know is that you're the Commanding Officer of the Autobot army."

I couldn't see past his battle mask, but it seemed like my statement amused the mech. He paused briefly before speaking up, "Back in our own universe, I have a sparkmate. Elita-One is her name."

"Oh wait", I replied, "I did know that. Wheeljack or Jazz mentioned it once."

"Then perhaps this isn't as easy as you stated." He chuckled.

I grinned, "It's really sweet though. Optimus Prime being married. You totally seem like the settling down type." I uncrossed my arms and motioned toward him, "Come on, there's gotta be something else."

Another brief pause before Optimus nodded, "My designation was not always Optimus."

"You had a name before Optimus Prime?"

"Prime isn't truly a…name. It's a title, a position." He explained, "My original designation was Orion Pax. That was back when I was a data clerk."

My jaw fell open slightly, "Orion Pax? Data clerk? What's a data clerk?"

Optimus tilted his head slightly, "I do not know what the Earth equivalent would be. I worked in the Hall of Records in Iacon. My job was to sort through and file information that was constantly sent to us."

File data? I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then closed it once more in a poor attempt to form words. Finally, I shook my head and forced the words to come out, "OP, are you trying to tell me you were a librarian before you became CO of the Autobots?"

"I suppose so." Optimus nodded nonchalantly.

I laughed and shook my head, "Wow. Just…wow." It was kind of uplifting. The mech went from being a librarian to kicking Decepticon ass. It was one of those underdog stories that made you feel like you could do anything you set your mind to. My thoughts drifted back to his original name, "Orion Pax, huh?" He nodded and I continued, "You know, we have a constellation named Orion. It was named after this Greek hunter." Orion was one of the only constellations I could spot in the sky. That one and the big dipper of course. His other name, Pax, was more familiar to me considering it was one of the few Latin words I remembered from an old class I took. "And Pax is a Latin word. One of Earth's dead languages."

"What does it mean?" He asked.

"Peace." I chuckled with a slight nod, "It means peace." There was a pause before I shrugged, "And your initials are still OP. That's a funny coincidence."

Optimus agreed with a chuckle of his own, "Perhaps, I could ask you as well?"

"It's only fair."

"Why Aj?" He asked, "Why shorten your designation?"

Nobody had ever asked that before. Aubrey had asked me when I started going by it, but not why. The reason I never got asked about it was mostly because I really didn't talk to anyone that knew me as Aimee anymore, and everyone I met after I turned 18 I introduced myself as Aj. A lot of people that knew me didn't even know my actual name wasn't Aj. After a moment I shrugged, "I wanted a fresh start. I didn't want to be Aimee anymore because…because I didn't like her. She was sad, and she missed her sister, and she just wasn't strong enough to make it on her own." I let out a sad chuckle, "But you know… lately, I kind of miss her. Aj is a bit of a hot mess, and Aimee would've been much better with the kids."

Optimus shook his head, "I never had the pleasure of meeting who you believe you used to be, but I do know the person before me is extremely good with the younglings and that they care for her very much."

"Thanks, OP." I smiled. Optimus definitely knew how to inspire people. Conversations with him always left me feeling like I could do something great like solve world hunger or bring about world peace. "I should probably get my shoes and get outta here though. The stores are going to be insane today."

"I wish you luck."

I gave Optimus a quick, mock salute before heading to the garage to find my boots. The sooner I got out there and bought the stuff, then the sooner I could get back and get away from the madness that was Christmas Eve shopping.

* * *

 

Jazz chuckled to himself as he watched Taylor tightly hug Soundwave one more time before placing him on the ground to walk away. The con had asked to be set down, probably to find Megatron, and the youngling couldn't let him go on his own way without a goodbye hug. He watched Peter hang up the last stocking, his own, and then listened as Taylor began to babble to her older brother about what she hoped would be left under the decorated tree for her.

"Hey Jazz!"

The mech glanced to the stairs to see Sideswipe and Sunstreaker coming down and heading in his direction. The younglings by the stairs glanced their way, but continued with their own conversation. Jazz focused his attention on Sideswipe, "What's up, my mech?"

"Ratchet is looking for you." Sideswipe motioned back up the stairs with a tilt of his helm. "Sent us to tell you."

"He sent the two of ya?" Jazz questioned skeptically. It wasn't often that Ratchet trusted the twins with any favors of any sort. The whole situation was just a reminder of how annoying it was to not have their comm system online. "What does he want?"

Sunstreaker scoffed, "Pit if we know."

Sideswipe shrugged, "It's the Hatchet, Jazz. We didn't exactly stick around to ask twenty questions. He'd offline us before answering a single one."

Jazz didn't fully believe the twins, but Sideswipe wasn't lying about the offlining thing. A part of him knew something wasn't right about the situation, but Jazz had to decide whether he wanted to risk the wrath of Ratchet by ignoring the twins or heading all the way upstairs to see what the medic wanted. In the end, Jazz decided to head up there and check. The last thing he wanted was Ratchet coming after his helm.

"If Aj comes back let 'er know I just went to see Ratchet, hmm?"

Sideswipe gave the mech a thumbs up, "You got it."

Jazz passed the twins and headed toward the first step when Taylor suddenly picked him up. She grinned at him, "I can take you to Ratchet!"

"Thanks, younglin'." Jazz gave the little femme a smile of his own.

Taylor began to walk up the stairs with Jazz in her hands. He caught sight of Peter heading back into the living room where the Christmas movie was still playing. He wondered what exactly was going on. He couldn't think of a reason why Ratchet would need him, and if this was some trick from the Lambo twins he didn't understand what their angle was and that bothered him to no end. Taylor speaking up interrupted his thoughts, "Jazz, you messed up."

The mech was startled by her words and somewhat worried, "What do ya mean? Everythin' alright?"

"You didn't give Aj a ring!" She cried as she reached the top stair, "You can't marry a girl if you don't have a ring. That's why Aj said she can't marry you. You never gave her a ring."

Jazz was briefly confused, but he prided himself on being able to improvise. It was his job after all, "Sorry, Tay. I can't exactly go shoppin' on mah own."

Taylor seemed to ponder over Jazz's words for a moment. Jazz was starting to connect the dots in his own processors. Aj had asked if Taylor mentioned anything about him joking about the mechfriend thing and this must have been what she was asking about. Somehow the youngling had gotten it in her head that he was trying to marry her Aunt. Jazz was beyond amused by it all.

"Ok." Taylor nodded, "I can fix this. Don't you worry, Jazz."

"I know I'm in good hands." He replied. The girl gave him another bright smile before stepping into the medbay. Ratchet was on Aj's desk looking through a datapad, but he glanced up in question when they walked through the door. "Ya needed meh, Ratchet?"

Ratchet narrowed his eyes in response, "No. Why?"

Jazz chuckled to himself before nodding his head and looking back to Taylor, "Mind takin' meh back to the front door?"

"Not at all. Bye Ratchet!" Taylor blew him a kiss before skipping out of the room and rushing down the stairs. She set Jazz down on the floor of the foyer before heading to the living room calling out her older brother's name. Jazz looked out the window by the front door only to see that the truck sitting in the driveway was nowhere to be seen. Neither were the bright red and yellow twins.

It made total sense now. They must have heard Aj talking about taking him with her to the store when she was talking to Taylor and Peter. Jazz was fully aware that Sideswipe was gunning after the position of Aj's best friend, and he also knew that this wasn't because of some ulterior scheme like Ratchet and Prowl believed. He knew that this was just a bored Sideswiped obsessing over the newest thing. Whereas Sideswipe was looking for a buddy to play with over the next two months, Jazz was aiming for something more. In the next two months, he wanted to help get Aj's messed up life around. That was his end goal. By time they had to head back home, he wanted to somehow find a way to leave Aj better off then where she was now and that started by getting her trust and making her see she was worth more than she was. Technically, it was a goal set by many mechs. Anybody could do it, but Jazz wanted to be the one to get it done. He wanted to be the one to help her out.

The main reason why Jazz didn't think the twins were gonna steal his spot on the shopping trip with Aj was because he didn't think the mechs were that stupid. Sunstreaker was probably only going along with it because of the red hurricane that was Sideswipe had set his sights on befriending Aj, but Sideswipe was a different story. Jazz knew the mech was reckless and tended to make rash decisions when it came to reaching the goal he had set in his mind, but he always considered the mech to be a rather smart guy. Street smart, at least. The twins had made the stupidest decision of their lives though deciding to get in the way of Jazz's end goal.

He chuckled to himself and turned away from the window, "So that's how you mechs wanna play this then."

* * *

 

Winter was the worst season, in my own personal opinion, but I will admit that winter clothes made it not so unbearable. The temperature was dropping into the thirties outside, but that just meant it was acceptable for me to go out in my dark brown boots that ended just below my knees, my knitted scarf, and worn down leather jacket. I readjusted my newly donned boots and quickly walked back through the kitchen to get to the front door.

"Ready to go, J-" My sentence came to a halt when I noticed that Jazz was no longer standing by the door and instead the condiment twins stood in his place. "Not Jazz?"

Sideswipe grinned, "Nope, but we're ready to go."

I chuckled, "You're ready to go?"

"Did he stutter?" Sunstreaker replied sharply.

Sideswipe sent his brother a quick glance and he must have said something over their magical twin bond because Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at him in response. The red bot stepped toward me, "Ratchet's talking to Jazz. He told us to go out with you and make sure you don't get into any trouble."

Jazz asked the twins to babysit me? I briefly wondered what the medic of doom wanted with the TIC before shrugging. The chances of it being anything serious were slim. I gave them both a smile, "My two foot tall bodyguards that look like a pair of Sour Patch Kids. I feel safer already." I opened the door and began to kneel down to offer them a hand, but both of them quickly transformed and raced out the door. I sighed, "Let's hope the neighbors aren't out walking the dog."

After calling out a quick goodbye to whoever was in the living room, and receiving a short reply, I headed out to the truck.

During the drive to Wal-Mart I quickly learned that it was harder to talk to these two then it was to talk to Jazz. With Jazz, conversation flowed easily, but the case was not the same with these two. It wasn't awkward, but it also wasn't casual. About halfway to the store, my phone began to ring. It took a couple seconds to pull the phone out of my pocket.

"Should you be talking while you drive?" Sideswipe questioned. He was standing in the passenger seat as his brother sat with his back against the back of the seat and his legs sprawled out in front of him. "I hear humans are horrible multi-taskers."

I replied by reaching out and pushing him to the floorboard. Sunstreaker didn't seem too concerned by his twin's fall and I ignored Sideswipe's comments about abuse. "Hello?"

"Hey, Aimee. We have a problem."

My heart dropped to my stomach and the bots behind me must have noticed because I could see them tense from the corner of my eye at my alarm alone. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to speak, "What happened? Are you alright? Did the treatments-"

"Oh God, no." Aubrey blurted, "I'm totally fine, Aimee. I was talking about the kids' Christmas gifts."

I pulled the phone away from my face briefly and let out a sigh of relief. My shoulders relaxed and I chose to temporarily ignore Sideswipe's curious gaze. I pulled the phone back to my face, "Aubs, seriously? I just about had a freaking heart attack."

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

"Just- God… What's the issue?"

Aubrey paused before speaking, "The bikes didn't get sent in time. Something went wrong with the order. I made a few calls and the Toys'R'Us in town said they have some bikes in stock, but they tend to go fast on Christmas Eve." As she finished her sentence I pulled the car off the road and began to make a U-turn. The toy store was on the opposite end of town. "That was about ten minutes ago and-"

"I'm on my way to Toys'R'Us now. I was already on my way to Wal-Mart anyways." I reassured her, "Just don't work yourself up. I'll get them their bikes."

"Oh thank God. I don't know if they'll have the exact ones I ordered, that's why I ordered the bikes online anyways but- wait, hang on. You're heading there now? By yourself? Where are the kids?"

I prided myself on being a quick thinker, but the moment Aubrey asked me that my mind went blank. Obviously I couldn't tell her that I left her kids at home to be babysat by Optimus Prime. The mech was surely responsible for the job, but I doubted Aubrey thought the same. She'd actually just think I was completely insane.

"They…are…with Joanna." I said slowly, "Yeah, her. She called and asked if the kids wanted to go to the park." Technically it wasn't even a lie. I was just leaving out the date. "They really wanted to go."

Aubrey let out a sigh and slight chuckle, "Right. They play with Jo's kids all the time. Did she…Did she ask about me?"

"Yeah." I answered, "I told her you were on a trip." I paused then added, "One where you had no cell reception so don't er, don't call her, ok?"

"Ok." Aubrey chuckled again, "I wanted to say something to her, but…oh, I have to go, Aimee. I'll try and call tonight."

I nodded, "I'll talk to you then, Aubs. Take care of yourself." Aubrey said one final goodbye before hanging up. I tossed my phone into the passenger seat and Sunstreaker growled at me when the phone nearly clipped his legs. I gave him a sheepish smile, "My bad."

"What's going on?" Sideswipe asked.

"Ok, so the kids are supposed to get bikes for Christmas from Santa. The bikes were supposed to get shipped to the house, but something went wrong and now I have to go to the toy store and fight the crowds to get some bikes." I explained, "I was really hoping to avoid the crazed toy crowds."

Sideswipe crawled back onto the passenger seat easily, "Are the crowds going to be that bad?"

"Oh, yeah." I nodded and came to a stop at the red light. My eyes darted over to the twins who were mentally conversing. I decided to cut in with my own fact-finding mission, "Hey, tell me…"

My words trailed away as I thought about what I was going to ask them. Any facts I didn't know about them might have to do with their past and as much as I wanted to know more about them I didn't want to be overly nosy. The last thing I needed was Sunstreaker trying to smother me in my sleep or something.

"Tell you what?" Sideswipe asked inquiringly.

"Nevermind." I shook my head and watched as the light turned green. The car in front of me slowly began to roll forward.

Sunstreaker scoffed, "Is this the same question you were trying to ask us yesterday?"

I blinked, "Uh, well…sort of."

"How are we supposed to be best friends if you're scared to ask us stuff?" Sideswipe questioned and the came over to lean against my leg nonchalantly. He tilted his head up to look at me, "So go on. Ask."

"I was going to ask you to tell me something about you that I didn't already know. I've wanna know more about all of y'all." I sighed, "But more specifically, I wanted to ask about your…you know."

Sunstreaker's voice was level and calm and somehow that was more intimidating than when he was growling, "Our past."

"Yeah." I shrugged. The cat was out of the bag now. There was no point in tiptoeing the line. Besides, when it came down to it, I was never much of a tiptoeing girl. "I mean, I know a couple things, but it's the detail I'm blurry on. I kind of wanted to know your reasoning."

There was a pause before Sideswipe spoke up, "What do you know?"

I pulled the car into the strip mall parking lot where the local Toys'R'Us was located nestled between a couple other stores, "You guys had a crappy life. You became gladiators; you were damn good at it too. Then you quit? You went to do other things and eventually you became Autobots. I guess I'm just wondering…why?"

"Why what?" Sunstreaker snapped.

"Why…everything?" I replied and began circling the lot for an empty spot. Already I could tell the crowds were going to be unbearable. My question hung in the air, unanswered, and the cab of the truck was filled with a growing silence. I briefly glanced over at them to see their eyes were locked as they spoke to one another. Sideswipe's face seemed troubled. His face was scrunched up in frustration, but his brother's face looked more or less how it always did to me. Sunstreaker was glaring, his arms crossed tightly across his chest, and his lips drawn out in a firm scowl.

Finally, I found a spot near the back and pulled in before someone could snag it before me. Ignoring, the awkward silence I had created I turned the car off and forced myself to look at them, "I'm heading in. I'll be right back."

"We can't go?" Sideswipe stopped his internal argument to ask me.

I shook my head, "I didn't bring my purse to take y'all in, not that you'd fit in it anyways you're taller than Jazz. Besides, it'll be a madhouse in there. The last thing I need is to lose y'all. Just stay here and don't do anything that'll get you noticed." I pushed open the door and hopped out. I gave them one last glance, "I'll be back."

I locked the car and put on a brave face before heading to the front of the store. Nothing said Christmas spirit like fighting over a bicycle with a soccer mom.

* * *

 

_'Why not, Sunny?'_

Sunstreaker didn't reply. At least, he didn't reply in thoughts or words. For a moment, as the two twins sat in the truck alone, they let themselves have a conversation on the emotional sense.

Sideswipe's spark was humming with a mix of frustration and hesitance. The mech was hesitant about sharing past memories. The thought of it alone sent a chill through his body. Sideswipe's coping mechanism was to just not think about it. He didn't let his processors slink back to those dark days. Yet, he was willing to make that trip back to the pit mentally to share with some random, filthy organic that he was obsessing over?

 _'I…I don't know. I just want to see her reaction.'_ Sideswipe admitted but there was an underlying reason that he didn't voice out loud or in his thoughts. There was a slight pang of familiarity that echoed through Sideswipe's spark. The red mech didn't recognize it in the slightest, but he wouldn't let it go. Before, he wasn't sure quite was the feeling was, but the more he thought about it, the more he watched the human, the more he was sure that the odd feeling in his chest was familiarity of all things.

Sunstreaker kept a tight handle on his emotions. He sent only what he wanted to over the bond and hoped that Sideswipe wouldn't linger on the ones he tried to keep to himself. He didn't want to tell the fragging femme anything. Pit, there were only so many mechs that knew their full story after all. Sunstreaker didn't want to add the organic femme to the list.

_'We don't have to tell her everything. I wasn't going to mention-'_

Sunstreaker threw a hard punch over the bond, making Sideswipe stop his thoughts. There was pause before Sideswipe audibly sighed and flopped backwards onto the truck seat so he was staring at the roof of the cabin.

Sideswipe laid a servo on his chassis as he let his thoughts drift away, _'You don't feel that, Sunny? The recognition? It's like… It's like we've met her before.'_

Sunstreaker replied by throwing a wall up between the bond, cutting off the flow of emotions, and sinking in the seat to sulk to himself.

* * *

 

Ratchet waited impatiently in the medbay. He paced across the floor with a datapad full of new scans and readings in his servo. After what felt like an orn to him, Optimus, Prowl, Wheeljack, and Jazz entered the medbay at a pace that was slightly above a casual stroll.

"Took you long enough." Ratchet snapped and glanced at Wheeljack, "I thought you were staying with the younglings downstairs?"

Wheeljack held a servo up, "I was going to, but Bee and Blue said they have it covered. Besides, Grimlock is down there with them."

"No con 'ere is dumb 'nough to brawl with Grimlock." Jazz crossed his arms over his chassis with a grin drawn on his faceplates. Ratchet grunted out a confirmation, but he was still obviously not comfortable with leaving the younglings down there without them. To say they didn't trust the Decepticons was blatantly obvious. This meeting would have to be quick.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Optimus questioned, "What did you find?"

"I've been looking over all my scans and noticed a slight change this morning." Ratchet explained. He glanced down at the datapad briefly, "It seemed eerily familiar so I've been digging and noticed the readings match a specific time."

Prowl narrowed his eyes, "What time?"

Ratchet shook his head, "It matches the same readings taken the day Aj was sick. It comes down to the exact human hours when all our optics changed back to their usual shades."

Jazz rubbed the back of his neck with his servo, "What are you tryin' to say, Ratch? We're changing again?"

"I believe so." Ratchet nodded, "I just have no way of knowing what will change. Our comm system could come back online, our energy scanners, GPS, holoform programming- It could be fragging anything."

The bots let this sink in for a moment before the sound of something falling to the ground carried up to the second floor to them. Before they could jump into action, Peter's voice called out, "We're ok!"

"I'll go check on them, anyways." Wheeljack said before turning, transforming, and then racing out of the room.

Ratchet let out an aggravated sigh, "I have no new information to share. The twins aren't here which means we won't see when the changes begin until it gets to Wheeljack. He's third."

Optimus gave Prowl and Jazz a brief nod before walking forward and pulling Ratchet aside to speak to him. Prowl turned to leave the room himself but stopped in his steps when Jazz slid into his path with a wide grin.

"What?" Prowl questioned with narrowed eyes. The look on Jazz's faceplates never led to good things.

"I got a favor to ask of ya, Prowler."

* * *

 

"Thank you so much." I said yet again to the employee who was using a dollie to roll out three large boxes out to the truck. Toys'R'Us had been a mad house and I swore to myself I would do my Christmas shopping during the summer next year to avoid a crowd like the one I had to wade through today.

The employee, a guy who was probably around 18 years old, shrugged with a shy smile, "It's no problem at all, ma'am."

"My truck's right up here." I pointed out the beaten up vehicle and jogged over to it as he followed. A flash of red and yellow could be seen from the window briefly, but they must have sunk down on the seats to avoid being seen. Good. Now I didn't have to explain to the toy store guy why I had two living toys sitting in the cabin of my truck.

I opened the back door so the boxes could be put into the bed of the truck. The battle through the toy aisles had been worth it in the end. I got the three bikes, Aubrey had paid when she called, but the bikes weren't the ones she had originally tried to buy. They were just decorated a little differently. Rather than being Transformer themed, they all varied. I had the choice between Barbie and My Little Pony for Taylor and I ended up choosing the light blue pony bike because it matched her stool at home. Peter's was a bit more generic in the sense that it was just a bright red with white accents, and Tyler's was green and Hulk themed.

"Here we go." The guy said and then pushed the last box onto the bed of the truck as I used the hooks and cords that had been lying in the bed of the truck to hold them down. "You have a Merry Christmas!"

"You too! Thanks so much again!" I called out as he took the dollie back inside. I double-checked the lines again just because I didn't want the boxes to go flying off the truck once we got on the road. Mentally, I was just trying not to think about the fact that the bikes were inside the boxes. As in, I'd have to go home and put these things together. Joy.

At least I was able to buy stocking stuffers from Toys'R'Us. They weren't anything fancy. Just a handful of different types of candy. I glanced into the white bag hanging from my arm, just to check that I didn't lose anything during the walk to the truck, and then moved to get into the vehicle.

I was excited to get into the cabin of the vehicle because then I wouldn't have to deal with biting cold breeze outside, but as I slid into my seat and glanced at the twin mechs in the passenger seat I was greeted by a wide, blank stare that made me want to go back outside.

"Um, what?" I blurted.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had both been staring me down in surprise when I entered the truck, but after I spoke Sideswipe snapped his head to look at his brother with confusion etched onto his face. Sunstreaker, however, kept his gaze on me and it was freaking weird. I was used to being glared down by the yellow bot. In fact, I was positive that I had faced his cold gaze every day since he got here, but this gaze was different. His eyes were widened slightly and his mouth was parted in shock. For the first time since I met him, his facial features weren't forced into a scowl or drawn out in a look of boredom.

Sunstreaker looked surprised and he kind of looked…a bit sad.

"Is…Is everything alright, Sunstreaker?" I questioned and even had the decency to skip the fun nicknames. For all I knew, the bot was having some sort of robot aneurysm.

Sideswipe reached out and grabbed his brother by the shoulder, but he didn't say a word. Not out loud, anyways. Sunstreaker closed his mouth and I watched as his metal lips pressed together in a tight line as his eyes narrowed as well. He looked like himself again, in other words.

"It's nothing." Sunstreaker said blankly. He sat back down in the same position he had been on the way here except now his entire body was tense.

I shook my head, "Do you know what nothing means? Because that was _not_ nothing."

"We-" Sideswipe paused before glancing at his brother one more time and then looking back to me, "We changed again. We got our energy sensors back online."

"…Good?" I couldn't help but question.

Sideswipe rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, it's good. You just startled us. Well, your energy signature did."

"What's wrong with my energy signature?" I asked in alarm.

He didn't reply immediately and that made me more uncomfortable. Finally Sideswipe gave me a sheepish smile, "We should get back home. Ratchet can explain this better than we can."

No conversation was held the entire way back home and I sped nearly the entire way. Nothing puts a little pep in your step like knowing that there was something potentially wrong with your energy signature. What even was an energy signature? Was it important? Oh God, I was worried about something I didn't know anything about.

I pulled the truck into the driveway, in reverse so it's be easier to get the boxes, and reached up to open the garage only to realize I never fixed the garage door opener that Wheeljack and Peter took apart. I held in a groan before reaching over and opening the passenger door for the twins who immediately bolted out of the car and raced to the front porch. I'd leave the bikes in the back of the truck for now and come get them after the kids went to sleep. As much as I wanted to rush inside and demand Ratchet explain to me what an energy signature was, I took the time to use the folded tarp that was resting on the floorboard of the truck's backseat to cover the bike boxes.

The twins had managed to get inside and they had left the door open. I stepped in, shut the door, and began to pull my boots off, "Peter? Taylor? Tyler?" There was a pause where no one answered me and panic flooded my system again. I couldn't see a single bot or con and the kids were nowhere to be seen, " _Kids_?!"

" _We're upstairs_!" Peter's faint voice suddenly called back.

I sprinted up the stairs, slipping a few times on the wood because of my socks, but managed to get upstairs in one piece. The medbay door was opening and surrounded by bots and cons alike. Bee and Blue were leaning against the doorframe trying to stick their heads into the room while Prowl, Jazz, and Optimus stood behind them peering in. Megatron had his arms crossed as he stood in the middle of the hall looking into the room. Starscream was on his left, Soundwave was on his right, Skywarp and Thundercracker were closer to the door, and Grimlock stood in the very back glaring at the Decepticons in front of him.

With renewed determination, I marched forward and ignored the looks that got cast my way as I stepped into the Medbay. The kids were sitting on the floor with their backs against the bed as Ratchet, Wheeljack, and the Lambo twins stood in front of them. The kids were smiling and mumbling to each other as Sideswipe was speaking to Ratchet in Cybertronian. Wheeljack turned at the sound of my approach and his eyes widened at the sight of me.

"Oh _wow_!" He blurted, "This is extraordinary! Ratchet, you have to see these readings. I'll upload them to my datapad with the youngling's readings."

Wheeljack began to toy with the datapad in his hands as Ratchet and the Lambo twins looked to me. The kids behind them waved and greeted me happily.

"What is going on here?" I questioned, "Why are the kids in the Medbay?"

"Ratchet says we're _radioactive_." Tyler hummed happily.

Everyone in the room, except for the kids who were oblivious to the look of controlled rage on my face, tensed. My jaw clenched and I forced myself to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. After a moment I spoke up, "You kids go downstairs and play. I have to talk to Ratchet."

"Ok." Taylor nodded. She jumped up and skipped out with her twin brother racing behind her. Peter was more hesitant and I forced a smile in his direction. He returned a tight one of his own before leaving.

The frontliner twins were quick to make their exit and rather than let any other mech in, I shut the Medbay door so the only people in the room were Ratchet, Wheeljack, and me. Slowly, I turned around to face the two of them, "Please tell me that Tyler mixed up the term 'radioactive' with ' _really, really healthy_ '."

Ratchet sighed irritably, "It isn't as bad as it sounds."

" _Really_?" I laughed humorlessly, "Because it sounds _really, really bad_!"

"The radiation is minimal-" Wheeljack began but I didn't let him finish his statement.

" _Minimal_? I don't know how it works for you mechs, but radiation, even _minimal radiation_ , is bad for us humans! It's to be avoided at all costs!"

Ratchet shook his head and stepped forward, "This radiation isn't the like the kind you're used to. Honestly, youngling, you need to calm down."

" _Ratchet_!" I cried, "You can't use the word radiation in a sentence and then tell me to be calm!"

"Sit down, youngling."

" _Ratchet_ -"

"Sit. Down. _Now_."

I dropped to the floor with a glare leveled on the red and white bot. The only reason I was listening to him at all is because I wanted answers and I wanted them now. There was a pause as Wheeljack and Ratchet climbed onto the raised boxes to my left so we were just about at eye level.

"The four of you have been exposed to something we call spark radiation." Ratchet began.

I narrowed my eyes in confusion, "Spark? Isn't that your heart or soul or something?"

"In some comparative ways, yes." Wheeljack answered cheerily. A bit too cheerily for the situation, in my opinion. "Technically speaking though, the spark is our energy source and like any energy source it gives off it's own level of radiation."

Ratchet crossed his arms, "For us this is a normal thing. Our sparks are surrounded by a special casing that keeps this radiation centered within us. Most Cybertronians still give off a certain amount of spark radiation anyways, but every mech in this house has gone through extensive training in controlling the amount of radiation we give off."

"You see, this spark radiation ties directly with our energy readings and the more radiation we give off the easier it is for one of our own kind to locate us." Wheeljack explained, "As soldiers, you can see why these readings could be used disastrously."

I shook my head, "I get that, but why the hell have we been exposed to it if all of y'all are super duper radiation controllers?"

"Good question", Wheeljack nodded, "It's simply-"

"Does it look like these bodies are capable of holding an energy source as strong as a spark?" Ratchet snapped, "We're trained to withhold the residual radiation, but without a proper spark casing our sparks are dumping out radiation. Trying to hold that back would be for you like trying to pause your heartbeat."

I bit my lower lip briefly, "So you're pouring out spark radiation on us. What now? What does this mean? Should I be worried about growing a third arm?"

Wheeljack chuckled, "Not at all. Spark radiation isn't as harsh as the radiation you're used to facing on Earth. It isn't typical in any definition. The only danger it would pose is that a Cybertronian is capable of locking onto your position extremely easy now, but even that isn't a big deal because the only Cybertronians in this world are currently living with you."

"So now we're just Cybertronian beacons?" I pressed. The two bots paused and glanced at each other. I bit back a sigh, "Just tell me."

"The radiation has altered your energy signature slightly." Ratchet said.

"What is an energy signature? Start there."

Ratchet sighed, "Every living thing has a different energy signature. Us Cybertronians are able to pick up these signatures on our scanners. It's how we identify each other. Your energy signature, to us, is who you are. It's like an identification card. No one has your exact signature and because of this I can use your signature to find and recognize you."

"The energy signature itself is very interesting. It isn't anything a mech or femme has created, it has always been there from the moment of our creation!" Wheeljack said excitedly, "Each living thing has an energy signature that is not only unique to their species, but also to the energy level they are resonating on!"

"It's something you humans don't even notice." Ratchet shook his head, "When our scanners pick up an energy signature it is stored as a series of symbols and numbers. By symbols, of course, I mean from our own language. It's similar to what you consider letters, in the sense that strung together our symbols would form words."

"So, it's like a serial code with numbers and letters?"

Wheeljack's fins lit up, "Exactly!"

"Surprisingly, humans and cybertronians resonate at very close levels. We're only a couple levels above you which is probably why we're more sensitive to energies in itself." Ratchet continued to explain, "Humans also have much shorter energy signatures than us."

"For reference", Wheeljack cut in, "Ratchet's energy signature has 39 symbols and 384,062 numbers." My eyes widened in surprise, but Wheeljack only continued, "It still varies though, for example, my signature has 98 symbols and 290,864 numbers. Jazz's signature has 12 symbols and 998,784 numbers. Optimus-"

Ratchet interrupted him, "She gets it, Jack."

"Of course. I'm sorry." He chuckled.

"So, how many does a human have? Typically?"

Wheeljack glanced down at his datapad when it beeped and then handed it off to Ratchet before answering, "A human I met before we came here only had 5 symbols and 98 numbers."

"Wow." I mumbled. That was a significant difference. "So break the news to me. What's wrong with out signatures now, thanks to your spark juice?"

Ratchet lifted his gaze from the datapad to glare at me and from the look in his eye I'd say he was tempted to throw the item in his hands at me. He shoved it back into Wheeljack's hands who stumbled back at the force, "To begin with, your energy signatures are extremely unusual. Peter has 6 symbols and 12 numbers. Taylor and Tyler have the same number of symbols and numbers, 8 and 10 respectively, but while the symbols are the same the numbers differ. I haven't met any human twins before them, but it seems to make sense."

"Are Sideswipe and Sunstreaker like that?"

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker actually have the _same_ energy signature." Wheeljack replied, "Because they share a spark. It's actually caused quite a few issues early on for mechs who thought they were going to see Sideswipe only to run into a moody Sunstreaker."

I let my thoughts shift back to the kids, "All of the kids have the same total number. 18. Is that what's weird?"

"No." Ratchet shook his head, "Though it is rare, I have seen that before between families. What is strange is the length. 18 is incredibly short for an energy signature."

"Are they the shortest you've seen?"

Wheeljack looked sheepish, "They were…until you walked in."

My eyes widened slightly, "Me? How long is mine?"

"Your energy signature contains 4 symbols and 4 numbers." Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me in concern. "The symbols and numbers translated to English would be 1EP13AL8."

"I…" I didn't even know what to say. It wasn't super troubling, maybe not as much as it should've been, but there was a foreboding feeling that came with hearing his words. In the end, did energy signatures matter to me? As a human it wasn't like it was a huge part of my life. "Is that way the twins were looking at me like I had grown a third head?"

"Possibly." Ratchet shrugged.

"I was shocked myself, I'm sure they had a similar reaction." Wheeljack nodded, "It's understandable."

I sighed, "Well, I mean as long as having a short energy signature doesn't kill me… What did your sparks do to our signatures?"

"Our spark radiation added an extra identity to your energy signature." Wheeljack explained, "It's often seen in our culture when a Guardian chooses to mark their ward with their own identity. Typically it's done when the ward is just a sparkling or youngling. It's used as a warning of sorts to anyone who would want to hurt their charge. No Cybertronian has done this to an organic being though and we only did it on accident."

"It shouldn't be harmful." Ratchet said firmly.

" _Shouldn't_?" I scoffed, "I'd like a little more reassurance than that."

Ratchet glared at me, "I don't exactly have much to work with, youngling. Besides, like I said, spark radiation isn't harsh or lethal."

"So whose identity did we accidentally pick up?" I questioned.

Wheeljack laughed, "Now that is the really interesting part. You see, us Cybertronians are able to…control our signatures in certain situations. We can change them slightly. A guardian changes their signature slightly so on the ward it comes across more as a warning to others while two Cybertronians who are courting each other might change theirs slightly to make it so others know the mech or femme is being courted and is unavailable." I was fully aware that courting was the equivalent of dating and I was still 100% positive I did not want to know more about the Cybertronian love lives. I was not ready for that yet, "Unsurprisingly, the spark radiation you were most exposed to is the identity you picked up, but the mechs who spent the most time with all of you were given a guardian like order so their sparks naturally shifted to give off the Guardian-ward identity. Taylor is giving off a reading that looks like Bumblebee and Tyler is giving off one that looks like Bluestreak. Peter is giving off a reading that looks like Prowl, but it's rather weak because Prowl and I typically share the duty of keeping an optic on him." Wheeljack turned to Ratchet at this point and added, "It'd be so fun to have him as my ward though, even accidentally. I'd truly enjoy that, do you think-"

"Wheeljack." Ratchet warned.

"Oh, sorry, got carried away." Wheeljack shook his head and looked back to me, "And you, Aj, are giving off a reading that is clearly Ratchet."

My eyes darted to the grumpy medic who recrossed his arms and mumbled something under his breath. Despite the earlier tension and the worry that still sat in the back of my mind, I chuckled. Not only did I have a ridiculously short energy reading, but I'm also broadcasting Ratchet's signature. That was hilarious. Then again maybe it was only hilarious because I was so relieved that the kids and I weren't about to grow extra limbs from said mysterious radiation. However, based on the amused look on Wheeljack's face, he thought it was just as funny as I did.

Ratchet opened his mouth to snap something at Wheeljack and I who were still snickering and glancing at each other. He paused though and his eyes widened briefly, "My energy scanners just went back online." He glanced over at me and I gave him a wide grin that he huffed at. "There. I got your readings. Send in Peter, Taylor, and Tyler. I want to input their data myself."

"Ok." I bit back a round of laughter, " _Dad_."

Wheeljack burst into laughter and Ratchet whacked him across the back of his head with his hand. This only made Wheeljack double over while laughing and I joined along with the laughter.

" _Will you two idiots hush_!?"

* * *

 

There were only a few times in the many, many, many years of their lives that Sunstreaker had ever tried to hide anything from him. The same could be said of Sideswipe hiding things from Sunstreaker. It just didn't make much sense to considering one twin was bound to find out what the other knew eventually. Yet still, the two of them occasionally went through the motions of throwing up walls to try and hide information and emotions. The last time this happened was over millions of years ago and it was him who was trying to hide something from Sunstreaker and after the whole ordeal Sideswipe remembered thinking that though the whole thing was a pain to manage, sometimes there was a good reason for hiding things no matter how brief it may last. At the moment though, Sideswipe couldn't remember ever saying anything like that because secrets were fragging annoying.

" _Sunny_." Sideswipe whined aloud, "Tell me."

Sunstreaker tore his gaze away from the Medbay door area to glare at him. The two of them were down the hall by the younglings' rooms waiting for Ratchet and Wheeljack to let Aj out. Why? He didn't have a slagging idea. Sideswipe knew over the slight emotions that leaked out from behind Sunstreaker's wall that the yellow warrior had absolutely no intention of talking to the human femme. He was content with leaning against the wall and staring down the hall.

_'What is going on, Sunny? Come on, why wont you let me in, you fragger?'_

_'It's nothing.'_

Sideswipe resisted the urge to groan aloud and throw his servos up into the air in exasperation, "This _isn't_ nothing!"

Sunstreaker ignored him and went back to staring down the hall. Ever since he saw Aj's energy signature he'd been like this. No doubt, Sideswipe was startled by the extremely short signature smothered in Ratchet's own signature, but rather than cracking jokes with his brother about the blaring Ratchet warning stuck to her signature, Sunstreaker had thrown up even more walls to keep him away as he pondered something on his own. It was driving him crazy to have the bond blocked, even temporarily, and Sideswipe wasn't one to leave secrets be.

Rather than begin a whole new round of pleading, Sideswipe sent a mental shove at the wall. It didn't break it down, but the wall shook and Sunstreaker glared at him. This continued a few more times until Sunstreaker began mentally shoving back, this then lead to Sunstreaker physically pushing himself off the wall and tackling the red frontliner. The twins wrestled on the ground while hissing curses at each other, but if any Autobot had happened upon the scene it wouldn't have been startling. It was just a typical fight between two brothers.

Sideswipe pressed his twin's face into the ground as he sat on top of him. Sunstreaker thrashed and hissed about his paint. Sideswipe couldn't help but grin slightly, "Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell- _oof_!"

Sunstreaker had managed to roll out from under Sideswipe's grip and then used his own strength to force the red mech into the position Sunstreaker had just been in. Sideswipe continued his rant of wanting to know the secret even with his faceplates forced against the floor.

The fight continued on for another breem or so before it just died down on it's own. The twins were smart enough to realize that these weren't their true bodies and they knew they wouldn't be able to take the same beatings they usually did. Sunstreaker leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed while Sideswipe pouted in front of me.

_'Primus, Sunny, would you just slagging tell me!?'_

_'If I tell you, will you leave me the frag alone?'_ Sunstreaker snapped.

Sideswipe grinned and nodded, but it was rather short lived. Sunstreaker didn't want to waste time sending thoughts to him, so instead he just lifted the wall and let it wash over his brother.

Sideswipe didn't reply and just waded through the different emotions. Confusion. Melancholy. Anger. Recognition. Frustration. The red mech's optics widened. It all made sense now. This entire time, Sideswipe slowly began to feel like he had seen Aj before, but what he felt was muted and more of an echo. The reason why was because it wasn't Sideswipe's own feelings. It was Sunstreaker who recognized the femme and it had just traveled over to his own spark. Sideswipe sent his brother a questioning thought, but Sunstreaker only replied with a mental shrug.

He could see that Sunstreaker was recognizing this femme for some strange reason, but he couldn't even begin to imagine why or how and that was frustrating his yellow counterpart to no end.

'It started with her optic color.' Sunstreaker's thoughts were mainly focused toward himself, but Sideswipe could now listen in, _'When we first saw her fighting, I saved it because the shading was unique, but my systems already had that exact color saved.'_

Sideswipe shrugged and spoke aloud, "You could've seen it somewhere before and just forgotten it."

' _Maybe_.' Sunstreaker mumbled in his mind, ' _I didn't think much on it either, but there's more. The way she talks, the way she holds herself and walks.'_ Specific memories were sent over the bond so Sideswipe could see exactly what Sunstreaker was talking about. Aj always walked with her shoulders back and her head held high as if she needed to make a presence for herself when she stepped into a room, but she also tended to walk in quick strides and she kept herself on the balls of her pedes while also always turning and keeping her shoulders facing any person she spoke to. It was the habits of a paranoid warrior. Her stride and stance showed she was always on alert. Sideswipe had taken notice of it, of course, but he hadn't marked the memory and saved it away to analyze or anything of the sort. Sunstreaker continued, ' _She does this thing… when she's thinking to herself she bites her lower lip.'_

_'A lot of people do that, Sunny.'_

He growled, ' _I'm telling you that I've seen_ her _do it before_.' Sunstreaker shook his head, _'And her signature? I_ know _that signature, Sides. Are you going to tell me lots of others have an energy signature that fragging short, too?'_

Sideswipe rubbed the back of his helm, ' _Maybe…Maybe she lives in our universe. Another version of her. Maybe you met her then?'_

Sunstreaker shook his head, _'I'd remember that. I've been going through all my memories, but no memory of her exists.'_

So now the twins had the problem of knowing the femme, but not actually knowing her. Sideswipe crossed his own arms, "I'm gonna tell her about us. Probably not everything, but…"

Sunstreaker shrugged, "Whatever."

The Medbay door opened and the twins ducked into Peter's room to stay hidden. They listened as Aj walked to the staircase and began to descend, "Hey kiddos! Ratchet wants you."

She disappeared down the stairs. Sideswipe grabbed his brother's arm and began to drag him toward the stairs. He was determined to get to the familiar femme now and talk this all out. Before Sunstreaker could complain that he didn't want to be there a voice called out to them, and it was a voice that was all too familiar to the troublemaking twins.

"Just the two mechs I was looking for."

"Yes, Prowl?" Sideswipe turned with a forced smile. He didn't have time to make small talk right now. Prowl stood in the office doorway with a neutral look drawn on his face. That neutral look worried Sideswipe more than a glare did. "We'd love to chat, Prowl, but you see we're kind of in a rush so…"

Prowl shook his head and stepped out of the doorway, "Get in here."

"We haven't even done anything." Sideswipe sighed then added, "Recently."

Sunstreaker shook his head at his twin before tearing away from him and heading towards the office where Prowl waited for them. Sideswipe mentally complained to Sunstreaker while loudly complaining to Prowl about this being unfair. Sunstreaker rubbed his chassis with narrowed eyes. He'd rather do just about anything other than talk to that femme right now.

* * *

 

The kids were upstairs being scanned by Ratchet at the moment. It wouldn't take long which meant the twins would come barreling downstairs any second now, but knowing knowledge hungry Peter, he'd want Wheeljack and Ratchet to explain the whole thing to him like they did with me. Who knows? Maybe the twins would decide to stick around for the lesson on energy signatures.

That gave me more time to get lunch set up though so I wasn't complaining. I pulled open the fridge and pulled out the loaf of bread, ham, and cheese. As I began to put together the sandwiches for the kids I felt eyes on me. I glanced over at the doorway to see Bumblebee jump when my eyes landed on him.

"Sorry!" He chirped and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Everyone is talking about your energy signature and I wanted to see it for myself."

I chuckled, "No worries, Bee. Wanna chat? I could use some company."

"Sure!"

Bumblebee jogged over and I quickly knelt down to pick him up and then set him on the counter by the loaf of bread. He curiously glanced over all the items I was using before I spoke up, "So, tell me something about you, Bee."

"Something about me?" He questioned, "Why?"

I shrugged and finished with Peter's sandwich that had extra meat and no cheese, "I'm just curious. I wanna know more about y'all is all."

"So something you don't already know?" Bumblebee pressed and I nodded. He paused before shrugging, "Well, what do you already know?"

I stopped making sandwiches briefly to think to myself, "Hmm. I know you work in Special Ops with Jazz as a Scout. I know you were adopted by Ironhide and…Chrome?"

"Chromia." Bumblebee corrected happily.

It had been something I heard the kids talking to Bee about who knows how many days ago. The only reason I remembered Ironhide's name was because it was mentioned more than Chromia's. I continued making Taylor's sandwich, "I think that's about it, honestly. I don't know much about you, Bee."

Bumblebee set one hand on the back of his neck and the other on his hip as he thought to himself. I chuckled to myself at the thinking pose he struck, but my thoughts didn't linger long on it as his face brightened excitedly, "Did you know I'm the youngest?"

I finished Taylor's sandwich and went through the now complicated process of sticking it in the microwave. Unlike her brothers, she preferred her sandwich hot rather than cold. I started it up and turned back to Bumblebee, "The youngest? Here?"

Bumblebee shook his head, "In the entire Autobot army." His face fell slightly, "I was one of the last sparks created before the Well of Allsparks just stopped."

"Well of Allsparks?" I questioned. The troubled look on Bumblebee's face made me frown. "What is that?"

He paused, "Ratchet might explain it better than me, or anyone else for that matter…"

"I'm sure you can do it fine." I replied.

Bumblebee nodded, "The Well of Allsparks is where we come from. It's where new sparks are created, but it's also where we go when we die."

My eyes widened, "What?" I set down the bread I was going to use for Tyler's sandwich and ignored the beeping of the microwave, "So it's where you're born and it's… it's your heaven?"

"I think so." Bumblebee nodded, "I mean, I think that's the comparison Ratchet used to explain it before."

"Why did it…stop?"

"Just like my spark gives me life, the Well of Allsparks gave our planet life. It was like our planet's spark." Bumblebee explained, "And you see, our planet was sick. Nobody really knows the exact reason, but they say that Primus closed the Well of Allsparks from making new sparks because of the war." He shrugged again, "It could be working again though. We haven't been home in a long time and we weren't able to make contact before we got sent here."

I began to work on Tyler's sandwich again when I heard the twins rushing down the stairs and into the living room. Today was a day for learning all sorts of things, but this fact made me kind of…sad? It was the look on Bumblebee's face that really broke my heart. It was obvious he missed home.

"So I always was confused about your ages." I quickly redirected the topic to something more lighthearted, "If your ages were translated over to a human's lifespan, how old do you think you'd be?"

Bumblebee chuckled, "Hm. I think… I think I would be around 20 years old? Maybe?"

"Really?" I pressed, "Only 20?"

"Bluestreak is only a little older than me. He'd be around…23?"

I grinned and finished Tyler's sandwich, which had extra cheese, "Kids! Lunchtime!" Quickly, I began to move their sandwiches to the table, but I wasn't done with this conversation, "What about everyone else?"

"Ratchet is the oldest. He'd probably be in his late-forties." Bumblebee said. I laughed at Ratchet being the oldest, but even then he wasn't super old. Late-forties wasn't that bad, but then again when translated back over in Cybertronian time it'd be God knows how many millions of years. "Ironhide is the second oldest out of the Autobots that landed on Earth. Optimus is third. He'd probably be in his late-thirties. Prowl, Jazz, and Wheeljack are around the same age. They'd be about mid-thirties. The twins are kind of young too compared to the officers." Bumblebee paused, "How old are you?"

"I'm 26 right now." I began to pour out drinks, "Guys! Come eat lunch!"

"Coming!" Tyler yelled back.

Bumblebee nodded, "I think the twins would be a little older than you. Maybe 30-ish?"

The kids rushed in and Tyler leaped onto his chair and began to inhale his food. I scolded him as I brought over his drink. Taylor skipped over to Bumblebee, "Hiya Bee. Wanna sit at the table with us?"

"Sure." Bumblebee chirped again and the little girl carried him over to the table.

"Where is Pete?"

"Wif Rafet." Tyler answered with a mouth full of ham sandwich. I reached over and used my fingers to force his lips together and he grinned at me with closed lips. A chuckle slipped my lips as I returned the smile in amusement.

Bumblebee sat in the center of the table casually, "I don't know about the cons. I think Megatron is older than Optimus, but definitely younger than Ratchet."

"Ratchet's just ancient isn't he?" I joked.

"I heard that, youngling."

I jumped and turned to see Peter standing in the doorway with Ratchet in his hands and Wheeljack on his shoulder. Wheeljack snickered to himself and I gave the medic a sheepish smile, "Hey there, Ratch. What's up?"

Peter lowered Ratchet, but Ratchet kept a steady glare on me the entire way down. When he reached the floor he grumbled something under his breath and walked over to the fridge. Peter opened it for him before heading over to the table to eat. I picked Wheeljack up off Peter's shoulder and set him on the ground.

"Do you guys know how old the cons are?" Bumblebee asked. "Well, how old they'd be if it was translated over to a human's lifespan?"

Wheeljack's fins brightened, "That is an curious concept. Let's see." He paused in thought before his fins lit up again, "The seeker trine are all the same age and I know Starscream would be around…33 human years old, is my estimate. Soundwave would be in that general timeframe, but a bit older, say…36?"

"What about Barricade?" Peter asked, jumping into the flow of the conversation.

Wheeljack shook his head, "I'm not sure of Barricade's age, actually."

"He'd probably fall in the same age range as the twins." Ratchet called out as he finished checking the coffee supply. He let the door shut, "Maybe 29?"

"I said 30." Bumblebee spoke up.

Ratchet nodded, "Sounds about right."

"Are we going to make cookies for Santa soon?" Taylor cut into the age conversation with a question of her own. Her sandwich was nearly finished while her twin was already done and was now picking the pieces of meat that had fallen from his sister's sandwich to the plate.

I nodded, "A bit later. Maybe after dinner. Ok?" Taylor nodded happily as the answer pleased her. My eyes landed on Wheeljack who was now looking at the hinges of the fridge. Rather than throw something at the tinkering engineer, I distracted him, "Hey, Jackie?"

"Hmm?" He turned and gave me his full attention.

"Tell me something about you I don't know yet."

Wheeljack chuckled and considered his options before speaking up again, "Before I came to work directly under Prime as Chief Engineer, I was a Wrecker."

"Based on what I've heard, you're still very good at wrecking." I teased.

Wheeljack chuckled, "No, no. The Wreckers are a special task force that gets called in when battles and missions take a turn for the worst."

"Wreckers are so cool!" Tyler cheered. He got out of his seat to tug on my arm as he spoke with excitement, "Peter read me all the comics about them! Wreck and rule!"

"The Wreckers are a wild bunch with zero strategy behind what they do." Ratchet snapped, "They just go in, guns a blazing. It's no wonder they burn through their roster as fast as they do. It also explains why this idiot", Ratchet smacked Wheeljack again who complained in response, "is so reckless in his lab."

Tyler paid no heed to Ratchet, "Can I be a Wrecker, Jack? Please? Please?"

Wheeljack went to reply, but a new voice cut in, "A Wrecker? An' 'ere I thought you were trainin' under meh, cadet."

I glanced over to see Jazz strolling into the kitchen. Tyler's eyes widened at Jazz before darting back to Wheeljack. He had a look of horror on his face as he mentally tried to choose between being considered a Wrecker or a Special Ops trainee. I chuckled and ruffled his hair before grabbing his dirty plate and glass. Taylor stuffed the last of her sandwich in her mouth and followed me with her own dirty plate in hand.

She set her dirty plate in the seat before heading back to Bumblebee. Taylor motioned out the kitchen and he nodded in response. I set Tyler's plate and glass down before watching them rush out of the kitchen.

"This is so hard!" Tyler cried in anguish.

"Most of the Wreckers are still stationed on Cybertron. So how about you finish your training with Jazz first?" Wheeljack offered.

Tyler looked relieved, "Thanks, Jack."

Peter asked something else about the Wreckers and Wheeljack walked closer to the table to talk to the kid while he finished his lunch. I glanced over at Jazz to see he was already staring at me. He offered me a smile when I noticed his gaze, "I ain't used to seein' your energy signature, sweetspark."

"I-" I began to speak, but noticed Ratchet leaving the kitchen, "Wait! Ratchet!"

He paused and glanced over at me, "What?"

"You can't leave until you tell me something I don't know about you yet!"

Ratchet scoffed and continued out the kitchen. If the grumpy medic thought that would be enough to stop me he was wrong.

* * *

 

The kids talked to their mom, we made cookies for Santa, all the wrapped Christmas presents in the house got moved under the tree, and now the kids were tucked in their beds fast asleep. My Christmas Eve to-do list was complete.

Well, nearly complete.

There was still the whole issue of having to put together three bikes. I struggled to put together a Christmas tree so God knows how difficult this is going to be. I had already talked to Bumblebee, Prowl, and Bluestreak and gave them strict instructions to make sure the kids did not wander around the house tonight if they woke up. The last thing I needed was for them to come into the garage as I constructed their bikes.

"I believe we can move to the next part now. Screw these pieces into those holes." Wheeljack instructed me. I had brought the engineer in here to help me out and so far it was going well. The bikes were coming together and nothing was blowing up. I consider that a victory.

I followed his instructions and let out a foggy breath. It was cold tonight, and sitting on the freezing garage floor wasn't helping keep me warm. Still, nothing could bring me down. Not only were the bikes coming along, but I had also succeeded in my fact-finding mission.

Ratchet had explained to me, after I pestered him for a good twenty minutes, about how he wasn't a soldier. He'd fight to his last breath to stand for the Autobot way and protect his comrades, but his primary mission was to heal. He joined Optimus as the Chief Medical Officer because he believed Prime was the best chance the universe had for peace.

I ended up talking to Bluestreak next, and the conversation leading up to me asking about something I didn't know about him took forever in itself. Bluestreak chose to tell me about the day his home city was destroyed by the Decepticons. I tried to tell him that he didn't have to talk about something as painful as that, but he had insisted that since I told them about my pain he could share his with me. Hearing how the young bot lost everything upset me to say the least. No wonder he was always talking so much. If you were constantly talking then you didn't have time to think about past memories. The entire conversation made me pissed at the Decepticons, but I convinced myself that I had to remain the neutral party in this household.

Grimlock actually shared with me as well, but he just told me more about the other dinobots. I knew other dinobots existed, but I hadn't known anything about them so it was an interesting conversation. Of course it ended with Grimlock promising me that he'd introduce me to them all and that he'd force them to like the 'dinobot pet' like he does. At least, I'm liked, right?

Prowl didn't know what to share, but Jazz who was with the bot at the time, butt in and told me about how Prowl hated him when they first met. The logical mech didn't disagree and actually smirked in response. It was all I got from them, but I saved away the information so I could ask more details about how the best friends met later.

Soundwave told me more about his cassettes: Laserbeak, Ravage, Frenzy, and Rumble. Thundercracker told me he used to be a writer, which was an interesting concept overall. It made sense that Cybertronians had author types, but it still surprised me. Starscream was a bit annoying to talk to because he kept trying to bargain with me and convince me to destroy Megatron for him, but he eventually let slip that he used to be some big shot scientist back before the war really picked up speed. Skywarp admitted to being the Decepticon prankster. He was quite proud of this title, but the moment he zoomed away Thundercracker elaborated that what Skywarp considered a prank was damn near homicidal. Here I was worrying about Sideswipe's possible pranks. I even got Megatron to talk to me. It was a rather brief conversation considering he seemed to be in a worse mood than normal, but he admitted to being a gladiator before the war. The best gladiator according to him.

The only ones I didn't get anything out of were Barricade, not a huge shock there, and the lambo twins.

"Have you already attached the front brake cable?" Wheeljack questioned.

"Uh, yes?" I guessed and tried to remember which part that was exactly.

Wheeljack nodded, "Great! Now we just need to attach the pedals and we're done! They are labeled right and left. Now, it is crucial that you install the pedal into the right crank arm because the threading is different and you could ruin it."

"Uh, sure." I replied and picked up the pedals. I had been trying to do every bike at the same time since they all had the same design. That meant I had three made bikes that were just missing their pedals. "Thanks for helping me out, Jackie."

"It's my absolute pleasure, Aj! Anything for the younglings." Wheeljack replied cheerily. The two of us worked together and in ten minutes I had the pedals on and I didn't ruin the threading in the crank arm, whatever that meant.

I clapped my hands and then tried to rub away the black grease marks littering my palms and fingers, "Done. That wasn't so hard."

"You did very well, Aj." Wheeljack praised me, but I think we both knew that the only reason these things got done was because of his instruction.

"Thanks." I replied again with a low chuckle, "Now, I just have to put on the twins' training wheels. You said you had to switch out with Prowl, right? You can go on inside."

Wheeljack tilted his head, "Are you positive?"

"I'm fully capable of handling training wheels on my own." I answered and walked him to the door. As he disappeared around the corner I mumbled to myself, "Hopefully."

It couldn't be that hard. All you had to do was screw the damn things onto the back wheel right? I could do this. I had a Bachelor's degree in Cell Biology. I could do this.

Before getting started, I rolled Peter's bike to the center of the garage, opened the kickstand, and then stuck a bow on the front. Then I went back and got started on the other two bikes. I was relieved to see that it was as easy as I hoped it'd be and I got done with Taylor's in about ten minutes or so. Her bike went right next to Peter's with a matching red bow.

"They look good." I set down the training wheel I had picked up and glanced over at the doorway to see Sideswipe walk in. He was alone, and the first question that ran through my head was Sunstreaker's whereabouts. "Did Jackie help you?"

I nodded, "Yeah. He did."

"Can't believe you let him near the younglings' gifts." Sideswipe continued across the garage until he stood right next to me.

"He instructed and I did the physical work. Besides, I seriously doubt Wheeljack could turn kids' bicycles into something that could explode."

"Famous last words." Sideswipe chuckled.

I gave him one more nod before picking up the training wheel again, "So where's your cheerful twin?"

"He didn't want to be here for this."

"Be here for what?"

Sideswipe's lips twitched up into the shadows of a smile, but it was mellow and bittersweet compared to his usual wide grins, "You said you wanted to know more about us, didn't you?"

The hand that was using the wrench to tighten the training wheel onto the larger wheel froze in surprise. I'm sure my facial expression froze in surprise as well. It took a moment before I spoke again, "Wait, really?"

"You still want to know?"

I finished tightening the first training wheel and then set the wrench down. Another chill ran through my body and I shivered in the hoodie I was wearing. Finally, I gave the red mech a nod, "Yeah, I do."

"Great!" Sideswipe chirped and took a seat across from me. His back was leaning against the back tire of Tyler's bike. He stretched his legs out in front of me, so his foot was an inch or so away from my knee, and then he crossed his arms and began to speak, "Where is your carrier? And your sire?"

I narrowed my eyes, "I thought we were going to talk about _your_ past, not _mine_."

"This is a give and take conversation, babe." Sideswipe replied, "Work with me here." He paused before continuing, "Your equivalent would be…parents? The terms carrier and sire don't translate over well. I don't like the English words for them."

"Then just keep calling them parents, or mom and dad."

"I don't like that either." Sideswipe replied.

It was silent in the garage for a moment. I pulled my sleeves past my hands some. Now that I wasn't working it was even colder. With a sigh, I crossed my arms tightly across my chest, hoping to stay warm, and then spoke, "My mom died when I was thirteen. She just got sick one day and then a week later she was gone." I bit my lower lip and then scoffed, "It was just Aubrey, Dad, and me then. A year passed, and I… I wasn't better, but I was getting there. I didn't break down into sobs every time I thought about her at that point. I was fourteen years old. I had just started high school, just made the volleyball team… We got back home from school one day, and Dad wasn't there. He usually got home before us because we stayed late at school for practice and choir and stuff like that, but when we got home that day he just wasn't there. He left us a note." The memory replayed in my head in like it was only yesterday. I still remember how we stayed strong. We lived on our own for a couple days before someone noticed our missing father. I remember the betrayal, the sting, the absolute heartache.

"What did the note say?" Sideswipe pressed.

"It said, _'Sorry. I love you both._ '" I answered softly, "He loved us so much that he _abandoned_ us. He just left a 14 year old and a 16 year old to completely fend for themselves. He took the car so we didn't have transportation, neither of us had jobs so that meant no income." I let out a sad chuckle, "We were going to try and do it all on our own, get jobs and stuff, but he got claimed as deceased. That meant our house and most of our stuff got taken from us. Then we got moved to a foster home before we could even try."

Sideswipe didn't reply and I didn't offer anymore. I didn't like talking about my dad because 12 years had passed and yet it still stung. I still felt the echoes of heartache every time I thought about the quickly written note.

"We lost our…parents." Sideswipe spoke up and my eyes widened, "It was really early on. Sunny and I honestly don't even remember that much about them. We lived in Kaon, which has never been the nicest city on Cybertron. Even before the decepticons took it over the place was horrible. Mechs and femmes died all the time, so two younglings losing their parents wasn't all too surprising." He crossed one leg over the other, "We grew up on the streets, and that played a huge part in making us who we are now. Sunny said I could only tell you one thing, but I get to choose. So, I can't really talk much about our days on the streets."

I wanted to hear more about their days on the streets if it meant I got to find out what made them who they are now, but beggars can't be choosers, "Alright."

"Sometimes, mechs get taken off the streets and they get forced into the gladiator rings." Sideswipe said then shook his head, "But that wasn't us. We _chose_ to become gladiators. It was the better of two options."

"What was the other option?"

"Offlining." The red mech shrugged, "We knew how to fight, it was something we picked up off the streets, and together…we were kind of unstoppable. As we got older, the fights got harder and worse, but at the time we didn't even notice the change. We didn't notice that we were changing. Our core personality was still there, but we were becoming…colder, I suppose."

I nodded in understanding, "It's a gradual fall. The type where you don't even know you're falling until you hit rock bottom."

Sideswipe gave me a soft smile, "That's a good way to put it." He uncrossed his arms and rubbed the back of his neck, "We hit rock bottom and it was bad. I didn't recognize who I was anymore, and Sunny…I didn't recognize my brother. So we got out. We had enough credits to get out of it all. We pursued our other skills. I became a trader and Sunny changed his designation and started working on his art. It was something he didn't even realize he was good at until he got bored and tried it between gladiator fights, but-"

"Wait." I interrupted, "He changed his designation? To what?"

"To Sunstreaker." Sideswipe replied, "I picked it out."

My eyes widened, "Then…What was his na- designation before?"

Sideswipe paused and it looked like he was listening to his brother in his head. He chuckled, "This is what I get to tell you. His name was Spin-Out."

"Sideswipe and Spin-Out." I mumbled to myself. It didn't have the same ring to it, but I suspected that was just because I had become so accustomed to hearing it said a different way. "Why did he change it?"

"He didn't want to be Spin-Out anymore."

The simple answer reminded me of my conversation with Optimus earlier today. Sunstreaker didn't want to be Spin-Out and I didn't want to be Aimee. That's ironic.

"There's not much else to know." Sideswipe stood up and shrugged, "We got bored. The war started to pick up speed, it came knocking on our front door actually. Mega-aft destroyed the docks where I did most of my work. We met Ratchet, and Jazz, and then eventually Prime. Then we joined the Autobots."

"Is that why you joined? To get back at Megatron for destroying the docks?"

"There were a couple reasons we joined, and not all of them were very Autobot-like." Sideswipe admitted, "That's a story for another day though. I can't tell you everything now."

I scoffed, "Why?"

Sideswipe put his hands on his hips and just gave me a cheesy grin instead of replying.

I shook my head and picked my wrench back up. I seriously needed to get this bike finished and get the hell out of the freezing garage. As I began to attach the other training wheel, I thought aloud, "I always thought we had some things in common, but I guess I was mostly wrong."

"You don't think we have anything in common?" Sideswipe pressed, "You _were_ listening to my story, right?"

"We have a few things in common, but it doesn't feel right to try and compare myself to y'all." I explained, "You guys had it worse. I always had a roof over my head; I never had to choose between my life and someone else's. My fights don't end in death."

Sideswipe frowned, "Just because you think someone might have it worse than you doesn't mean you have to belittle your own experience. Besides, Sunny and I both agree that you had it worse in some ways."

My eyes widened and I paused in tightening the wheel, "What? How?"

"We went through a lot of slag, but in the end we always had each other. Sunny and I…we were _never_ alone." Sideswipe said and his words cut straight through me. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and continued with the bike in front of me. "Our parental figures died, but one of yours chose to leave you. Your sister left you. That fragger that came to the door left you. We all had fragging awful experiences, but at least Sunny and I had someone beside us."

He made a good point.

Sideswipe shook his head, "How do you do it? How do you handle it?"

How did I handle it? My mind reached back to the sting I felt when Dad left us. The painful hole it left in my chest that constantly ached like an open wound. I put on a brave face and I forced myself to keep moving. I did it for Aubrey. Then I thought about when Aubrey left. The first night she was gone when I was in our room alone while everyone else in the shared house slept. I didn't have anyone to be strong for at that point. So instead I leaned against the wall and quietly sobbed until my entire body ached, until I couldn't breathe, until my eyes and face were sore. Being alone was painful. It was those moments that hurt me the worst. Forget cracking my skull open, forget having my ribs broken, or my face beaten until it was purple and blue. Being abandoned, being left alone left the worst wounds because while everything else healed, these wounds lingered on my soul. The only thing that pacified the hurt, that made me push the pain aside, was the thought that I'd never have to feel that way again as long as I kept people at arm's distance.

"Aj?"

My eyes snapped to Sideswipe who stared at me. I broke my gaze away and continued to fix the bike, "Being alone is… _hard_. It hurts at first, like a pain you couldn't imagine, but…it gets easier. Sort of." It never got easier, but I got better at managing the pain. "It's kind of like fighting. The first few times you feel _every_ blow, the pain is overwhelming and it's everywhere, but then by your twentieth, thirtieth fight…you're used to it. You're just kind of…numb to it, I guess."

The fact that I let the kids get this close was hard to think about because I knew at some point I'd have to leave. I'd have to go back to my apartment in New York by myself. I wouldn't hear the kids playing in the room beside me, I wouldn't hear them in the kitchen digging thought the pantry. I would be alone again and it would be the worst pain of all.

"Why did you guys decided to tell me all this?" I asked in hopes to change the topic away from what it was on. Tyler's bike was done so I stood up and rolled it over to the other side of Peter's bike. I set the bow on the handlebars and turned to look at Sideswipe who was staring at me, but obviously having a conversation in his head.

He glanced away briefly and then looked right back at me, "We don't really know. We were going to tell you earlier today, but Prowl had us doing every odd job possible in this house." Sideswipe paused, "You seem…familiar to us."

"Familiar?"

"Yeah." Sideswipe admitted, "It's hard to explain, honestly."

"Thanks. Regardless of the reason, thanks for sharing. Tell Sunstreaker I said thanks too." I nodded once, "Now come on, let's go in before I freeze to death. Besides, I have stockings to fill."

I bent over and picked the red mech up. Sideswipe seemed startled at first, but he settled in my hand as I walked out of the garage. The heat from the house hit me and I could feel blood rush to my cheeks.

No more walking down memory lane or searching out facts. I had to start my newest mission and that was to create the perfect Christmas day.


	16. Christmas

* * *

_"When Santa squeezes his fat ass down that chimney he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse." –Clark W. Griswold (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation)_

* * *

 

I stood at the base of the stairs in a pair of yoga pants and a baggy t-shirt. My hair was thrown up in a messy bun, and my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. Were the Christmas gifts under the tree? _Check_ , but if Grimlock had to wait any longer for his surprise he might lose it. All bots and cons accounted for? _Double check_. They were sitting around the living room. Some, like Ratchet, were whining about me dragging them down there but others, like Bluestreak and Bumblebee, were ecstatic to partake in the Christmas celebration. Cookies and milk were partially eaten? _Check_. Bikes ready in the garage? _Check_. Stockings filled with candy? _Check_.

It looked like everything was in place and everything was ready. All I was missing were the kids who were still asleep in bed. It wasn't that they were sleeping in late. Technically, it wasn't even eight yet. I had woken up around 5 in the morning and was unable to go back into slumber due to being ridiculously nervous. Today had to be perfect. It just had to be.

The clock struck 8 and I forced myself to take a deep breath. I could do this. I've faced bigger obstacles, tougher opponents. Christmas couldn't take me down. I wouldn't let it. A small, determined smile spread across my lips before I quickly sucked in another breath.

" _Have a holly, jolly Christmas_!" I sang loudly up the stairs, " _It's the best time of the year_." The small talk in the living room died down as heads twisted to stare at me in confusion, " _I don't know, if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer. Have a holly, jolly Christmas, and when you walk down the street-_ "

I stopped singing when I heard doors open and slam shut. A grin spread across my lips as the kids, with messy hair and wrinkled pajamas, sprinted out of their rooms and stopped at the top of the stairs with bright eyes and wide smiles.

"Merry Christmas, sleepy heads!" I exclaimed.

Taylor didn't even bother with words. She let out a high-pitched excited scream and sprinted down the stairs ignoring my words to be careful. She jumped off the third to last stair and tackled me in a tight hug. Tyler and Peter rushed down as well. By time they got to the bottom, Taylor was speaking a million miles per hour as she pulled the stockings off the stairs. The boys both gave me quick hugs and well wishes before Taylor handed them their stockings.

"Santa brought me _twizzlers_!" Tyler yelled as he jumped in place. The small boy was already trying to rip the wrapping off the candy.

I cleared my throat and all kids paused to look at me. With a smirk, I nodded my head towards the living room where the tree sat with presents galore. Their eyes widened and they took off into the living room. The poor kids just couldn't contain their exhilaration. They didn't know whether to talk to the mechs, grab their presents, or enjoy their stockings.

"Merry Christmas!" Taylor yelled to the mechs as she bounced in place. She threw herself onto the couch between the hoard of mechs and began to prattle on about what Santa put in her stocking.

Tyler tossed his stocking onto the coffee table and pointed to the tree, "Can we open gifts? _Please_?! Can we, Aj!?"

"Santa ate our cookies too!" Taylor cried loudly pointing to the plate with crumbs. Megatron scoffed at the statement, probably thinking back to an hour ago when I shoved half the cookies down my own throat. I gave him a sickly sweet smile and then drew a line across my neck with my finger threatingly.

Without missing a beat, I clapped my hands, "Alright, y'all. We're opening gifts Bradshaw style." My mind briefly thought back to Christmas when I was a kid. Aubrey probably opened gifts with the kids in the same way. "You three take a seat."

Taylor, Tyler, and Peter scrambled to the floor where I pointed. The three of them sat next to the couch in a row. The mechs were mostly keeping to themselves as they watched all this unfold. According to Ratchet, this was their first Earth Christmas. That only made me want to make today that much more perfect.

"Everyone gets their first gift, but youngest opens first." I smirked and bent down, "Peter? You wanna help me pass out the first few gifts?"

"Yeah!" He chirped and jumped up. I handed him the twins' gifts from their mom and his own. Peter handed them to his siblings and then set his down before turning back to me, "Grimlock, since you did such a good job protecting the surprise, you can open yours this round."

The twins opened their gifts first and cheered in excitement. The first things they had opened were the Jenga game and the Barbie dolls. Taylor showed Grimlock the dolls happily and the dinobot glanced over at me in response as if thinking back to when I warned him not to destroy them. I gave him a wink and Peter began to open his own. He laughed at the Percy Jackson book series and explained about how badly he had wanted to read them for. Grimlock tore into his gift next and was briefly confused at the rope, but became eager when Tyler explained they could play tug'o'war.

"Get up here, Ty." I nodded and began to hand him the next round of gifts, "Since Bee and Blue are the youngest mechs, they get to be in this round."

Tyler handed gifts to his siblings before giving Bumblebee and Bluestreak their gifts. The kids opened their own, which were the shirts this time, then the bots opened theirs.

"What is it?" Sideswipe said nosily as the mechs tore the wrapping paper off their gifts. "Hurry up!"

"It's an obstacle course!" Bumblebee exclaimed as he looked over the box.

Taylor bounced where she sat, "You can drive through it like a racing course! I picked it out! Do you like it?"

"I love it, Taylor! Thank you!" Bumblebee replied and the little girl squealed before scooping the bot up in a hug.

I smiled warmly at the moment before glancing over at Bluestreak who began to speak, "Are these targets? What are these weapons? They don't shoot real ammunition do they? They probably don't since Aj let you buy them."

"It's a dart gun that I can use so me and you can shoot at the targets together!" Tyler explained, "Because I always wanted to see you shoot and now we can!"

For a moment, I let the room enjoy the excitement over the toys. The bots and cons seemed impressed by the target practice and obstacle course and they became livelier as they spoke to the kids.

"Taylor, wanna help me with round three?"

Taylor set Bumblebee down and rushed over. I handed her the next round of presents, "These go to the twins, and this one goes to Barricade."

The little girl nodded and began to pass them out, but I kept my eyes on Barricade. He was leaning against the coffee table with a glare. I tensed when Taylor came over to hand him his gift.

"Here you go, Barricade. Merry Christmas!" She said cheerily. All eyes shot to the con who didn't move immediately. My eyes narrowed slightly, but apparently the con's curiosity overcame his bitterness. He nodded at the girl before taking the gift. Taylor rushed back over to her own gift and they began to rip them open. These were the last gifts from their mom, not including the bikes from Santa, and they seemed pumped at the bags that were given to them.

Taylor held hers up proudly, "Bee! You're on my lunchbox!"

"How come I'm never on these bags?" Skywarp demanded. Thundercracker hushed him in response.

The mech twins opened theirs next and Sideswipe laughed at all the pranking knick-knacks he got. He said something in Cybertronian, which made Ratchet scoff before glaring at me as if saying that I was to blame for whatever was to come. They thanked us, though I gave all the credit to the kids, and Sideswipe even offered hugs. Sunstreaker wasn't giving out hugs, but his face wasn't as angry looking as it usually was which I assumed meant he was pleased about the art supplies. I caught his eye and he gave me a brief nod before looking away.

Barricade began to open his gift and he looked confused at the punching bag. I chuckled, "Now you have something to beat up other than me. If it makes you really happy I could stick a picture of my face on there."

The con hissed something at me in his language. Megatron, of all the mechs in the room, spat something at him in their language. There was a pause before Barricade let out a long-winded sigh as if this was the most taxing thing on Earth, "Thank you, organic filth."

I nodded, "You're very welcome, Barricade." My eyes went back to the kids, "Next round?"

Peter handed out the gifts I got the kids along with handing out gifts to Wheeljack, Jazz, Prowl, Soundwave, and the seeker trine. I grew a bit worried as they opened the gifts I got for them. When I bought them, I figured they'd like the toys, but now the thought plagued me of _'what if they didn't like them'_? Luckily, the worry died quickly when Tyler got his gift open first, "A remote controlled car! This is so cool! I can drive with the other mechs now!"

"Aj!" Taylor squealed, "I always wanted this thank you thank you thank you!"

"Whoa." Peter said with wide eyes at the science kit dealing with lights, "This is awesome! Jack, could you do this with me?"

Wheeljack tilted his head and his fins lit up, "Of course! We could even add more to it and-"

"Alright", I interrupted, "How about you open your own gift instead of planning ways to make Pete's gift go _boom_?"

The others chuckled at Wheeljack's expense, but the bot took it all in stride. The seekers opened theirs first and seemed rather impressed by the pillows. Enough so that they flew up to the top of the Entertainment system to place them there immediately.

"What are these? Flying coupons?" Starscream sneered at the pieces of paper.

I smirked, "It was the kids' idea. I'll let you out to fly around the neighborhood later if you want."

"Really?" Thundercracker pressed with surprise. I nodded and he chuckled to himself.

"Frag yeah!" Skywarp yelled and ignored Ratchet who yelled at him about language around the kids, "We've been inside way too long."

The seekers continued to speak to each other, though they switched to their own language. Soundwave opened his next. He didn't exactly have facial expression that I could read, but according to his monotone words he was pleased with the human language book. Wheeljack began to open his gift and his eyes widened at the build-it-yourself plane and toolkit. Peter and him began to speak to each other about building the plane and the light kit I bought him. Jazz opened his next, and before he could even begin to ask about the iTunes card, Taylor cut in.

"It's a $15 dollar card and you can use it on Aj's ipod to buy music. Right, Aj?" Taylor grinned, "She said you could use her iPod. Isn't that right?"

I chuckled and nodded, "That's right."

Jazz grinned at me and I rolled my eyes at him. Prowl opened his gift next and the stern faced mech actually looked surprised at the crystal growing kit. I mentally cursed. Too bad Peter didn't open his crystal growing kit this round. Stuck in my thoughts, I didn't catch what Peter had said to Prowl, but I did noticed Prowl looking at me with the ' _Art of War'_ in his hands.

"Hmm?" I questioned.

"This is yours?"

I shrugged, "Well, not anymore." I rubbed the back of my neck, "Sorry it's used. I wrote all in it and stuff, but it just seemed like something you might enjoy."

Prowl nodded, "Thank you."

"Next round?" Tyler bounced up ready to go. I chuckled and handed him the last of the kids' gifts under the tree and then also Optimus' gift and Megatron's gift. Peter loved his own crystal growing kit and showed it to Prowl who smiled at him in returned and told him he'd help him out in this sense. Taylor beamed when she saw the stuffed bear and clutched it to her chest tightly. Tyler opened his own and I swore his eyes nearly fell out of his head they widened so much, "A spy kit! This is amazing! Jazz look!"

"I see it, little man." Jazz chuckled.

Megatron hadn't waited around and had his gift already opened. He seemed confused over the Starscream plushy, but the kids laughed and told him he could beat it up without hurting the real Starscream. The look on his face suggested Megatron didn't like the idea of not hurting the actual seeker, but he nodded to the kids. I was actually surprised with how civil he was being. How civil they were all being, honestly. No fighting, no arguing, and Megatron even got Barricade to say thanks. It was almost too good to be true. He looked at the ' _glitter remove_ r' which was honestly just a bottle of hand sanitizer that I wrote ' _glitter remover_ ' on and then leveled a glare at me. I grinned in response.

Sideswipe's loud laughter made me glance over at Optimus. There were others chuckling, nearly everyone was, but Sideswipe had been the loudest and now he was lying on his back holding his chest as the laughter racked his body. A chuckle left my own lips.

"Laugh all you'd like." Optimus spoke up as he wore the bright green sweater that read ' _Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal_ ' on the front in all caps. "But I like it very much. Thank you, Taylor, Tyler, Peter, and Aj."

I shrugged, "Hey, this was all the kids' idea."

"Last round!" Taylor jumped up, "Ratchet gets to open his gift and now you get to open yours, Aj!"

Last night when we had carried all the gifts downstairs I had seen the kids put a poorly wrapped gift under the tree that I hadn't recognized. They must have bought it when they were out with Joanna. Where they got the money I had no clue. Taylor gave Ratchet his gift and then set my gift in my lap. I glanced over at Ratchet, "How come I have to open my gift with old man Ratchet?"

"Hush, youngling." Ratchet snapped, as the kids laughed, "Don't make me hit you on Christmas."

I chuckled and let Ratchet open his first. He nodded at the medical book and glanced up at me, "Not bad."

"Now I don't have to listen to you read the dictionary out loud."

Taylor tugged at my hand, "Open yours!"

"Ok, ok." I chuckled and began to tear open the wrapping paper. The first thing I noticed was that it was a black t-shirt. It looked like it was a little too big for me, but that just meant I got to wear it as a casual shirt. I lifted up the shirt and burst into laughter at the sight of what decorated the front. In the center sat an Autobot face, but the top of the Autobot face had a cutout of the medical cross. The bottom of the Autobot's face was covered by two wrenches, which made it look like a version of the skull and crossbones. Over the top of it all in the shape of an arch were the words ' _Ratchet's Repair Bay'._ "This is great. Thanks, kids."

I turned the shirt around and held it up to my chest so the mechs in the room could see. They were just amused by it as I was and even Ratchet cracked a small smile.

Peter grinned, "It's even better now because you're giving off Ratchet's guardian signal!"

"Oh yeah." I laughed in remembrance. "This is fantastic, guys. Thank you. Really."

Optimus cleared his throat making us all glance over at him curiously. The kids had their full attention on the bot, but I was still snickering under my breath at the sight of the Autobot commander in a Christmas sweater. It was a sight worth seeing, "We have gifts for the younglings as well."

The kids cheered in anticipation, but my eyebrows just rose in surprise. Gifts for the kids? How in the world had they gotten gifts for the kids? It wasn't like they could go out to the neighborhood Wal-Mart and pick something up. My face scrunched up in confusion, "By we you mean…?"

"All of us." Megatron answered roughly. He gave Optimus a small glare before smiling smugly at me, "It was a collaboration, if you will."

"As a thank you for welcoming us into your home. I know it isn't always easy." Optimus finished.

Tyler beamed, "What is it?"

I had expected one of the bots to pull something out of their subspace for the kids, but instead Skywarp flew right by my head and landed in the branches behind me. Nervously, I shifted in my seat so I was half facing the seeker. He grabbed three small circles, which were probably a little bit larger than a quarter and just as thin. The gifts were wrapped in wrapping paper and I laughed at the sight of it. They had even wrapped the gifts. Skywarp stepped onto my shoulder and stared at all the circles with narrowed eyes.

"Oh for Primus sake, red goes to Peter, green goes to Taylor, and the light blue goes to Tyler. Stupid fragger." Sunstreaker scoffed.

Skywarp glared at the bot and began to snap something back when Ratchet began to threaten the yellow bot and yell at him about language in front of the younglings. It would've been funnier if Ratchet didn't consider me to be one of the younglings. The seeker hopped off my shoulder and handed the gifts out. The kids were quick to tear into them and I leaned closer to see what exactly it was.

"Whoa…" Peter breathed and the twins had the same look of amazement across their features. Each kid had a silver coin in his or her hands of smooth metal. On one side of the coin were weird markings scratched into the metal and above the markings was a small hole where a chain or leather string could be strung through. "This is…this is Cybertronian, isn't it?"

I watched as Taylor traced her finger over the etched lines and Tyler rubbed the smooth metal with his own. Wheeljack's fins lit up, "It is, Peter! You see, most of us carry a sort of…sheet metal that we use to dress injuries in combat. It's not the same density and make-up as our actual armor, but it's a lightweight version that stands for quick fixes out in the field. We took some, both from the Decepticons and ourselves, and melted them down to create the coin like shape you see. Then we had Sunstreaker carve Cybertronian into the pieces. "

The kids and I glanced over at Sunstreaker who narrowed his eyes in response, "What? Did you think we were going to get fragging Barricade to do it or something?"

"Do I even want to know how you guys melted down this metal?" I questioned. The kids were watching as Ratchet hit Sunstreaker over the head as the medic scolded him for not heeding his warning on language.

Jazz grinned, "Nope."

I rolled my eyes in response and Peter turned his attention away from Sunstreaker who was using his brother as a shield from Ratchet, "What do they say?"

"It's your designations!" Bumblebee replied happily.

Bluestreak explained further, "Well, not your real designations. Human names don't translate well over to our language mostly because our designations aren't really a collection of letters, but more a single symbol that represents us."

"They say Fireflight, Lightspeed, and Starlight." Prowl answered the original question. The kids' faces lit up with excitement at the idea that they had their names, fake names at least, written out in Cybertronian. I made a mental note to question them later about their names more. Bluestreak's statement had made me pretty curious about how their names worked. I mean, all of their names seemed rather random. One of them was named Bumblebee for crying out loud.

"Alright, guys, what do you say?" I pressed. Peter, Tyler, and Taylor began to quickly thank the mechs for their gifts as they happily explained how much they truly loved them and how they couldn't wait to get a chain or something so they could wear it as a necklace. I could always pick something up from the store for them to use. I opened my mouth to say more, but the kids suddenly rushed across the room and tackled me in a hug. A cry of surprise left my lips as I fell backwards with them on top of me yelling out how thankful they were. I forced myself back up with my arms around the kids as I returned the hug, "Course, guys. I love you."

Tyler pulled away as a sudden realization hit him and took full control of his attention span, "Wait, where's our gift from Santa?"

"Oh!" I chirped and reached back to the tree where a note was settled in between the branches. It was a scrap of notebook paper that I had Optimus write on for me so the kids wouldn't recognize my handwriting, "He left this."

I handed it to Peter who read the single word out loud for his siblings to hear, "Garage?"

There was a pause before the word clicked in the minds of all three kids and they turned and sprinted out of the room. I grinned at the mechs before jogging after the kids. They got there way before me, but I heard their cries of excitement from the kitchen.

"Aj!" Tyler yelled, "He brought us bikes!"

"Mine has Rainbow Dash on it!" Taylor squealed.

"This is awesome." Peter said in disbelief.

I crossed my arms, "How about you guys go upstairs and get some real clothes on, eat a quick breakfast, and then you can go out riding."

They didn't even reply to me. Instead, they ran past me to go get ready upstairs. "Keep those coins in your room so you don't lose them!" I shouted up the stairs and got a faint reply. With a chuckle, I shook my head and headed back towards the living room to start cleaning up the mess of wrapping paper. I was stopped at the front door by the seeker trine.

"We'd like to use these." Skywarp said smugly and held up his coupon.

"Keep the coupons for a rainy day." I replied and opened the front door for them, "Today's on me. Just be careful out there. Don't talk to anyone and don't bring too much attention to yourselves."

Starscream scoffed before taking off. Skywarp was right behind him, but Thundercracker gave me a small smile before taking off himself. I shut the door and continued into the living room. Soundwave, Megatron, and Barricade had made themselves scarce, but wherever they had gone to they took their gifts with them. Prowl was on the couch curiously flipping through the pages of the book that was nearly half his size. Sunstreaker was taking a closer look at the art supplies we got him as Sideswipe helped Bumblebee open the obstacle course racetrack. Wheeljack was searching though his new mini toolbox, though it didn't have much in it and the things that were in it weren't made for someone larger than him. Ratchet, on the other hand, stood beside Wheeljack and wearily glanced from the toolbox to the boxed airplane in front of him. It was as if he were mentally going over how many injuries he'd have to fix thanks to it.

I didn't see Grimlock around the room, but I assumed he had wandered off to the kitchen or maybe even the garage. Quickly, I began to push all the wrapping paper into one large pile so I could just carry it into the kitchen and throw it away, but I was forced to stop when Optimus grabbed my attention.

"Aj?"

"What's up, OP?" I paused in my movements. He was standing on the coffee table so I sat down in front of him to talk. A grin lit my features, "The sweater looks good on you."

Optimus looked amused at my words but he didn't comment further. My eyes glanced over and watched as Jazz jumped up to grab the edge of the coffee table and them pull himself up. He sent me a wide grin before stopping next to Optimus.

I narrowed my eyes, but an entertained smile remained on my lips, "What is this about? Don't you know you're not supposed to hold interventions on Christmas?"

"Ya know, we never got that memo." Jazz chuckled.

Optimus shook his head, "We have a gift for you as well."

My eyes widened in surprise, "For me? You guys really didn't have to. What you got the kids is thanks enough."

"But it isn't." Optimus replied, "We will forever be in your debt for taking us in as you have. I am aware that it isn't the easiest situation and you have enough troubles as is, but we'd truly like you to know how grateful we are."

"It's…It's _nothing_. I just…yeah. I should thank you. The kids love that you're here." I replied awkwardly and teased, "And I don't mind having y'all around either. Most days."

Both mechs chuckled and Jazz crossed his arm, "We're still givin' ya your gift, sweetspark."

"We chose to do so separately because I wanted to stress that this gift is from the Autobots." Optimus said firmly. My eyebrow rose slightly at his words. It seemed strange that he wanted my gift to be only from the Autobots. It was like he was purposely risking the fragile peace that existed between Autobots and Decepticons, but I didn't understand why. "We wanted to officially welcome you as an honorary Autobot."

Jazz pulled something out of his subspace and it was larger than a coin, but still made of the same metal. I took it from his hand and glanced over it. The material was the same and it was the same shade of dull silver, but it was a band that was shaped in a 'C'. I glanced up to see that not only were the two mechs in front of me staring at me, but the other bots in the room were as well.

My eyes darted back down to the bracelet when I noticed something carved into mine as well. In the center of the band was the Autobot face carved into the metal. I ran my finger over it lightly before slipping my left wrist into the band. It fit on my wrist perfectly in a way that kept it from moving around, but it wasn't so tight that it hurt.

I put a firm smile on my face and nodded at them, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"We're gonna eat pop-tarts, Aj!" Peter yelled suddenly. I glanced over to see the kids run into the kitchen. Seconds later the pantry door was thrown open. I gave the bots one last smile before grabbing the torn wrapping paper and taking it into the kitchen where the kids were at the table stuffing the boxed pastry down their throats.

"Hey, slow down. The bikes aren't going anywhere!" I laughed, "Are you sure you don't want more to eat? I can make waffles or eggs or-"

"We're good!" Taylor replied quickly before continuing to eat. The kids were dressed well enough that I didn't think I needed to send them back upstairs for more clothes. They had long pants, jackets, and socks, which would cover all exposed skin. I was tempted to have them go grab hats or maybe a scarf, but before I could express my thoughts they were done and running toward the garage. Taylor paused and turned to yell, "Bee! Come see my new bike!"

She didn't wait for a reply and ran out the door. I leaned against the garage doorway and hit the garage door opener on the wall. The metal door began to groan as it slid up letting Christmas morning light fill the room. As the kids ripped the bows off their bikes and tossed them aside I felt a bot walk up next to my leg. I glanced down and grinned when I spotted Prowl, "Perfect. Do me a favor, Prowl, and keep an eye on them? I wanna change into something warmer."

"Of course." He replied and stepped into the garage.

"Stay out of the road and listen to Prowl! I'll be back!" I shouted at the kids before heading inside. Bluestreak and Bumblebee rushed by me towards the garage followed by a walking Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Grimlock who carried his tug-o-war rope in his mouth. Before turning into the foyer I caught sight of even Megatron, Soundwave, and Barricade heading toward the garage. It didn't surprise me. The mechs had been stuck inside all this time and now I was giving them a chance to step outside and stretch their legs. Most people wouldn't be out walking through the neighborhood this early today anyways.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were coming out of the living room as I got to the middle of the foyer. Sideswipe threw his arms out with a wide grin, "Merry Christmas, babe."

"Merry Christmas to you too, darling." I teased back.

He beamed, "Aren't you staying outside with the younglings?"

"I wanna put some more clothes on." I replied, "You guys heading out?"

Sideswipe shouted his answer before transforming and driving to the garage. Sunstreaker hesitated for a moment, which made me stop in my tracks as well. He crossed his arms, "Thank you."

"It sounded like it hurt a little to say that." I mocked in good fun, "Did it hurt? Are you ok?" Sunstreaker scoffed at me, but I refused to stop there, "It was my _absolute pleasure_ to buy you some art supplies, Bob Ross. Now you can paint happy trees and-"

Sunstreaker snapped in Cybertronian before turning on his heel and heading toward the garage. The look on his face had been one that resembled the thoughts of _'why do I even bother?_ '

"It's even funnier because Bob Ross used to be in the military!" I shouted at Sunstreaker who was out of sight already. I was fully aware that teasing Sunstreaker was like playing with fire, but it'd already been established that I make poor life decisions. Plus, I was at 15 with the number of nicknames I've given him. I couldn't stop now.

Rather then head straight upstairs, I decided to go into the living room first to grab my new shirt. Optimus and Jazz had still been in there speaking, but they were on their way out when I came in. I grabbed the shirt and then scooped Jazz up off the ground in one swift motion.

"I'm stealing your TIC." I grinned, "Hope you don't mind, OP."

"Not at all." Optimus replied before heading toward the garage himself.

I jogged up the stairs with a chuckling Jazz, "Ya can kidnap me any day, sweetspark."

"You might change your mind after I interrogate you." I replied and stepped into my room. Jazz looked curious as I set him on my desk and tossed the new shirt onto my bed.

"Interrogate me?"

"You heard me." I smirked and pulled out a pair of jeans from my drawer. I tossed that onto the bed as well and then stepped toward Jazz while lifting my left hand, "There's more behind this bracelet then you're telling."

Jazz shrugged, "I don' know what'cha thinkin'. It's jus' a bracelet, Aj."

"Well yeah, I mean, I don't think you guys had Jackie make it anything more than a bracelet." I replied and glanced at the smooth metal. Though I was sure he could probably make a simple bracelet do something crazy like shoot lasers, I was positive this wasn't the case, "There's something you're not telling me about the meaning behind it. What's the big deal about the 'cons not having a hand in this?"

I walked over to the bed and pulled the tags and stickers off my new shirt. Jazz wasn't immediately replying and I figured this was because he was trying to get a handle on what exactly he would say to me. I turned around, so my back was to Jazz, and then pulled my shirt off. Changing wasn't a big deal around the mechs mostly because of the same thought process I had in the beginning. Why would they care? Hell, they've seen me walk down to the garage and back up in only a sports bra and spandex shorts. However, it still felt strange and whenever I wore a real bra I was always faced away from them. As I pulled my new shirt over my head I scoffed at my own thought process. Things were just weird, period.

"We consider you one of us." Jazz lost his accent.

I turned back around with a scoff and readjusted my hair, "You guys have known me for a couple weeks, Jazz."

"What side do you think you belong on? Based on 'who you are', where do you think you belong? Autobot or Decepticon?" Jazz questioned. I opened my mouth to reply, but I honestly didn't know how too. The simple truth was that I was not exactly a saint. I mean, I wasn't out kicking puppies and stealing candy from children, but I wasn't good either. I was a liar, I've hurt a number of people both mentally and physically, I ignored my only sister for ten years and then I cursed Peter, who I hadn't even met at the time, for being the reason why she ran away with Wes. When it came down between picking good and bad… I really don't think I had the right to say good. He crossed his arms, "The show with us in it, the movies, the comics. It paints us as very black and white. The Autobots are the epitome of good and the Decepticons are downright evil. The truth is, we're at war." He paused and let his arms fall to his side, "And when you're at war, sometimes you can't see the line between good and evil, between right and wrong. You know what you're fighting for in the end, but how far are you willing to go to get there? The honest to Primus truth is, if we made a crystal clear line between good and bad… I don't know how many of us could confidently choose good without a single doubt in our minds." Jazz took a step forward so he was on the edge of the desk as close as he could get to me, "You didn't know which side to put yourself on, but we do. We see you, Aj, and we know exactly where you stand. No matter what anyone else says."

"Who says otherwise?" I asked.

Jazz didn't reply and instead smirked as his accent came back in full swing, "You're only supposed ta have fun convos on Christmas, sweetspark."

"Who made you a Christmas expert?"

"Google."

* * *

 

"Don't rush me, con! This is a delicate situation!"

I rolled my eyes at Sideswipe's words and watched as he focused his attention away from Soundwave and back to the unstable tower of jenga blocks. After I had changed into warmer clothes, I went back to the garage with Jazz on my shoulder and toys in my arms. I figured the kids would want to play with everything and I knew the mechs would enjoy a couple more hours outside.

"Best two out of three!" Bumblebee declared in Jazz's direction. The saboteur grinned and motioned back to the obstacle course. Seconds later the two of them were racing through the loops and tight turns again. It had taken me twenty minutes to get that thing set up.

The bikes had been momentarily set to the side so they could enjoy their others gifts. Tyler was shooting a dart gun at a stand up target alongside Barricade and Bluestreak. I kept a wary eye on them because I was paranoid that Barricade was going to snap and start shooting the kids or me, but he had been pretty good so far. Good for him, at least. Peter was with Wheeljack trying to build the model airplane we bought. I didn't have to worry about keeping an eye on that situation because Ratchet and Prowl hovered around the set up like mother hens. It was as if they were both expecting the airplane to burst into flames at any minute.

" _There_!" Sideswipe declared in victory as he threw aside the wooden block that had taken him nearly five minutes to remove.

"Took you long enough, Sides." I said nonchalantly. Taylor, Sideswipe, Soundwave, and I were playing Jenga. More appropriately I should say that Taylor was kicking our asses at playing Jenga.

Taylor grinned, "My turn!" She glanced over the tower, tapped a few blocks in a rather reckless manner, and then pulled a block out without a care in the world. She did what Sideswipe did, but she did hers in ten seconds.

Sideswipe's jaw fell and he threw his hands forward to point at the tower, "How is that even possible? You should've knocked the tower down countless times by now!"

"Request: Stop whining." Soundwave spoke up and I burst into laughter. Sideswipe crossed his arms and stuck his lower lip out in a pout. The red bot didn't take well to losing anything, childish games included.

I glanced down at my phone to see nearly two hours had passed. It was getting close to 11'o'clock and I briefly wondered if I should start cooking now. The Bradshaw Christmas meal was always more of a lunch/dinner than it was an official dinner. Back to the Christmases I remember, we usually ate big early and then later on if we got hungry again we'd start in on the leftovers. I'd give it another hour or two before I started cooking the big meal, but I probably needed to cook something small right now for the kids considering they've only eaten a pop-tart and candy so far.

"I'm gonna head in." I stood up as Soundwave began to pull a block out of the tower. "OP?" My eyes darted around the garage and I realized the commanding officer wasn't outside. Neither was Megatron. A pit of worry formed in the bottom of my stomach. I turned my gaze to Prowl who was already looking at me, "Keep watching the kids. Keep a look out for the seekers too. I haven't seen them since I let them out."

Tyler burst into laughter and I glanced over to see he had put down the dart gun to play tug-o-war with Grimlock again. Despite being twice Grimlock's size the boy never did very well against the dinobot. I chuckled lightly before heading inside. First things first, I needed to find the two leaders. For all I knew they could've been brawling upstairs. The thought made my panic grow and I jogged into the kitchen only to come to a screeching halt at the sight of Megatron at my feet. It looked like he had been walking towards the garage when I nearly trampled him to the ground.

"Watch where you walk, human." He sneered.

"Where have you been, Grinch?" I replied, "It's Christmas. You're not supposed to be alone. Where is Prime?"

Megatron let his eyes dart down to the bracelet around my wrist before scoffing, "Upstairs."

I tilted my head slightly before snapping my fingers at him, "You're a flyer too, aren't you?" Megatron was rarely in his alt mode and I had completely forgotten that he turned into a jet looking thing. "Do you want to go flying?"

"You'd let me out without supervision?" He pressed, "You trust me that much?"

"You're a foot tall. I'm really not worried about you taking over Earth at this point and time." I rolled my eyes, "I trust you enough not to do something stupid like get caught."

A scoff from the dining table made me jump in surprise. Sunstreaker was sitting on top of the table leaning against the large vase of flowers in the middle with the mini sketchbook against his thighs. He had his legs pulled up slightly so I couldn't see what he was doing on the paper. I hadn't even realized he wasn't in the garage. "If you trust him at all then you're stupider than I first thought, femme."

"I totally forgot about you." I chuckled and he glanced up from what he was doing to glare at me.

Megatron pulled my attention back to him, "I'm no seeker. I do not require flight in the way they do." His eyes darted to Sunstreaker, "But I may take you up on that proposition, human."

"Fantastic." I said without much enthusiasm. I clapped my hands and motioned toward the other door, "I'm going to go get OP." Without another word I began to head towards the stairs, "You better not be working on Christmas, OP! What do you guys even have to work on anyways?"

* * *

 

Sunstreaker let his optics linger on the human that rushed up stairs yelling at the CO before darting back down to where Megatron still stood in the kitchen. His optics narrowed at the mech and his frame tensed in preparation for anything. However, the last thing he was prepared for was Megatron letting out a low chuckle and smile smugly in his direction. The only times Sunstreaker ever saw this mech was in battle, and in those times he was kept his optics more on the fusion cannon than the mech's faceplates.

"Sunstreaker." Megatron said his name in thought and he felt his frame tense even more. The feeling of entertainment and slight frustration from his twin immediately came to an end as a panic flooded over his bond. Sideswipe could feel how tense he was, he could feel his twin itching for a fight.

' _Sunny_?'

Sunstreaker didn't bother replying. He kept his optic on the con walking closer toward the table, but remaining far enough away that he could still see him.

Megatron shook his head, "I was hoping to get a word with you."

It was all wrong. Megatron wasn't growling his words out, he wasn't threatening Sunstreaker's life, and he wasn't pulling out any weapon. That put the yellow warrior more on edge than if he had done any of the above. Instead, Megatron wore a look that he could almost call charming and his voice was smooth and…welcoming?

"What the frag do you want, Mega-aft?" Sunstreaker snapped. The sketchbook in his lap had been set aside so nothing was in his way. If he could push Megatron into fighting he'd be more comfortable. Sunstreaker was always more comfortable when he was in a fight. Things made sense then.

The decepticon leader, however, did not take the bait and his smile grew slightly, "Hmm. It's strange."

"What is?" Sunstreaker growled between a clenched jaw.

"Seeing that brand on a mech like you. I think we both know how…unfitting it is." Megatron narrowed his eyes at the bright red Autobot symbol in the top middle of his chassis. It was in that moment that Sunstreaker finally realized what angle Megatron was playing and his optics widened in shock. Sideswipe sputtered over his own end of the bond.

'I _s he trying to recruit you!?_ ' Sideswipe cried over the bond. Sunstreaker could feel his brother's thoughts revolve around sprinting into the kitchen to be with him, but Sunstreaker didn't let those thoughts go far. He couldn't have Sideswipe in here. He couldn't see his brother standing that close to Megatron right now. He'd lose his temper for sure at the thought of his twin being that close to danger and if Sunstreaker was pushed over the edge it wouldn't take long for the red warrior to follow.

The sound of a human talking made Megatron glance over at the doorway with narrowed optics. He obviously wasn't pleased that his discussion was cut short. His optics briefly darted to Sunstreaker, appraising him in that reminded him of how certain bots would look at him back in the ring, and then turned and left. The anger hadn't hit him straightaway because of the shock of the situation. Now that the words have been spinning his processors he realized how furious he was. Rage built up in his chassis. How dare he? How fragging dare he? The mech's plates of armor began to shake against his protoform. The only thing keeping the warrior grounded were the waves of calm being thrown at his burning hot spark. Sideswipe was furious himself at the accusation, but he knew he had to keep his cool. He had to keep Sunstreaker calm.

Sunstreaker was left with a low growl in his chassis as his plates began to stop shaking. Rather, they shifted and pressed against his protoform tightly as if he were preparing for a battle. He knew exactly what moments in his past that Megatron was hinting at with his words and that infuriated the mech.

' _The frag was that?_ ' Sideswipe questioned. He had calmed even further when he felt his twin's burning spark cool slightly, but the confusion remained.

Aj came bounding into the kitchen suddenly with a slight bounce in her step and Optimus in her hands. She set the bot down on the table beside Sunstreaker, oblivious to the still tense air around the yellow mech, "I still don't exactly understand what you guys are guarding in that office. It's not like there are super secret Autobot files lying around."

Sunstreaker bit back a scoff. Of course the human femme didn't understand. It wasn't Autobot secrets that they were guarding. It was the room itself. The last thing they wanted was for a con to get in there and plant some sort of bomb or weapon that could cause any of them harm. She still hadn't grasped the fact that these two sides were still at war. They still loathed each other, Christmas or not, and no amount of play pretend was going to change that.

"Old habits die hard, I suppose." Optimus replied in a calm manner. There was a slight edge of amusement in his tone, but Sunstreaker knew it was to ease the human's mind. The CO was adamant about not letting any of the humans in the house know more about the war then they already did and keeping everything around here running smoothly. Take today for example. The amount of rules Prowl set out to all the mechs, both cons and bots, for today was ridiculous even for the black and white bot's standards. Even Ratchet had gotten behind it and threatened to offline anyone who decided to ruin this day for the humans. Of course his threats were much more colorful and elaborate, but the message was simple.

"Aj!" A youngling called from the garage and Sunstreaker couldn't tell if it was from the elder male or the younger one. The human femme held up a finger to Optimus, putting the conversation on hold, and then jogged out of view. Sunstreaker picked back up the sketchbook beside him and poured his attention into it. He tried to relax his frame, to show nothing was wrong, but Sunstreaker had never been good at biting back negative emotions. It didn't help that Optimus Prime had become very good at reading them.

"Sunstreaker, what is wrong?"

The yellow bot didn't immediately answer, and the CO didn't push him to. Sunstreaker knew that Optimus knew him well just like he knew that the warrior wouldn't ignore his question. The frontliner respected him too much.

"Megatron." Sunstreaker growled but didn't look up from the sketchbook with half a drawing scribbled onto it.

Optimus tensed and took a step forward, "Are you alright?"

Sunstreaker lifted his gaze to his Prime. The bot always had an almost regal air about him. One that was filled with empathy, compassion, and a resounding echo of strength. However, Sunstreaker only thought about the fact that their leader looked downright ridiculous in that hideous green sweater. The funny sight didn't match the focus and determination in the mech's optics. Sunstreaker could still feel Sideswipe's concern and worry buzzing in his spark, but the yellow mech turned down Sideswipe's second offer to come into the kitchen. He was fine. Just angry, but these days, wasn't he always?

Optimus remained stiff as he kept an optic on Sunstreaker. The yellow warrior was in a position of relaxation, he was casually leaning against a vase with his legs lazily curled up and a sketchbook resting against them, but Optimus knew his frontliner was far from relaxed. The yellow mech's frame was tense and wound tight like a wire. His usual light purple optics had grown darker as flecks of red threatened the outer edges of his optics. Something had upset the mech. Something had woken the anger that always seemed to be bubbling right beneath his armor plates. He knew that something was probably Megatron.

"Sunstreaker?" Optimus pressed again.

The frontliner snapped his gaze to Optimus and Optimus immediately recognized the fact that the twin was conversing over the bond with his brother. Moments passed before the flickers of red vanished and his shoulders slouched to his normal level of alertness. The warrior scoffed, "Mega-aft was playing recruiter."

Optimus had feared that was going to be his answer. Megatron had hinted at it earlier to him, but he had hoped Megatron was just trying to push his buttons. It all made perfect sense now though. There wasn't much that made Sunstreaker angry. Optimus bit back a laugh at the stupid thought. There was a lot that made Sunstreaker angry. Sometimes it seemed like angry was a personality trait rather than an emotion for the twin, but there wasn't much these days that could push Sunstreaker past his usual levels of anger and almost into his berserker mode. The twins hadn't fallen into their berserker mode for vorns and the few times they had slipped up and fallen into their old ways while in the Autobot army had usually been during a battle when one of the twins was in dire danger.

However, if anything could make the yellow mech snap it was Megatron hinting that the warrior should have been a decepticon rather than an autobot. Optimus knew his soldiers well. Their ragtag squadron had become more than just soldiers. They had become family. What else was expected when you fought together for so long? When you watched them bleed for you? When you bled for them? It only made sense. For that reason, Optimus knew the twins. He knew how broken they had been when they joined this war under his command. He knew they had done so with ulterior motives, but at the time Optimus had been too desperate for frontliners to truly care. He knew that, despite the time it took, the twins had accepted their strange family as their own and would do anything to protect them. That was the kind of bots they were. Protective. Possessive.

Optimus also knew that Megatron's words had hit too close to home for the yellow twin. It had touched on the ugly past and the reason why it nearly let loose the beast Sunstreaker kept hidden was because at one point it had been true. Vorns ago, Sunstreaker resembled more of a decepticon than an autobot. Pit, he had been worse than the decepticons if Optimus believed the things the twins shared with him and Ratchet out of respect. That was a long time ago though. That had been before the creation of Sunstreaker. That had been _Spin-Out_.

"I'm going upstairs before the human gets back." Sunstreaker's voice snapped Optimus out of his thoughts. He watched as the tall mech rose from his seat, grabbed his belongings, and then walked to the edge of the table to leave.

"Sunstreaker." Optimus said firmly and the mech stopped in his tracks to look at his commanding officer, to the mech that gave him a million and one chances, to his friend. "Don't let Megatron get into your helm. We know who you are. _You_ know who you are."

Sunstreaker paused before giving Optimus a quick nod and then jumping to the dining table seat and then to the floor. With his long legs, it didn't take long for the yellow warrior to disappear from sight.

Optimus' worried processors traveled back to Megatron. There was something off about the mech. There was something in the mech's optics that didn't sit right with him. They weren't clouded with as much rage and destruction as they usually were. The fact that this house was standing, that Megatron hadn't ignored Aj and continued on with the fight, was proof of that. It was as if something hadn't crossed over through whatever portal sent them to this universe. Optimus was sure of that. Pit, he'd bet everything in his subspace on it. Because in the same way he knew his soldiers, his family, Optimus knew Megatron.

He knew his brother very well.

* * *

 

Around 1 in the afternoon I started prepping to cook. The kids had moved inside to play and I could hear them in the living room with the mechs. What they were doing exactly? I had no idea, but they were having fun and that was all that mattered. The seekers and Megatron were still not back from their flight, which was starting to worry me. Although, I wasn't entirely sure if I was worried about the wellbeing of the mechs or town they were flying above. Probably both.

I grabbed the oven mitts and then opened the oven to pull out the peach cobbler. My plans had gotten a bit skewed as I went along, but it was still going good. I had the casserole and the ham cooking now and I'd start on the corn closer to when the other stuff was done. As I pulled the cobbler out I noticed the oven felt a lot hotter than I thought it was supposed to. A glance at the display told me it was still on the same setting it was supposed to be on though. I lightly shrugged before closing the oven and setting the peach cobbler on the countertop to cool some. It smelled absolutely heavenly. I'd resist the urge to shove some in my mouth now though considering third degree burns on my tongue didn't sound like a lot of Christmas fun.

"Aj?" I glanced over to see Taylor peek her head around the corner. She had a bright smile on her face and a look of eagerness in her eyes.

"Yeah, sweetie?" I replied hesitantly as I pulled the mitts off my hands.

"Are you busy right now?"

My lips twitched up in a small smile as I leaned against the island counter with my hip, "Well, I'm waiting for the food to finish cooking. I wanna stay close though just in case."

"Do you have a couple minutes to talk?"

I straightened my posture and took a step forward, "Course. Is everything ok, Taylor?"

She grinned at me before pulling her head back. I remained where I was and listened as she whispered on the other side of the wall with whoever was next to her. It wasn't Tyler that was with her. I knew this because the kid didn't know how to whisper. Suddenly, the whispering stopped and Jazz came strolling into kitchen seconds later. The grin on his face was as wide as Taylor's but instead of being filled with child like innocence his was filled with a twang of mischief. Oh God, now what?

"'Ey there." Jazz greeted casually. Taylor peeked her head around the corner again, but this time she was trying to be discreet about the fact that she was watching what was going on. _Trying_ being the key word here.

I lifted an eyebrow at Jazz, "Hi, Jazz."

He motioned for me to get closer to him. I bit back an amused sigh before taking a couple steps forward and sitting down in front of him with my legs crossed. He chuckled before glancing back at Taylor who gave him a thumbs up sign.

"I gotta question for ya." Jazz spoke up again.

"…Yes?" I replied warily.

He unexpectedly knelt down onto one knee and pulled something out of his subspace. That something being a small, plastic ring painted silver with a matching light pink rhinestone glued to the top. Jazz's grin grew even wider as he motioned toward me with it, "Will ya do meh the honor of marryin' meh, sweetspark?"

My jaw fell open at the same time that Taylor let out a squeal of joy. My eyes darted from Jazz, who looked way too amused at himself, to Taylor who was nodding her head up and down rapidly. The words I said to her not to long ago came drifting back into my mind. I had told her I wanted a ring after all.

"What a pretty… _ring_." I said slowly. Jazz was biting back a laugh and I was resisting the urge to strangle him. "But…"

Taylor stepped around the wall with wide eyes, "But what? Don't you love Jazz, Aj?"

"Yeah, don'tcha love meh?"

"Oh, I _something_ you, alright." I mumbled to him making him smirk in response. I looked back to Taylor, "We can't get married though because we don't have a judge."

Taylor paused before her jaw fell open, "You need a judge too?" I nodded with an over-exaggerated frown. She let out a frustrated huff before stomping away back to the living where she'd probably ask her brother where she could get a judge. Jazz was laughing to himself now and I couldn't bite back the amused smile that lit my lips at the silliness of the entire situation.

"Really, Jazz?" I pressed and his smile only grew at the sight of my own.

"What? I 'eard femmes love Christmas proposals." He replied innocently.

"I'm gonna punt you across the kitchen, Mr. Christmas proposal."

He let out another laugh and I rolled my eyes in good nature before standing up and brushing off my jeans of any dust that might've got onto them. Jazz shook the ring in his hand at me, "Sure ya don't want it?"

"I'm positive." I replied.

"Hey look it's TC!" Tyler yelled from the living room. Before I could move I heard someone run toward the front door and pull it open. I quickly moved to the doorway just in time to see Thundercracker walk through the front door followed by the other flying Decepticons. Tyler must have caught sight of them outside the living room window or something. Tyler shut the door behind him and I stepped into the foyer to ask how it went when suddenly Skywarp went from being on the ground to standing on my shoulder. I still wasn't used to that whole warping thing.

"Now you have to kiss me!"

My head spun to the side so fast that I nearly sent Skywarp tumbling off my shoulder. It surprised him and he let out a curse while grabbing my ear to steady himself. In his hands was a familiar bundle of green leaves and white berries tied off with a pretty red ribbon.

"Where did you get that?" I asked in surprise.

"We flew by it a couple miles out." Thundercracker replied. Megatron had walked away at some point in my surprise, but Starscream remained to sneer at his trine mate and me.

Skywarp cackled, "And we saw what you humans do under it! The organic male explained it!"

"Did you talk to someone out there?" I cried.

"No. He was explaining it to a youngling. His offspring, I assume?" Thundercracker clarified. I let out a sigh of relief and headed toward the living room just because it felt strange to stand in the middle of the foyer.

"What is that?" Tyler asked from his place on the couch. He had raced back over to finish playing with his remote controlled car after closing the door.

Peter looked up from his book, "Oh, it's mistletoe."

"What's mistletoe?" Bumblebee questioned.

"It's a plant." Peter answered, "People say that if you stand under it with someone you have to kiss them."

Skywarp nodded then said smugly, "Yeah, now you gotta do it femme!"

"What?" Taylor cried, "You can't kiss him, Aj! You're gonna get married to Jazz!"

"What?" Most of the room questioned. Anyone who had been ignoring the conversation was now paying attention to it. Ratchet was growling at Prowl who had apparently crashed at the little girl's words. I'd be worried if it wasn't for the fact that Ratchet had explained that I shouldn't be worried about Prowl's crashes. That and I was too busy trying to answer questions being shot at me.

"Aj, you're gonna marry Jazz? Can you do that? I mean, _why_ would you marry Jazz?" Bluestreak began to ramble, "Not that Jazz is a bad mech. He's a _great_ mech! I'm sure the two of you would be happy, but-"

Sideswipe crossed his arms, "But why marry him when I'm a much better looking? No offense, Jazz."

"I didn' realize _Sunstreaker_ painted 'imself red." Jazz snapped at the red mech who shrugged in response.

"Stop." I spoke up and the room grew quiet. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were on the floor next to Tyler's new car. Sideswipe was on the table with his joke book by his feet, Ratchet and Prowl were on the couch, the seekers were still by my feet except for Skywarp who was still on my shoulder, and Jazz who on the other side of my feet.

I pulled Skywarp off my shoulder and then kissed him on top of his head before setting him down onto the floor and taking the mistletoe from him. Taylor had a pout on her face, but it disappeared when I picked up Jazz with the hand not holding the mistletoe and pressed my lips to the side of his face and helmet to avoid the black antennae things sticking up. Taylor was appeased then when I set the smug looking mech down on the floor.

"Hey! What about me, babe?" Sideswipe questioned. I smirked at the red mech, but didn't move in his direction.

"Can I have it?" Taylor questioned with her hands held out. I came over and dropped the mistletoe in her hands before placing a noisy kiss on her cheek that she laughed at. The living room filled with noise again as everyone went back to what they were doing. I checked the clock on my phone to see I still had some time to kill before the food was cooked so I went about the house cleaning. It wasn't an intense clean, and was more or less just me walking around and straightening up the house some.

I also decided to start gathering the dirty clothes so I could wash them tonight. As I scooped up the dirty clothes in Peter's room I paused to talk some to Soundwave who was in the room for some reason. It was mostly small talk, but before I could say bye and move on to my room, Tyler sprinted into the room with a smile that screamed ' _trouble maker_ '.

"Ha ha!" Tyler mocked as he stood on his tiptoes and waved the bundle of mistletoe in the air above him. I smirked and leaned forward to kiss the boy on the nose. He scrunched his face up, "Aj! You're supposed to kiss Soundwave!"

The con must have heard the explanation downstairs because he didn't speak up and question the boy's reasoning. I rolled my eyes then used my free hand to scoop Soundwave up and kiss the side of his face, "Merry Christmas, Soundwave."

Tyler cackled and sprinted out of the room again. Soundwave nodded at me as I set him down, "Merry Christmas."

Without another word, I turned and left the room to head into my room. I had a pile of dirty clothes by my desk that was calling my name. Quickly, I checked my phone again to see I had about twenty minutes left. I'd grab these clothes, toss it all into the laundry room, and then make it to the kitchen with time to spare.

My room wasn't empty, far from it actually. Wheeljack was standing on the desk flipping through a large book with Optimus standing beside him and looking over his shoulder. On the bed, leaning against the wall in the same position I saw him in earlier, was Sunstreaker drawing. I paused in my step and raised an eyebrow, "How come everyone is in here?"

"Oh, hello, Aj!" Wheeljack greeted as he glanced up from the book. He glanced around. "Didn't Tyler-?"

" _Boo_!" Tyler yelled as he jumped out of the closet. My eyes widened in shock as the two bots on the desk looked amused. Sunstreaker looked far from amused and I think that was because the closet door had hit the nightstand when Tyler jumped up which ended up shaking the bed he was on.

"It's Christmas, Ty, not Halloween." I chuckled.

Tyler lifted the mistletoe up again, "I got you again!" He sung the words out and continued in the playful tone, "Now you have to kiss everyone!"

"I'm like 90% it doesn't work like that." I replied, "It's only the people under the mistletoe. Plus", I tucked the dirty clothes I had under one arm and placed my free hand on my hip, "Why are you trying to get me to kiss everyone?"

I didn't except a real answer from the question mostly because I figured this was just something Tyler was doing to goof around, but the boy did offer an explanation, ""Cause Pete said I can't."

Well, nothing is more motivating than disobeying an older sibling.

"What exactly is that?" Wheeljack questioned. He had moved away from the book and I suddenly remembered none of these guys had been downstairs when it was briefly explained.

"It's the human's seasonal version of the Iacon arches." Sunstreaker spoke. I was surprised, but then recalled that Sideswipe had been downstairs during all this and the yellow bot might've heard about it from his twin.

"Oh!" Wheeljack crowed. Even Optimus looked amused at this information, "That's _incredible_! It's always interesting to see how humans have similar customs to us."

I tilted my head slightly and even Tyler paused in what he was doing, "What are the Iacon arches? I mean I recognize the word Iacon, it's like a city or town or something-"

"It's the Autobot controlled capital!" Tyler scoffed at me.

I narrowed my eyes at his sass, "So you know that, but you came home with a C- on your capitals of America quiz a couple weeks ago?"

Tyler gave me a big, sheepish grin that I chuckled and shook my head at. My attention went back to the bots and I saw Optimus nod at Wheeljack to explain. The mech, with glowing head fins, clapped his hands, "Iacon is an extremely big city-state on our planet. Back when it was first established, eons ago, arches were built in certain areas to help steady and strengthen the tall buildings throughout the area. The arches were made of either one of two materials. Both materials are a metal alloy that isn't seen on your planet. I checked when we first woke up on Earth in our own universe." He paused, "But…Do you think perhaps it would be different in this universe? If we could find-"

Sunstreaker tossed his sketchbook aside and roughly continued where Wheeljack began to ramble, "A bunch of arches got destroyed before the Golden Age which was before this fragging civil war we're stuck in. The arches made with the more uncommon metal alloy were stronger and survived. More arches were made from a common alloy, making the surviving arches rare. They say if you walk under one of the rare arches with your sparkmate or whoever you're courting then you have to kiss or your relationship will fall apart."

There was a pause of silence that filled the room when Sunstreaker stopped talking, but he didn't even pay any mind to it. Wheeljack nodded happily, "That's the story!"

"So you guys…" My words trailed away as the story clicked in my mind. Wheeljack was right when he said it was interesting to find similar customs between our two races, but this was one I could've done without. "I mean, y'all…you…"

Optimus and Wheeljack waited patiently for me to finish my train of thought, but Sunstreaker just smirked at me with a smug look on his stupid face, "That's right, organic. We _kiss_." It made sense. It did. They were their own species with their own version of marriage and love and all that stuff, but it was still hard to wrap my mind around. They weren't little toys running around my house. I got that. However, as curious as part of me was, I was too sober to have that weird conversation right now.

"Well, of course we do." Wheeljack shrugged, "I explained the concept of sparkmates to you before haven't I?"

"Yeah. I remember." I replied and ended the conversation there.

Tyler went back to waving around the mistletoe and I realized I should start heading back downstairs soon for the food. Time was running down, but I wasn't overly worried. I set the timer so the food would be undercooked that way I could be downstairs to make sure the final leg of cooking went smoothly. I was taking every precaution possible with this food. Without another word, I walked toward the desk to appease the demanding Tyler. They were up high enough that I didn't have to scoop them up so all I did was bend over and place a quick peck on both Optimus' and Wheeljack's head. My eyes darted to Sunstreaker who was glaring at me, "Don't even think about it, organic."

In response, I lifted my hand and blew a kiss to the annoyed bot with a smirk on my lips. Taylor suddenly slid into the room with a pout, "Aj!"

"What?" I replied in surprise.

Taylor turned to Tyler without answering my surprised declaration, "Stop making Aj kiss everyone! Jazz is going to be upset!"

"Why would Jazz be upset, Taylor?" Optimus questioned. I could tell the mech was trying to calm the little girl down.

Sunstreaker, who had went back to drawing, scoffed, "The two of them are getting married."

" _What_?" Wheeljack questioned loudly as Optimus' eyes widened slightly.

I shrugged and gave him a quick nod, "Haven't you heard? We're sort of engaged."

"Well", Wheeljack shrugged, "Congratulations?"

"Thanks, Jackie."

Taylor and Tyler were still arguing, but I put a quick end to that. The twins didn't argue very often, and when they did argue it usually wasn't too had to end it. Typically, Peter was the one to put an end to it before I could even get involved. I sent the kids downstairs and then set the mistletoe I took from Tyler and placed it on the desk by the bots there. I grabbed my dirty clothes and began to head towards the door only to be stopped by Grimlock who came stomping into view.

"You human kiss everyone but not me Grimlock?!"

"There are a lot of mechs I haven't kissed, Grimlock." I sighed.

"What? Me Grimlock not good enough?"

I felt like the dinobot used that line on me often. Instead of trying to argue with the offended metal dinosaur, I dropped to my knees and then place four rapid kisses on the top of his head. He grunted before walking away and I chuckled to myself at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Aj!" Taylor's voice drifted up the stairs, "Something smells bad!"

In that single sentence, my heart fell to my stomach. The clothes dropped from my arms into the room's doorway and then I sprinted downstairs taking the steps two at a time. I slid past the kids into the kitchen where the smell of burning food hit me in the face like a sucker punch. The kids came closer, but I shook my head, "Stay there!"

This didn't make any damn sense. I set this up perfectly and yet here I was trying to salvage burnt food. It sounded like the mechs were drifting toward the kitchen to see the issue, but I paid them no mind. I yanked the oven mitts on and went to open the oven. In the same way that I usually pulled the front door open with no thought, I wrenched the oven door open.

A ball of fire shot out from the oven. I threw my arm in front of my face to protect myself, but I could still feel the blistering heat wash over my arm. It sent me falling back with my head bouncing off the floor. I had enough thought in my head to kick my leg out and slam the oven door shut, but after that I was stuck lying there stunned.

" _-tay there! Don't move_!"

" _Aj_!"

My ears were actually ringing from how hard my skull bounced off the tile floor and my entire head was filled with the ache of a headache.

" _Get that fragging glove off her servo now_!" Ratchet roared. His bellow suddenly made my attention snap into focus. My head still hurt, my ears were still slightly ringing, but I was no longer in a daze. I tried to sit up only to have a metal hand push my head back down. My eyes darted to Prowl who was dragging a burning oven mitt across the kitchen floor. The corner of the glove was on fire and the fire was slowly spreading.

" _Aj_!"

"Keep the younglings back!"

"I'm fine." I snapped, " _Fuck_. I'm- I'm _fine_."

"You are far from fine!" Ratchet yelled. I forced myself up and brushed away Sideswipe who was standing by my head trying to get me to lie back down. He must have been the ones to push me down the first time. I sat up and groaned in pain. My head was pounding, but now I was faintly aware of the fact that my arm was stinging like a bitch. I glanced down to see bright red skin from my mid-forearm to my elbow.

"Shit." I breathed. The more I stared at it the more it began to hurt. The skin was bright red with a shine. It seemed like a second-degree burn right now, but blisters could come. Ratchet was still by my side trying to look at my arm, Jazz and Prowl were putting out the fire, Sideswipe was standing back where my head had been with Thundercracker on the other side, and Skywarp was standing back with Bluestreak and Bumblebee by the kids. I could hear bots racing down the stairs. My eyes widened at the sight of the shaken kids. "Guys."

Taylor was bawling as she clutched Bumblebee to her chest and her twin looked on the verge of scared tears himself. Peter stood close to them with one hand on each of their shoulders, but his eyes were wide with fear. I shook my head and shifted toward them, ignoring Ratchet's complaints, "I'm ok. Come here."

Taylor dropped Bumblebee and sprinted toward me with the boys right behind her. They collapsed into me, wrapping their arms around me. It was a lot like the hug we had earlier, but this time they were shaking and more careful.

"Everything's ok." I breathed, but it was far from the truth. Sure, the burn hurt like a bitch, but that would heal eventually and the sting wouldn't be as bad when I put medicine on it. My head was beating like a drum and it only got worse every time I moved, but headaches were nothing. I was used to headaches.

No, the thing that made this moment far from ok was the dread flowing through me knowing I had somehow managed to fuck up Christmas dinner.

* * *

 

"Ratchet, for the love of God, I am fine." I snapped. The red and white bot was just trying to help me, I know, but I was way too stressed right now to listen to his endless nagging.

I was sitting at the computer upstairs in the office with my left arm raised above my heart level and a cool, damp rag draped over the burn. As good as it would feel to dunk it in cold water it could drop my blood pressure and throw me into shock, which is the last thing I needed so instead I settled for the rag.

After calming the kids down, which was a feat in itself, I got them to go back to the living room and continue playing with a Netflix movie playing in the background. The mechs were able to distract them downstairs and get them back into a mostly chipper mood. Wheeljack, Soundwave, and Starscream examined the oven. Ratchet probably would've done so with them but he was too busy musing over me. According to the mechs, the temperature probe was broken. That meant even though the display said 325 degrees, it was actually gradually getting higher and higher. The burst of flame was from the brown sugar on the ham catching fire.

The thought of it all reminded me that I still needed to clean out the burned food that was still in the oven. The only relief I found from this whole situation was that the oven decided to break on me and not on Aubrey back when she was home or God forbid the kids.

"We should be taking you to the hospital. That burn is second degree and larger than 3 inches which classifies it as a major second degree burn." Ratchet snapped back, "That requires professional medical care."

"You're a professional medic aren't you?" I replied. The look on Ratchet's face told me that if my head wasn't hurting this bad he would've beaned me over the skull with one of his wrenches. "Seriously, I'm good, Ratchet. I've had way worse than this." Those words didn't make the medic any happier. "Besides, we have bigger problems."

"Bigger problems than your health, Aj?" Optimus questioned. He was standing on the desk on the opposite side of Ratchet. Prowl would probably be up here too, but he was working with Peter on the new crystal growing kits. Even the seekers were down there trying to make the kids happy again. It was a team effort, and boy was I grateful for them right now.

"Way bigger." I replied, "Christmas dinner was ruined by _me_."

"Didn' look that way to meh. I say the faulty oven ruined it." Jazz replied with his arms crossed over his chest. I expected him to be downstairs helping distract the kids. He was a pro at distracting people after all.

"Debatable." I mumbled and continued my search online. There was an Italian restaurant in town that should be open on Christmas. At least, they were ten years ago. Sometimes I'd bail out of the foster home Christmas dinner and go to Giovanni's. The owner, Abramo Giovanni, was an older gentleman that I knew pretty well. He was a loud, fun guy to be around and he never seemed to mind me coming over and doing any homework I had at one of his back tables. Occasionally, I'd wash dishes in the back for him and he'd pay me in food. He offered money, but I'd rather just have his spaghetti. Even if he gave me money I was probably going to spend it on his food anyways. He always told me that he kept the place open on Christmas for families that couldn't cook or screwed it up. I never thought I'd fall into the latter of those two options. Mainly because I never thought I'd even try cooking for a family.

I found the website online and nearly collapsed to the ground in relief when I saw they were open today. Miracles do happen.

"Alright." I checked the time on the screen. It was a little after 2 in the afternoon. Since I no longer had to make the food I'd leave bit later to buy the food. They didn't close until 6 so I'd head out in a couple hours. For now, I'd head back downstairs and clean the mess in the kitchen. A sigh escaped my lips as I readjusted the now warm rag on my arm and stood up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The urge to roll my eyes hit me hard, but I knew rolling my eyes at Ratchet was only going to make this worse. I forced a big cheesy grin on my face, "There's a burned ham in the kitchen calling my name."

"You need to rest." Ratchet snapped, "You could have a concussion-"

"Nah", I replied, "I've had a few concussions before. I'm surprised I didn't get one, but this is just a nasty headache. I'm fine."

Without waiting for him to argue more I left the room and headed for the stairs. I could hear him yelling after me, but I quickly rushed down the stairs as fast as I could without making my head spin. There was laughter coming from the living room, which made me briefly smile in relief before I slipped into the kitchen.

Earlier, I had spotted an aloe cream in the first aid kit Aubrey had stored away. So instead of getting right to work I paused long enough to rub some of the soothing cream on my burn. Honestly, the burn really wasn't that bad. There were no blisters as of yet and if I kept aloe cream on it the burn could heal in a couple weeks or so. Hopefully.

"-you stubborn youngling." Ratchet stomped into the kitchen. I had thought he had given up and let me go, but apparently I was wrong. "You are going to go into the living room right now and rest or so help me Primus-"

"I have to get the oven cleaned up, Ratchet." I sighed and put away the tube of cream, "I can't leave that burned sugary mess in there next to the blackened casserole."

Ratchet crossed his arms, "We'll clean it."

" _You'll_ clean it?"

"Did I stutter, youngling?"

I scoffed, "Ratchet, the ham alone is bigger than Bumblebee and it definitely weighs more than y'all."

"We'll take care of it. You go rest." He demanded.

"Ratchet-"

" _Now_."

I threw up my hands and sighed, "Fine. Fine." While ignoring the stern glare the medic was leveling at me, I walked over and grabbed four spoons in one hand and then used my other to hold the glass container of peach cobbler, "But I'm taking this with me."

Ratchet scoffed and I left the kitchen to head into the living room. The kids spotted me holding the dessert and got excited. As I set it down on the coffee table, the kids ran back into the kitchen to get milk for us to drink and Taylor demanded she have ice cream with her cobbler so she said she'd grab that too. I hadn't grabbed any plates or bowls because I figured we could just eat straight from the container with our spoons. Call us barbarians.

 

The medic recruited a bunch of mechs to help in the kitchen. It left only Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Jazz in the living room with us. Although I was pretty sure there were some mechs upstairs rather than helping. I was also pretty sure that Jazz was only here because Ratchet ordered him to babysit me.

"This is so good, Aj." Peter complimented my dessert as he took another big bite.

"Yah ah luff it." Tyler agreed while trying to shovel more ice cream into his mouth alongside the huge bite of cobbler.

Jazz chuckled, "Don' choke, big guy."

"It does look really good. I wish we could try human food." Bluestreak pouted, "All human food looks like a ton of fun to eat. Ours never gets more interesting than a cup of energon. I mean, we can flavor the energon, but it's still energon. Though, I guess we have energon candies and rust sticks."

I took another big bite of cobbler and just enjoyed the sound of conversation around me mingling with the noise from the TV. I was pretty proud of this cobbler at least. It tasted hella good. I had forgotten how much I like the taste of peach. A part of me mentally reminded myself not to eat too much because I didn't want to deal with an itchy mouth, but considering these were just peaches from a can it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

* * *

 

He had allowed his mechs to help the filth that was the autobots in the kitchen, but he himself refused to take part in cleaning the mess the human femme made. Anyone who thought he would even attempt was a fool. Megatron wouldn't lower himself to such a trivial task. Pit, the only reason he allowed his soldiers to help was because he didn't want to hear the Autobot's damned medic rant any more. How Prime put up with the mech was beyond his processor's ability to compute.

Megatron had stayed upstairs for the most part brewing in his own bad mood. Not only had he not been able to properly talk to the yellow twin today, but he also spotted the hideous bracelet put around the human femme's wrist. Her thinking she belonged with those holier than thou pit spawn would only make any plans he had harder to bring to life.

Today had been a failure and the list of things he hated more than failing was extremely short.

Still, Megatron found that the sting of failure didn't settle in his spark as roughly as it usually did. He didn't ponder on it long and continued down the stairs. A good amount of time had passed so he assumed the kitchen had been cleaned out as well as mechs at their current size could clean it. The faster time passed then the sooner this ridiculous day would be over. Megatron couldn't wait.

"Aj?" One of the youngling's voice drifted into the foyer from the living room. There were still sounds coming from the kitchen, which meant the mechs were still cleaning. Fools. "Your eye looks kind of funny."

The statement had caught his attention and he found himself slowly stepping into the living room. The humans were on the couch with three autobots around them. On the table in front of them was an empty container with empty glasses and dirty utensils beside it.

"What do you mean?" The organic femme questioned in a hoarse voice. She began to make a strange sound in an attempt to clear her throat.

"You've been coughing a lot too." The one called Peter said in a worried tone. Megatron crossed far enough into the room where he could see Aj now. She sat on the couch between the organic twins and was half bent over coughing. The area around her left optic was pink in color and strangely swollen.

The Autobot Jazz walked across the couch he was on to stand closer to the humans, "Ya alright, sweetspark?"

Aj continued coughing and when she paused in making that horrid sound she spoke up, "Ate too much peach. Screwed up. _Again_."

"Why can't you eat too many peaches?" The male twin questioned.

"I'm a little bit allergic." She admitted in a tone that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than shame. "It's fine."

Peter's eyes widened, "Why did you eat any if you're allergic!?"

"It's a _minor_ allergy." Aj argued.

Taylor looked panicked, "Allergic? Like Sophie from school? She's allergic to peanuts."

"Just like that." Peter nodded.

There was a pause before Taylor jumped up from the couch with wide optics, nearly stepping on Megatron who growled at her, and then raced toward the kitchen, "Ratchet! _Aj is dying!_ "

Unsurprisingly, her words caused an uproar. Megatron scoffed to himself as Aj jumped up as well to calm the mechs that were beginning to rush out of the kitchen.

"I'm not dying! I'll just take some Benadryl and be fine!"

"Allergic to the fruit you humans call peaches!?" The medic came out of the kitchen next and all the other mechs backpedaled back into the kitchen to avoid his upcoming rant. Megatron didn't blame them. Hearing the medic roar about something or another was grating, "That's the condition where your immune system reacts abnormally to a specific substance, am I right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then why would you consume it?!"

"It's just a _minor_ allergy! I usually never react like this! It just makes my tongue itch!"

"I can't decide if you're the _stupidest_ youngling I've ever faced or if you're truly just pit bent on getting yourself offlined!"

The argument continued with the medic threating to physically harm the human and her rushing into the kitchen for medication and to get away from the medic. Megatron questioned the situation himself. The femme was obviously stupidly suicidal. If she didn't get herself offlined then the medic was sure to end her eventually.

* * *

 

It was funny how so much could change in 24 hours. It was even funnier when so much changed and I wasn't even 100% sure why it all changed. I was in the truck driving, despite Ratchet's insistence that I not drive, with the frontliner twins in the passenger seat. It was a scene that looked a lot like the one yesterday. The only differences were my new injuries and the fact that the cabin of the truck was filled with conversation. Unlike yesterday, Sideswipe wouldn't shut up. Sunstreaker still wasn't the most talkative of mechs, but I'd be more worried if he did start talking up a storm. I was pretty sure the only reason he stopped drawing to come was because his twin's desire to come with me.

The clock on the dash read 4:13 PM. It had been about twenty minutes since I took the Benadryl pill. The swelling on my face was already going down and my throat was no longer itching. In hindsight, eating that much peach cobbler wasn't the greatest idea, but that had been the most severe reaction I ever had before. It seriously surprised me and it seriously put me on Ratchet's shit list. I was fairly positive the medic was going to murder me in my sleep tonight.

"I still don't think it was that big of a deal." I replied with a shrug. The streets were still mostly empty with only a couple cars here and there driving from one point to another.

Sideswipe laughed, "There is nothing Ratchet hates more than injuries caused by stupidity. Trust me, we know."

" _You_ know." Sunstreaker spoke up, "I'm not the idiot that ends up in the medbay every orn with a new injury."

Sideswipe didn't outwardly argue with his twin but something passed over their mental bond or whatever because Sideswipe went from pouting to grinning and Sunstreaker went from slightly smug to exasperated.

"How's your arm?" Sideswipe suddenly asked.

I took a left turn, "Eh, it's not too bad. Stings still, but I'm pretty good at ignoring small wounds like these. It helps that my headache is mostly gone." A question popped in my mind suddenly, "Can you guys get burned?"

"Well duh." Sideswipe scoffed and even the yellow mech turned to look at me with a look ' _you moron_ '. The red twin continued, "We call this armor because it's the word that fits best in English translation, but it's still us. We feel pain when we're hit and we're fully capable of being burned."

My eyebrows rose in interest as my curiosity was peaked, "So, that's still like your skin in a way. You have nerves and stuff?"

"We don't call them nerves, but yeah." Sideswipe nodded.

I glanced over and then reached out with my hand to brush my fingers against the front of his chest. He grinned at the touch and I asked, "You can feel that the same way I feel someone touch my skin?"

"How are we supposed to know what it feels like when you get touched on your flesh?" Sunstreaker sneered.

"Good point, Daisy." I replied in good nature. His sneers didn't rile me up anymore, but based on the look on his face my multitude of nicknames for him still irked him up. "It can't be just like my skin though because you guys go out there fighting in that stuff, right?"

Sideswipe crossed his arms, "Yeah, our armor is typically customized. Some mechs have different levels of thickness or durability." Sideswipe's eyes widened, "Oh! Sunny's armor is actually flame resistant. Both of us have thicker armor because of our position, but his burns less easily. To a degree."

I snorted, "I would've killed for some flame resistant armor today."

The truck drove into the parking lot of Giovanni's. The parking lot only had a couple cars there and I was assuming they were probably the ones stuck working on Christmas. For a brief moment I wondered if Abramo was here today. He usually worked on Christmas just because he felt like it was his duty to work holidays with his employees. Then I began to wonder if I wanted him to be here or not. A part of me would love to see him again, but another part was totally ok with avoiding every aspect of my past life.

"I'm gonna go get food, I'll be right back." I threw the car into park and moved to grab my wallet.

Sideswipe groaned, "You're gonna leave us in here again?"

"Don't whine. It's unbecoming." I grinned and then exited the car. The chilly air made me jog for the restaurant's front doors in hopes for the warmth that was to come. When I stepped in I chuckled at the fact that the place hadn't changed even a bit. The waiting area in the front was still decorated with green, red, ivory, and dark brown wood furniture. Past the waiting area was the large dining area with matching dark wood floors and ivory walls. The bar to the left was still there too.

"Welcome to Giovanni's. How can we help you?"

My eyes snapped to the side where a young woman with pretty dark brown hair came out with cheerful brown eyes and a bright smile on her face. Despite having to work on Christmas she still managed to look merry and friendly. She wore the black and white formal uniform with a nametag that read 'Jessica'.

"I was looking to order a to-go meal. I kind of wrecked Christmas dinner." I chuckled.

She smiled with a chuckle of her own and nodded, "Sure thing. Let me get you a menu."

"Actually", I spoke up and she paused in her movements, "Do you guys still have that family package dinner? The one that comes with lasagna, chicken parmesan, fettuccine alfredo, and breadsticks?"

Jessica nodded, "Yeah we do! Would you like that?"

"Yes please."

"Anything else? Drinks?"

I shook my head, "Nah, just the food."

Jessica backpedaled slightly and motioned toward the bar, "You can wait over there if you'd like."

I shot her another smile before heading to the bar. The bar sounded like just the place I wanted to be right now. Of course the fact that I just took a Benadryl threw a serious wrench in my alcohol consuming plans. I was reckless, but, despite what Ratchet thought, I wasn't suicidal. I'd wait at least around six hours before drinking anything. Although, it might be nice to buy something to drink later. I knew for a fact this place sold bottles if you asked. Lord knows I'll need it tonight after the day I had. I might have been able to put on a smile, but my pride and confidence took a pretty big beating today. All I wanted to do was give the kid's the best Christmas they could possibly have and instead I nearly get myself killed by the stove and peach cobbler while also burning their dinner. I was just racking up the 'Worst Aunt in the World' awards today.

"Can I help you?" A man asked. He was probably in his late forties with salt and pepper hair and a matching goatee. He wore the Giovanni's uniform and a nametag that read 'Dave'.

I paused before nodding, "Yeah. I'm looking for a bottle of something." I glanced over the shelf of alcohol behind him. "Got any cheap whiskey?"

"We got Jack Daniels."

"That'll do it."

"Can I see some ID?" I nodded and pulled my driver's license out of my wallet before handing it over to him. He glanced at it briefly before handing it back and moving to get me my order. "That'll be $25.78."

I pulled out a fifty dollar bill from my wallet and handed it to him when he came over with the Jack Daniels bottle in a paper bag, "Keep the change."

"You sure?"

"Course. Merry Christmas." Come next year when I head back to New York, I knew Boss was going to take every cent I had so to spite him I'd spend as much as I could here. Was it a foolproof plan? No. Was it smart? Hardly, but I didn't specialize in brilliant plans and ideas.

"Thanks." Dave said before pausing and narrowing his eyes at me, "You come here often? You look really familiar."

I didn't recognize this Dave guy in the slightest so I shook my head, "Nah. I'm in town visiting my sister."

He nodded once before excusing himself and heading back to the kitchen. I rested my head on my hand and let my eyes glance over the bar shelves. My gaze lingered on a pack of red bull sitting under the shelf in storage.

Ratchet had explained to me that the reason why the coffee worked as energon for them was the caffeine. It was the reason why he made me change from the brand Aubrey used, one that had about 60 something milligrams of caffeine, to another brand that only had around 40 or so milligrams. That was the one they used now and it didn't hit their systems to hard. The medic had also talked to me some about what they called high-grade. It was essentially their version of alcohol and I was wondering what their equivalent to alcohol would be in the bodies they were in now. Would a shot of red bull affect them the way a shot of whiskey would for me? I didn't know how much caffeine was in red bull from the top of my head, but it was probably a lot higher than 60.

About ten minutes later Dave came back out with a photo in his hand. My eyes squinted in confusion at the smile on his face. He leaned against the counter and showed me the photo, "You're her, aren't you?"

The photo was on the older side with a crumpled corner and faded color. It was clear to see who was in it though. Abramo stood tall with is dark hair and dark eyes. His arm was wrapped around the shoulders of a girl who smirked in amusement at the camera. The girl was without a doubt me. I was 17 in the photo. I knew this because the picture was taken on my birthday.

"You know Abramo?" Dave questioned.

I took the picture from him to hold it in my hands, "Yeah. Where did you get this?"

"We got a wall of photos back by the office and I spotted it. I knew I recognized you." Dave chuckled.

"Is Abramo here today?"

Dave shook his head, "No, he's up north visiting his family. His son is getting married."

A small chuckle slipped from my lips. Abramo talked often about his only son who lived somewhere in Michigan working. His son was probably a decade older than me and I was surprised to hear he was getting married. I thought he was already married.

"Didn't he already have a wife?"

Dave nodded, "This is his second."

I nodded and handed the photo back, "Is Abramo doing well?"

"He's doing really good. Same overly cheerful guy that I've known for the past couple years."

That was good to hear. I'm glad Abramo was still his same old self and that life had been treating him good. Still, I wasn't eager to walk down memory lane with this stranger so I motioned toward the pack of red bull, "How much caffeine are in those?"

Dave turned around to grab a can from the box and read the label. There was a pause before he found it, "It says 80 milligrams."

"Oh, that's not that much." I thought aloud. I had thought the difference was going to be a big one.

"Are you looking for something with a lot of caffeine?"

"Sort of." I replied, "I was gonna buy a couple off you if you don't mind."

"Hang on." Dave held a finger up and went back to the kitchen. The door opened again a minute or two later and Jessica came out with two bags of food. My eyes narrowed in thought as I tried to figure out how much food I had order exactly. The family dinner would probably fit in one bag if packed right.

Jessica noticed the look on my face and shrugged, "We threw in some extra breadsticks and tiramisu. On us."

"Are you sure?" I questioned and she nodded with a laugh, "How much do I owe you for the other stuff?"

"$30.89." Jessica replied. I handed her off $55 and told her to keep the change like I had done to Dave. She thanked me with a wide grin, wished me Merry Christmas, and then went back to the kitchen. Dave came back out a second later with a six-pack of black cans.

I stood up from my seat, "What is that?"

"Rockstar punched." He replied, "It's an energy drink a bunch of us are fans us. Has a whopping 240 milligrams of caffeine."

I grinned, "Awesome. How much do I owe you?"

"On the house." He replied and before I could argue he continued, "Abramo would kill me if I charged you for this. Something tells me he's gonna scold us for charging you at all."

He wasn't wrong. Abramo would probably try to give me all the food for free, but I would've left the money regardless. I thanked the man before gathering up all the stuff, refusing his offer to help me to the car, and headed out. I didn't need Dave seeing my metal passengers.

"Finally." Sideswipe breathed when I got into the truck and set the stuff down between us. His eyes landed on the black cans, "What is that?"

"Hopefully, it's high-grade." I threw the truck into reverse. Both twins' eyes widened at my words and they glanced at each other before standing up on the seat and getting closer to the cans. "It has like 240 milligrams of caffeine which is a hell of a lot more than the coffee you drink. What do you think?"

Sideswipe stared at his brother as Sunstreaker read over the can. He tilted his head slightly and I watched as his lips stretched out into a smirk, "This might work. We'd have to measure it out exactly or it could crash us, but it'd be just as strong as ours if not a little stronger."

"We are _so_ getting overcharged tonight."

"I'm gonna assume that means drunk." I chuckled and mentally agreed with the declaration. The bottle of Jack Daniels was already calling out to me. "So, tell me more about Cybertronian armor or your culture or something. I'm curious."

Sunstreaker fell back into the seat, "Why should we?"

"Sharing is caring, dandelion." I grinned.

Sideswipe put on a matching grin of his own, "I'll have you know, babe, I'm marking down every nickname you give him. You're at 17 now."

"Slagger." Sunstreaker snapped at his brother. Something about riling up the yellow warrior was a ton of fun. No wonder Sideswipe did it all the time. It helped that Sunstreaker was running out of things to irritate me with. As if he could hear my thoughts the warrior smirked at me, "Listen closely, organic, I'll tell you all about our courting rituals and interfacing."

I reached forward and turned the radio up absurdly loud so I couldn't hear a word the twins said to me.

Ok, so maybe the yellow mech did know how to get back at me.

* * *

 

"We're home!" I called as I used my foot to shut the door behind me. In my arms were the bags of food, but I left the whiskey and energy drinks in the truck for now. I didn't like the idea of explaining to the kids what I was going to do with the alcohol.

"And then it blew up, mama!" Ice shot through my veins at Taylor's voice. I rushed into the kitchen and the kids eyes landed on me as I set the bags down on the dining room table. Taylor grinned and spoke into the phone, "Aj just got home. Do you still want to talk to her?"

"Do you want me to get plates, Aj?" Peter asked and I nodded numbly as him and Tyler went to get things to set the table. Aubrey had called. That in itself wasn't surprising, but the kids talked to her already? What if they told her I left them home alone? Worse, what if they told her I left them home with a bunch of aliens?

"Bye, mama, I love you!" Taylor made kissing noises into the phone and then leaned across the table to hand the cordless phone to me. When I took the phone from her she bounced away to help her brothers.

I took a deep breath and then put the phone to my ear, "Hello?"

"Aimee Jane Bradshaw, I don't even know what to say!"

As if today couldn't get any worse. I sighed, "Aubrey-"

"First of all, are you alright? Peter told me the oven broke." Aubrey said quickly, "I can't believe it spat fire at you."

"Technically it was the sugar on the ham that caught fire." I mumbled and walked out of the kitchen into the hallway outside the garage.

Aubrey continued, "And then you ate peach cobbler!? You know you're allergic to peaches why would you do that?"

"It's a _minor_ allergy!" I cried back in argument. How many times did I have to justify that error? I screwed up. I wont eat peach cobbler anymore. Lesson learned. "I'm totally fine. 100% a-ok." There was a pause where neither of us spoke and I knew what was coming. The big bomb. The _'how could you leave my children home alone_ ', the ' _how could you be this irresponsible_ ', and the ' _how could you ruin Christmas_ '.

"I'm glad you're ok." Aubrey said suddenly with a sigh of relief. Was she trying to soften the blow? The last thing I thought I'd hear was Aubrey giggling over the line, but then she surprised me by saying something that was even more surprising than the giggling, "So tell me more about this boyfriend of yours."

I didn't reply and instead just froze in the hall. Had I heard her right? No, I couldn't have. Maybe my brain was bleeding from that fall earlier and now I was hearing things. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Your boyfriend! I can't believe you didn't tell me about him, Aimee!" Aubrey cooed, "He sounds so nice and charming. I bet he's handsome."

"My boyfriend. My _boyfriend_?"

Aubrey chuckled, "I called and the kids said you weren't home. When I asked who was there with them they paused and before I could even say another word I was suddenly talking to some random guy. I was worried at first, but Jace explained everything that happened."

"Jace?" I mumbled to myself and then it clicked in my head, " _Jace_."

A familiar visored bot stuck his head around the corner and grinned at me with a thumbs up before ducking out of sight again. I guess I should be a bit relieved at the situation overall, but my head was still spinning.

"The kids love him already and all his friends. He told me you invited him and some of y'alls military buddies over for Christmas. I didn't know you were friends with so many people in the military, Aimee." Aubrey said, "Anyways, I'm glad you did it."

"Aren't you mad?" I blurted suddenly. "I left your children home alone with a group of men you've never met. You should be a little angry, Aubrey."

She paused before answering, "Maybe a little worried, but the truth is I trust you, Aimee. I know the kind of person you are, little sister. If you trust these guys enough to leave the kids with them then I know they're good people."

I thought about the many mechs living under the same roof as us for now. A chuckle left my lips as I rubbed the back of my neck, "Yeah, I guess I do."

"So?" Aubrey pressed again, "Is he handsome?"

The conversation with my sister didn't end there. I told the kids to start eating and then I kept on talking to Aubrey for another fifteen minutes or so. Honestly, it felt good to talk to her. It kind of felt like old times. Way old times.

"You never told me if you liked your gift."

My eyes widened in realization. I was sitting in the hall with my back against the wall, the kids in my sight, and Grimlock lying in my lap, "Oh yeah. I forgot about it. I haven't opened it yet. Today was a bit… _hectic_." The gift from Aubrey was probably still sitting at the top of the tree where Skywarp dropped it.

"That's fine. You can open it later when the kids are asleep." Aubrey chuckled, "You did good today, Aimee. Running Christmas is hard. I never really realized how much mom and dad put into it until the kids started getting older and Christmas started getting complicated with Santa and stockings and toys."

"Don't forget about Christmas dinner." I mumbled with a sigh, "You don't have to sugar coat it, Aubs. I royally screwed up today."

Aubrey scoffed, "Screwed up? The kids spent ten minutes raving to me about how this was the _best_ Christmas ever. They loved their toys, they loved spending time with your military friends, and they loved _you_ , Aimee." A lump formed in my throat and Aubrey continued, "Just spending Christmas with you meant the _world_ to them. _You_ mean the world to them. They're so happy to have you as part of the family and…and I am too."

I kept my gaze on the kids at the dining room table who were laughing as they ate their Italian Christmas dinner. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were on the table beside Wheeljack, Thundercracker, and Jazz. Skywarp was flying around the table warping in and out of the room. It had been a long time since a single statement could calm the storm in my heart and soul, but Aubrey had managed to do it. Any pain or shame I felt an hour ago was gone.

"Aimee? You still there?"

"Yeah." I said quickly and cleared my throat, "I'm here. I'm still here."

Aubrey chuckled, "You're a fantastic aunt and- oh. Hang on. I'm getting another call. I'll talk to you later, ok Aimee?"

"Sure thing, Aubs." I replied.

"Merry Christmas, little sister."

"Merry Christmas, Aubs. Merry Christmas."

* * *

 

The house was settling down and the kids were getting ready for bed. It was only 7 in the evening, and I assured them they didn't have to actually go to bed immediately just get ready, but I could tell they'd be sleeping early tonight. I could see it on their little faces how tired they were from the excitement today. It showed more so on the twins than it did Peter.

The seekers were sleeping on top of the entertainment system and I wondered if their exhaustion came from all the sudden flying they did today. Maybe their bodies weren't meant for that right now? Megatron was absent as well and I thought that might be because he flew today as well and decided to find some place to take a nap. Barricade was nowhere to be found, but I never really spotted him much to begin with. Soundwave, however, was on the floor leaning against the base of the couch reading his new Christmas gift. Prowl and Ratchet were reading too last I checked on them, but they were upstairs in the office and my room. The kids were sitting on the couch watching another Disney movie, but the twins eyes were drooping as they leaned on their older brother who sat in the middle reading his own book. Bumblebee was settled in Taylor's lap while Bluestreak was in Tyler's. Wheeljack was perched on the back of the couch by Peter's shoulder as he watched the movie. Optimus, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Grimlock were all on the coffee table with their eyes glued to the screen as well. I was sitting in the single seat couch with my legs draped over the side and Jazz on my belly. I owed the bot for saving my skin with Aubrey earlier.

It seemed like all of us were winding down from the busy day. I'd give it another ten minutes before all three kids were down for the count. Jazz chuckled to himself as he watched the kids and other mechs as well.

"Christmas sure is interestin'."

"I think the word you're looking for is _stressful_." I joked with a small smile of my own. The sound of knocking startled me and every other person in the room except the twins who were now fully asleep and lying on their older brother. I lifted Jazz up and set him down before pointing towards Peter, "Don't move. Any of you. I'll get rid of whoever it is."

He nodded and I walked over to the front door. I paused long enough to flip on the front porch lights and then I slung the door open. For the briefest of moments I thought, for the second time that day, that my brain was bleeding and something was very wrong because there was no way in hell a 60-something-year old woman was standing on my porch with a pie in her hand.

"I know, I know. It's late." She sighed in a voice I had heard a million times, "I got caught up workin' at the soup kitchen today, but I _had_ to stop by. I've been meanin' to stop by for weeks now. Finally worked up the courage."

My mouth fell open and I tried to say something but nothing came out. The woman just smiled warmly at me with bright hazel eyes. Her gray and silver hair was cut short in a boyish style that looked good on her. She wore a red and white Christmas sweater over jeans and tennis shoes. I tried again to speak and finally succeeded, " _Granny_?"

"Hello, Aimee Jane. Long time no see, sweetie." Granny replied with amusement in her tone, "Now are you gonna let me in or leave me to freeze out here?"

Any thoughts I had revolved around trying to figure out what was going on. It was safe to say that my brain had disconnected and any actions I went thought were not well thought out if thought out at all. It was why I opened the door even further and stepped back to let the older woman in without realizing I had a living room of aliens watching a movie with the kids.

"Granny." I breathed, "What are you- You're _here_?"

"Aubrey told me you were in town. I'll try not to be insulted you didn't come see me yourself." She joked, but I knew there was a slight truth to her words.

This was the woman who took care of me for two years. She was the woman in charge of the last foster home I went to. It was right after Aubrey left and this was the woman who had to round up the broken pieces of my soul. The only reason I was a somewhat functioning human was because of this lady. God knows I didn't make it easy on her either. Hell, the only reason I called her Granny was because I had tried to insult her. She introduced herself to me as Rosie and I called her Granny to mock her age. She had the patience to put up with all my shit though. She cleaned me up after every fight and then as soon as I was healed she'd yell at me for putting myself at risk yet again. The last time I saw her was right before I left Alabama, but we had ended on a good note.

"Where are the kids? I've never met the young ones, but I hear about them from Aubrey all the time." Granny cooed, "Are they asleep?"

It was then that she noticed the glowing TV and she walked into the living room. Suddenly, I realized the living room was the last place Granny needed to be. My eyes widened and I slammed the door shut, " _Wait_!"

She came to a halt as her eyes widened at the sight before her. I came to a stop next to her and tried to not panic. I wasn't succeeding. All the mechs were right where I left them, but it seemed like they all froze in place in an attempt to look like toys. To me it was obvious they were faking, but to someone who didn't expect toys to move it was working.

"Are these their toys?" She questioned and then looked at the kids who hadn't moved. The twins were still asleep, but Peter was as wide eyed as me. "Why hello there. You're Peter, aren't you?"

Peter nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"Merry Christmas, young man. I bet you had fun with your aunt here today."

"Thank you, ma'am. Yes, ma'am." He replied in an overly polite tone. I think it came from the fact that he was as nervous as I was right now.

I coughed, "How about we head to the kitchen, Granny? Lot of catching up to do. Peter, clean up your toys?"

"Yeah, ok." Peter nodded.

The plan was working well, but then the napping Grimlock decided to wake up and raise his head at the sudden change in volume. Granny froze in surprise as Grimlock stood and stretched his back. All eyes in the room were on Grimlock who spun where he was standing to look at Granny. Grimlock wasn't stupid. I learned that early on. He was different than all the other mechs that was for sure, but I wouldn't call the dinobot stupid.

Another thing the dinobot wasn't? Discreet.

"You human new. Who are you? You human know dinobot pet Aj?"

Well, I guess I couldn't expect that peace to last forever.

* * *

 

"They are _alive_?"

I bobbed my head up and down sheepishly, "Yupp."

"Alive, alive?"

"No. Dead, alive." I joked.

"Aimee Jane Bradshaw, don't you dare sass me right now."

I was sitting at the dining room table with my hands in my lap. Granny was sitting across from me. The pie she brought lay forgotten on the kitchen counter as she stared at the mechs standing on the table. It was decided that only Optimus, Jazz, and Soundwave would stick around for this conversation. All the other mechs had gone off to do their own thing or help the kids into bed upstairs. After Granny heard Grimlock speak she went into a sort of shock. I had led her over to the kitchen table where she didn't move or speak. That had given me enough time to get the kids upstairs and tell Prowl to make sure everything goes smoothly and that they get to sleep. By time I got back downstairs, Granny was finally coming out of shock.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly. "Um, so, this is Optimus Prime. He's kind of the leader of the Autobots- the blue eyed ones." I motioned toward the red and blue bot who nodded his head at Granny. "That one is Jazz." Jazz grinned at the older woman and I bit back the urge to roll my eyes, "He's third in command of the Autobot army. Last but not least, this is Soundwave. He isn't…Well, I mean, he's not the leader of the decepticons or even the second in command, but he's one of the easier ones to deal with."

Granny shook her head slowly, "They're alive and they're in the _military_?"

"Sort of?" I shrugged and glanced at them who glanced back at me. It had been decided that I would do all the talking until I was sure Granny wasn't going to black out on us. "Not _our_ military. They're kind of in the middle of a civil war. Haven't you seen any of the Transformer movies?"

Granny leveled a look at me that told me that was the dumbest question to come out of my mouth and I chuckled and tore my own gaze away. There was a pause before she shook her head and spoke up again, "So lemme get this straight. These toys came to life-"

"They're not toys though." I cut in, "They're… _people_. An alien people from a galaxy far, far away, but still people."

"You're tellin' me they're alien robots from outer space?" Granny pressed with narrowed eyes.

I bit my lower lip, "Yes and no. They're not robots, they're called _mechs_." My eyes caught sight of the proud look Optimus was giving me from my words, but I continued on, "And though they are from outer space I guess they're technically also from another universe so…yeah."

All of us stayed quiet as Granny mentally processed this information. Despite the fact that someone else now knew of our little secret, I couldn't help but wear a small smile on my features. Granny was here. She was sitting in front of me scolding me for being sassy as if eight years hadn't gone by. I owed so much to this woman and it was so good to see her, but I also felt a pretty big ball of guilt sitting in the pit of my stomach. Sure I had missed her, but I hadn't reached out to her for a good long while. I occasionally spoke to her while in undergrad in New York, but after telling her the news that I was accepted into Medical school I stopped talking to her. The reason behind that was because I had started fighting again. There was no way in hell that I could call up the woman I respected more than anything and tell her I had thrown away my life and fallen back into my old ways. I mean, this was the woman who even in her old age went around town volunteering and helping anyone she could. The woman that saved my ass more times than I could count. The woman who motivated me to finish school and go to college. How could I tell her fucked up so bad? So I did what I always did. I cut all ties and ignored the problem.

"Ok. Ok." Granny nodded after a moment. She let out a low, long sigh and then forced a small smile onto her soft features, "This is no doubt somethin' strange, but I've seen crazier."

I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.

" _Woman_ ", I blurted and glanced over to see the Optimus was giving Granny a look of confusion. Soundwave had his head tilted slightly, but Jazz was just grinning in amusement. "What the _fuck_ do you mean you've seen _crazier_?"

Granny looked appalled at me, "How many times do I gotta tell you to watch your language? A young woman as pretty as you should not be using words like that."

" _Granny_." I pressed still searching for an answer.

She gave all of us a small shrug, "I was alive and well during Woodstock, you know." Before her words could fully wrap around my mind she moved on, "Still, I thought you were past this, Aimee Jane."

"Past what?"

"Eight years come and go and yet you're _still_ gettin' yourself into these messes?"

I scoffed and leaned forward on the table, "To be fair, this was _not_ my fault. I didn't pull these guys through a portal into our universe. I woke up and they were having a firefight in the kitchen."

Granny rolled her eyes and waved her hand at me, "Yes, but out of all the people this could've happened to on God's green earth, it happens to _you_? Big shock there. You're a trouble magnet."

"Admittedly, my track record for things going my way hasn't been too spectacular." I sank in my seat with my arms crossed tightly across my chest.

Granny chuckled in amusement before gasping at herself, "I can't believe how rude I'm bein'." She focused her attention on the bots, "My name is Rosie Tanner, but you lot can just call me Rosie."

"It's very nice to meet you, Rosie." Optimus greeted in his usual, polite way, "We apologize for any duress we may have caused you."

Granny shrugged, "Surprises keep me young."

"Inquiry: How do you know Aj?" Soundwave questioned.

Jazz nodded, "Yeah, Aj 'ere looked pretty surprised herself when ya showed up at the door."

"Well, I'm not her grandmother I'll tell you that." Granny chuckled to herself, "I took care of the troublemaker for two years." She glanced back at me, "Aubrey found me. She introduced herself and explained who she was and how she was tryin' to get in touch with you. I had to tell the poor dear that her little sister wasn't callin' me no more." I gave her a sheepish smile that she ignored, "We've been talkin' since then, she showed me pictures of her precious kids who I will be back to properly meet one day, and then she called me one day and told me she found you."

"She found me alright." I scratched the back of my head, "Sent me a plane ticket begging me to come down and watch her kids."

Granny shook her head, "How come she needed you to come down on such short notice? Where did she go? She's alright isn't she?"

I ignored the glance Jazz shot my way and nodded, "Yeah, of course she is."

Granny knew I was lying to her and I knew that she knew, but she didn't press on the subject and for that I was extremely grateful. If Aubrey didn't tell her about being sick then I didn't want to.

"So", Granny decided to change the subject. She folded her hands in front of her neatly and held a sly smile on her face, "You have a lot to tell me. I want to know everythin'. How is school goin'? How are your grades? Do you know what field you're gonna go into? Why you haven't called for the past four years?" She shook her head, "Let's start with an easy one. Where is this boyfriend of yours?" My eyes widened and she shook her head, "I was talkin' to Aubrey earlier on the phone."

I don't know how she classified a question like that as easy, but then again compared to the other questions she asked that one was kind of easy. A chuckle escaped my lips as I motioned toward Jazz, "Jazz was the one who talked to Aubs on the phone, he-"

"You're dating a foot tall metal alien?" Granny pressed in shock.

"Well, I-", I tried to defend myself, but Jazz just grinned.

"Don't ya worry none, Rosie. I'll take good care of 'er."

I scoffed and flicked him on the back of his head. Jazz bent forward from the blow but didn't stop laughing. My eyes snapped back to Granny who wore a similar smile of amusement on her lips. A sigh slipped through my lips, "I went out to buy food. The kids were home and Jazz talked to Aubrey to save my as-ft. My aft."

Granny's eyes had narrowed when I began to word, but she seemed pleased that I had changed it at last minute to aft. Little did she know that aft was actually used commonly as a Cybertronian curse word. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt me.

"I see." Granny hummed. She chuckled and shook her head, "Honestly, Aimee Jane, the things you get yourself into. You leave the world of underground fighting behind just to get yourself caught up in this mess."

The thing about Granny is that she was very, very good at picking up on lies. More than that, it was like the little old lady could smell guilt. It didn't help that the two years I spent with her she managed to learn all my tells and knew every facial expression I had. Her eyes had locked onto me as she spoke, and although I steeled my expression in a timely manner, the old woman's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What?" She pressed.

I shook my head, "What do you mean what? I'm just sitting here."

The three mechs on the table could tell the tension was rising and they were wise enough to remain quiet and force me to face the wrath of Granny on my own. Those assholes.

"You have that look on your face. What is it?" Granny asked sternly. Her eyebrows furrowed together and I could see the look of worry in her eyes. It was that worry, that fear, that told me the old friend of mine had already figured it out. I took a deep breath only to let it out as a defeated sigh and Granny began to shake her head, "No. _No_."

"Granny-"

"Don't you Granny me." She pointed at me, "Tell me you're not fighting again, Aimee Jane. Tell me you're in medical school about to graduate. Tell me you didn't give up."

I bit my lip in shame and my eyes fell to my lap. Honestly, I had forgotten what it felt like to disappoint someone. I forgot how brutal and soul shattering it felt. Granny just stared at me from across the table, but she might as well have reached into my chest and ripped my heart out.

"I'm so-"

"Do _not_ say you're sorry." Granny snapped, "Sorry doesn't save you. Sorry doesn't keep you _alive_."

I lifted my gaze and shook my head, "I needed the money."

Granny narrowed her eyes at me, "If you needed money you could've called me. I would've sent you-"

"You paid for most of my undergrad degree!" I cried and then glanced behind me as I remembered the kids were sleeping. After a pause I forced myself to lower my voice, "I couldn't keep mooching off you, Granny."

"It's not mooching if I _want_ to give." Granny replied softly, "Aimee Jane, it's called having someone's back. It's called being there for them when times are tough. It's called _family_." I refused to look over at the three mechs on the table, but I could feel their gazes on me. "You and I both know that fighting to you has _never_ been about money." She paused and reached across the table to place her hand on top of mine, "You use fighting to cope. What demons were you runnin' from this time, sweetie?"

What demons? That was an easy question. Sure I had a ton of issues, but every little issue had the same overall theme didn't it? Not being good enough. I was scared to fail, to fall short of any goals I set. With fighting, I didn't fall short. Fighting was easy. Fighting was numbing. I was good at fighting.

Rather than even trying to answer I shook my head, pulled my hand away from hers, and leaned back in my chair with my arms crossed tightly. I shrugged, "You cant seriously be that surprised, Granny. When have I _ever_ walked the path to success well? You and I both know that isn't me. I'm not capable of that. I'm…"

I didn't bother finishing the sentence, but Optimus chose this time to step in. He turned and the mechs behind him both focused their gazes on me as well. The leader shook his head, "I feel the need to remind you again, Aj. You are capable of great things. You are worth so much more than you believe and I am willing to remind you of this daily until you fully believe it."

" _Octopus is right_." Granny motioned toward Optimus whose eyes widened slightly at the mess up of his name. I expected Jazz's lips to twitch in laughter at the obvious mistake, but he kept his steady gaze on me with his lips drawn into a firm line. "Do you still consider yourself worthless? You _idiot_. I thought I beat that stupid idea out of your head years ago."

I forced a smile and shrugged, "I do have a thick head, remember?" The argument began to slowly dwindle away and I took that opportunity to try and change the subject, but Granny wasn't having it. She demanded I tell her everything that happened after graduating college. It took a bit to explain everything that happened. Occasionally, the mechs would voice their own opinions, but they didn't really start talking a lot until I got to the part where I flew down to Alabama to meet up with Aubrey and the kids. By the end of it all, Granny knew everything I knew except for the Aubrey being sick part. I had even told her about the whopping debt I had racked up thanks to dickhead Kyle.

Around 9'o'clock, Granny explained she had to head back home. She needed to be up early tomorrow, but she stressed that she would be swinging by sometime later in the afternoon to meet the kids and the other mechs. She said her goodbyes to the mechs on the table, finally getting Optimus' name right, and then I walked her to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Granny." I sighed and swung the door open.

Granny reached forward and pulled me into a tight hug. She was about my height, but was more petite and obviously frailer. She lightly clapped me on the back a few times before pulling away and putting a hand on my cheek, "It's good to see you, Aimee Jane. Seeing you here back in contact with your sister, taking care of the kids so well, keeping up with the mechs around the house." She smiled, "I am _so_ proud of you."

"Even though I kind of fragged everything up?" I questioned with a small smile.

Granny chuckled, "I will _never_ not be proud of you. You were _supposed_ to remember that."

"Good night, Granny." I nodded and helped the woman walk off the porch and to her car on the side of the road. After she drove away I began to head back to the house, but paused by the truck. The bottle of whiskey was sitting on top of the pack of energy drinks. I had been so eager to drown my sorrows earlier with the burning liquid, but now? A small smile lit my features as I pulled the car door open and grabbed the stuff. I headed back inside and used my free hand to turn the porch light off and shut the door.

Sideswipe who had been coming down the stairs paused and narrowed his eyes at me in thought. I grinned, "Y'all claimed to know how to play poker, right?"

 

Twenty minutes later, the twins, Jazz, Wheeljack, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Bluestreak, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and I were at the dining room table playing Texas Hold 'em. We didn't have cash to play with so instead we were playing with shots. If a mech lost they took a carefully measure shot of Rockstar energy drink and if I lost then I took a shot of whiskey. Predictably, Aubrey didn't have any shot glasses in the house so we were using little, white Dixie cups instead.

Going into the first round, I didn't expect the mechs to be bad at the game, but I sure as hell didn't expect them to be this good. Skywarp was the worst, but that was because he hadn't been familiar with the game so I actually taught him before starting. That and he had zero patience for it. Bumblebee came after him, but only because the mech wasn't used to having to control his door wings. He had a stone cold poker face, which startled me even though I knew he worked under Jazz in special ops, but his wings twitched every time he had a good hand. Bluestreak was good, but sometimes he'd slip up as he rambled on. The biggest competition, unsurprisingly, was the twins, Jazz, and Ratchet. Thundercracker was pretty good, but he apparently didn't play as often as the other mechs. Wheeljack was decent too, but he didn't hold a light up to the top four at the table. I was probably at the same playing level as Wheeljack and Thundercracker.

"Read 'em and weep." Jazz tossed down his hand. "Full house."

" _Frag_." Sunstreaker snapped and tossed down his own cards.

I groaned and glanced back down at my pair of queens, "What the hell, Jazz?"

Ratchet scolded my language before moving to pour Sunstreaker another shot. I grabbed the bottle of whiskey myself and began to pour out my sixth shot. Jazz began to collect together all the cards as I set down the bottle and focused my gaze on the Dixie cup. I grabbed it and held it up to Sunstreaker. He took his own lightweight cup, halfheartedly motioned it toward me, and then we both tossed them back. There was a burn in the back of my throat as my nose scrunched up.

"You need to stop." Ratchet said firmly.

I let out a laugh, "Why? This is fun. I'm drinkin' 'cause I'm in a good mood. I'm havin' _fun_." I grinned and pointed to him, "That doesn't happen often, Ratchy."

* * *

 

My head was still on my shoulders. I was buzzed pretty good and my southern accent had taken over completely, but I was still in control of myself. Ratchet was probably right though. If I took another couple shots I'd spend my morning trying to hide a hangover from the kids. I sighed and rested my head against my hand as I glanced around the table. Bluestreak and Bumblebee had bowed out a couple hands ago to go check in the kids. Ratchet had nagged at them for drinking too much too. Apparently the energy drink had some serious kick. Sideswipe had the goofiest grin on his face, but I knew the moment the next hand got passed out he'd become stone faced again. Wheeljack's fins were glowing a faint, steady blue and Jazz's visor was brighter in color. Thundercracker and Ratchet were taking their drinks like champs and showed no outward signs like the others. Skywarp was silently laughing to himself and I was thinking he wouldn't last much longer. My eyes drifted over to Sunstreaker who sat on the table leaning back on one arm. He seemed rather relaxed and the corners of his lips were twitched into a smirk occasionally.

"Youngling, you need to recharge. Your injuries need more rest and you're lucky I let you drink anything at all." Ratchet said firmly.

I giggled and nodded, "Okie dokie, Ratchet, sir. I'll head up to bed…after one more round."

"No. You'll go now."

"So bossy, Hatchet." Sideswipe chuckled, "I think you're just trying to get rid of the competition."

Ratchet narrowed his eyes at the red mech, "Don't think I wont hit you just because you're overcharged, you glitch."

"I'm goin'. I'm goin'." I slowly stood up and stretched my arms over my body. Heading to bed was probably a good idea considering I was exhausted after today anyways.

Sideswipe pointed at me, "You can't go to bed until I get my mistletoe kiss, babe. It's only fair."

"Aww the autobot didn't get a human kiss?" Skywarp mocked, still laughing. Sunstreaker tensed, but Thundercracker elbowed his trine mate making the seeker fall over in another round of laughter.

I bent over and placed a quick kiss on the top of Sideswipe's head, "There, Sides. You happy now?"

"Yupp." He replied. I began to head towards the foyer as the mechs continued to play. Sideswipe spoke up again, but it wasn't to me, "I didn't even need mistletoe. You see that mechs?"

Jazz scoffed, "Yeah, all you had ta do was get the femme overcharged. _Congrats_."

I giggled to myself again and paused at the base of the stairs. Rather than going up my eyes drifted to the glowing Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. I headed towards it and quickly began to look through the branches for the gift Aubrey had gotten me. This would've been easier if I was 100% sober. Something suddenly hit the top of the tree and moments later the gift fell into my hands. Starscream locked eyes with me briefly as he stood on one of the higher branches before he transformed and headed towards the kitchen.

My eyes snapped back to the small gift in my hands. Without hesitating, I tore open the gift only to find a small cardboard box. I pulled off the lid and my heart stopped at the gold piece of jewelry in my hand. The gold chain was medium in length and at the end of it was a solid gold charm in the shape of a heart with a smaller silver heart etched into the metal in the middle. I recognized the necklace because Aubrey wore it for years, but she hadn't been the original owner.

This was my mom's necklace.

After she died, I let Aubrey have her necklace because I would've given Aubrey anything at that point. I wasn't the biggest jewelry wearer to begin with and it only made sense in my mind that the eldest daughter would get the golden piece of jewelry. However, holding it in my hand now made me realize how much I wished I had had it all these years. Slowly, I sat down on the floor where I stood and just stared at the necklace in my hands. A warm smile settled on my face and I knew it had nothing to do with the alcohol now in my veins.

Today had been a good day.

It was a good Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was hecka long. Anyways, leave me some comments or shoot me some messages (can you do that on this site? Idk). If you're from fanfic and you've read this before let me know! Better, if you're a new reader let me know!! I'm curious!


	17. Familiar

* * *

_"Even in the familiar there can be surprise and wonder." –Tierney Gearon_

* * *

 

 

My eyes snapped open as I sat up in alarm. There was a cold sweat on the back of my neck and a chill running down my spine. I glanced around the room in alarm looking for danger, but my breath caught in my throat when I noticed Ratchet standing on the desk staring at me. His eyes were narrowed in concern and his arms were crossed, "Nothing is wrong. You had a nightmare. _Again_."

An alarm began to go off on my nightstand. Without even looking at it, I reached over with my hand and shut it off. My body was beginning to relax and I was no longer gasping for breath. I nodded my head once and closed my eyes in a poor attempt to try and get my bearings. This was the fourth time I've woken up in a cold sweat with fear pumping through my veins. I never remembered what happened in my nightmare though. I always just woke up confused and stressed.

"You need to wake the younglings." Ratchet spoke up, "Bumblebee just commed me and said the twins are giving them issues."

"Right. Got it." I replied and pushed myself out of bed. My bare toes touched the cold wood floor and I involuntarily shivered. The coldest weather in Alabama always came mid-January and left some time near the beginning of March. I stopped by the bathroom first to grab a hair tie and paused to glance at myself in the mirror. Despite having a bad case of bed head, I looked good. My cheeks were filled with color and not a single bruise marred my face. My eyes were bright and an unintentional smile drifted onto my features when I realized this was the healthiest I had looked in a _very_ long time.

Nearly three weeks had passed since Christmas. It was January 13, 2015, also known as the kid's second day of school. They had been excited yesterday morning when I got them up, but I guess the excitement of going back to school had worn off by the end of the first day. Still, the kids being stubborn about getting up in the morning was the biggest issue around the house, which meant things were going smoothly.

Granted, some things had changed over the time since Christmas and some things had remained the same. That was only expected. The mechs were still rapidly changing. Around News Year's Eve they got back their ability to connect to the Internet from their person rather than having to do so with the computer. The very next day, January 1st, they got back their ability to use their comms. Every mech had been excited about that. Ratchet said there were only a few other things they could possibly get back and he expected another change to happen soon. None of them had grown any larger though, which was a relief.

Another change was the presence of Granny. She came by often and the kids loved her to death. It didn't surprise me though. They had probably never experienced having a grandmother type role in their lives, and Granny certainly treated them like grandchildren considering how much she spoiled them.

Lastly, Wheeljack, Starscream, Soundwave, and Ratchet claimed to almost be done with the plans to get them home. They said as soon as all the plans were finalized and double-checked then they could begin building the machine to get them back.

Some of the things that hadn't changed were the relationships between autobots and decepticons. They put up with each other, but they were far from calling each other friends. Fights still broke out occasionally. Just the other day I had Barricade and Skywarp stuck in the dryer while Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were locked in the washer. Truthfully, I should just be happy they aren't murdering each other in the night.

Another thing that hadn't changed, not that I expected it to, was my debt. It was still there, breathing down my neck, and threatening to push me over the edge. Boss sent me texts sometimes. The first he sent to me, since Kyle sold me out, arrived as the ball dropped and the year changed from 2014 to 2015. All it said was ' _Happy New Years, see you soon_ '. Since then, he texted every week or so reminding me that he expected to see me come February 1st. That was a problem in itself because I didn't know exactly when I was heading back. Aubrey's condition hadn't changed, but that was good because it meant it didn't get any worse. She said she wasn't sure when she'd get back and I was determined to stay with the kids until that day came. No matter what the consequences might be.

"Good morning, Aj." Thundercracker greeted as I headed toward the twins' room.

"Morning, TC." I replied quickly. As I passed Peter's door I banged on it a few times before slipping into the twins' room. Both kids were still dead asleep despite the light being on, the curtains being drawn back, and two bots trying to shake them awake.

"Hey, Aj." Bumblebee chirped as he paused to glance over at me.

"Aj?" Bluestreak looked over his shoulder. He slumped in relief, "Thank Primus. We can't get them up. It was so easy to wake them up yesterday, but today they wont budge. They're ok, right? They aren't sick or anything?"

I grinned, "The only thing these lazy bums are sick with is ' _Don't-wanna-go-to-school'_ -itis." Without hesitating I rushed forward to the closest bed, which was Taylor's, and jumped onto the foot of the bed so I landed on my knees. The entire mattress rocked and Taylor groaned before shifting in bed and pulling the blankets closer to her body, "Get up sleepy head. You too, Tyler!"

"But Aj." Tyler moaned and dragged my name out. There was a whine in his voice, "I don't wanna go to school."

"You have to. It's important and you're gonna have tons of fun." I replied, "Now let's go downstairs and eat some breakfast. That'll wake you up. We have cereal, waffles, those toaster strudel things…I can cut up some bananas, Taylor? Or maybe you want-"

A voice from downstairs yelled, "Good mornin', kiddos! I brought some warm doughnuts!"

Suddenly the twins were up and rushing out of the room as if they hadn't been pathetically curled under their blankets begging me not to go to school moments before. Bumblebee glanced up at me curiously and I chuckled before scooping him up and placing him on the floor.

As I stepped out into the hall, Peter noticed me and gave me a ' _good morning_ ' smile before rushing down the stairs. I chuckled and followed him down to the kitchen where excited voices were talking.

"Can I have the one with pink icing?" Taylor pleaded.

Granny placed the doughnut on a plate and handed it to her, "I bought that one just for you. And here you go, Tyler, I got one with chocolate and sprinkles." She handed off more doughnuts and then gave Peter his favorite which was a cinnamon twist. The kids rushed to the table to devour their sweet breakfast.

"You never gave me doughnuts for breakfast." I commented and began to pour out cups of milk for the kids.

Granny shrugged, "They're angels and they deserve somethin' sweet to start their day with."

"Are you saying I wasn't an angel?" I replied and carried the drinks to the table. The kids thanked me with mouths full of doughnut. Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Wheeljack greeted Granny and I before heading to the table with the kids.

"Of course you were an angel." Granny smiled and reached out to pinch my cheek, "I just forgot sometimes because of those devil horns on your head."

I laughed, "Uh, ouch? Words hurt you know?"

She ignored me and looked over at the mechs that were filing into the room, "I picked up some coffee for y'all. I got cinnamon flavored, mocha, annnnd…" Her eyes darted around until they landed on Sideswipe who had waltzed in with his brother, "Oh! I got that caramel flavor you like, Sideswipe."

The red mech put his hands on his chest and grinned, "Rosie, you're a saint."

Not only did the older woman pamper the kids, but she pampered the mechs too. Both Autobot and Decepticon alike.

I began to pour out the right amount of coffee into the different cups. The last time I did this I was smart enough to use a sharpie and mark off who needed how much coffee on different cups so now I didn't need Ratchet standing on my shoulder reminding me. Who said old dogs can't learn new tricks?

Granny began to help me pour out coffee as I started to hand out the ones already done. I brought over Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Wheeljack's just as the kids rose from the table. "You guys still hungry?"

"Nope." Taylor replied then quickly added, "Can I wear my green earmuffs today?"

"Sure. All three of you go get ready. Brush your teeth, wash your face, the whole nine yards." I pointed at them. They called back brief acknowledgements before rushing away. I chuckled and sat down at the already pulled out chair at the table and watched as Granny finished handing out coffee to the twins, the seekers, and Grimlock who were the only mechs in the kitchen at the time. She briefly spoke to a few of them before they took their coffee and went back to whatever it was they were doing before. "Do me a favor, Jackie, and tell the others to get their afts down here, hmm?"

Wheeljack nodded at me, "You got it, Aj."

The mech paused in drinking his coffee to do what I asked and I watched as his eyes dimmed out of focus. They all tended to do that when they were speaking over their comms.

"Here you go."

My eyes snapped back to the left just in time to see Granny set a bear claw in front of me at the table. She sat down beside me with a coffee in her own hands. I smiled, "Aw, thanks Granny."

"My pleasure, sweetie." She replied in an overly sweet tone. My eyes narrowed slightly at her, but she paid me no mind as she sipped at her warm drink. The old lady wanted something. She had that look on her face. I tried to think about what she could possibly ask for, but Megatron, Soundwave, and Barricade who came in looking for coffee interrupted my thoughts. "Well, good mornin', mechs."

I watched as Granny rose to deliver them coffee before shrugging and moving to eat the bear claw in front of me. It didn't really matter what Granny wanted from me because the chances were, regardless of what it was, that I was gonna end up giving it to her. She was a lot like Taylor in the sense that I couldn't say no.

I let my attention focus over on Bluestreak who was speaking to Wheeljack and Bumblebee. Honestly, I wasn't sure what the little guy was talking about and it didn't help that he never stopped to take a breath. I tried to pick up on a few statements to see if I could understand their conversation, but a new voice filled the room.

"Mornin', Rosie." Jazz chirped, "Ya lookin' as lovely as ever."

"Oh, stop it you." Granny chuckled and looked to the bots beside him, "Good morning, Optimus, Prowl, Ratchet."

They returned her greeting as she handed out coffee and Optimus began to ask her something as Jazz wandered toward me with coffee in hand. I smirked, "Keep flirting with Granny and I might get jealous, Jazz."

"Ah come on, sweetspark. Ya know you're the only gal for meh." Jazz grinned. I lowered my hand and lifted him up to the table. He raised his plastic cup in thanks before sauntering over towards the other three mechs on the table.

Granny smiled at the officers on the ground before coming back over to sit beside me again. The three mechs stayed where they were, drinking their coffee, and speaking to each other in their own language, which is something I figured out they only did when they didn't want us humans hearing them.

"So…" Granny began.

I heaved a sigh, "Here we go."

She ignored my tone and continued, "Another lunch meeting is coming up."

"Granny." I groaned, "Not again."

Every week Granny met with a bunch of ladies her age and they all had some sort of classy lunch in the ballroom of the town's city hall. I didn't understand why Granny associated with some of these ladies at all. There were a few that were sweet and nice, but most of them were bitter, old, and rude.

"Oh, it's not that bad and you get free food." Granny tried to sell me on the point that usually worked. It did the first time she got me to go.

I rolled my eyes, "That food is too fancy for me. I don't want caviar and those weird snail things. I'm a burger and fries kind of girl." I tore off another piece of bear claw and shoved it into my mouth, "Besides, we're in the south. Why the pit aren't they serving biscuits and gravy?"

"Aimee Jane." Granny sighed. "I really want you to go with me to the meeting at the end of the month."

My eyes narrowed in suspicion, "At the end of the month? Why not the one this week?"

"We're having a special one at the end of the month. There'll be more food and everyone is bringing guests." Granny explained, "Mostly grandkids and family. People your age."

I didn't know what it was she said that tipped me off exactly, but the moment she stopped speaking it all clicked in my head. With mouth agape, I set down the bear claw I had picked up and stared at her. My jaw snapped shut and I shook my head.

"Aimee J-"

"No, don't you Aimee Jane me." I replied and pointed at her, "You're doing it again. You're trying to set me up."

The mechs on the table stopped talking and glanced over at our conversation in amusement. They knew exactly what I meant when I said _'set up_ ' because they had seen the aftermath of the last time. Granny babysat the kids and mechs for me and then pushed me out the door to go on a blind date. It was nice enough at first, but it ended with me punching the guy in the face for trying to get handsy. Granny apologized profusely when I got back home, not that I blamed her for the guy being a douche, and most of the mechs applauded me taking care of business in the way that I did. They had been very protective over me when I explained what happened which would've touched my heart at the time if I hadn't been so pissed at the guy still. Granny assured me she wouldn't try again, yet here we were.

"You said no more blind dates." I said firmly.

"This isn't a blind date! You'll be there with me, and the ladies, and a huge crowd. I just want you to meet him." Granny assured.

I groaned, "Why? Why are you so pit bent on getting me a boyfriend?"

Granny's eyes softened and her lips pressed together tightly as she leaned forward to rest her hands on mine, "Sweetie, I just don't want you to be alone."

There was a pause before I scoffed and pulled back, "That face isn't gonna work on me, old lady."

Granny rolled her eyes and leaned back in her own seat with a sigh, "This guy is a keeper, I swear!" She straightened her posture, "He's the grandson of Abbey Collins, you remember her?" Did I remember Abbey Collins? The head bitch of the group with sharp brown eyes and a permanent scowl on her wrinkled face? Yes. Yes I did. Granny didn't wait for me to answer, "His name is Ryan and he's so handsome. Tall, broad shoulders, green eyes to die for. Plus, he's a lawyer."

I gasped and then pasted on a fake smile, "We'd make such a cute couple. Me, the bloody knuckled criminal and him, the bloodsucking lawyer. _Aww_."

She slapped the top of my hands with a firm frown, "You are _not_ a criminal." I didn't argue with her or remind her that fighting in those underground rings wasn't exactly smiled at by law enforcement. She stood up, "And you are comin' to that lunch."

"I can't, Granny."

"And why not?"

There was a pause and it seemed like everyone in the room was eager to hear my _'from the hip_ ' excuse. I glanced over at Jazz whose lips were surprisingly drawn in a straight line rather than an amused grin. I motioned toward him, "I'm engaged to Jazz, remember? He might not appreciate his _fiancé_ going to some lunch to flirt with other men."

Granny rolled her eyes again and Jazz's serious face blossomed into a grin as he nodded, "She makes a good point. I'm not the best at sharin'."

"Y _ou're going_. Last Tuesday of the month. I'll pick you up a nice dress to wear." She said firmly before turning on her heels to go upstairs and check on the kids who had been a bit too quiet for our tastes.

"Granny!" I called out, but she ignored me and marched out of sight. I heaved a sigh and pulled my knees up to the chair before leaning against the back bars. "Fragging lunch."

"Watch your mouth, youngling." Ratchet snapped from across the room. I tilted my head and glanced over at him with a dry, bored look. The medic glared at me, "Don't make me come over there."

I couldn't keep the straight face and ended up chuckling to myself. Granny always snapped at me for cursing so I had switched over to Cybertronian. Now, I had the habit of using their curse words. It worked well until Prowl told Granny what I was doing and I got yelled at by both her and Ratchet. I was still stuck in the habit of Cybertronian curses, but Granny didn't catch onto those as much as she did normal curses. It slipped her mind sometimes, which worked for me.

" _Hey_!" I yelled out into the house, "Are you taking the kids to school or am I today?"

There was a pause before all three kids yelled back, answering for Granny, "You are!"

I grinned and went back to listening in on the conversation happening on the table between the mechs and eating my bear claw.

* * *

 

A casual grin was plastered onto Jazz's faceplates as he leaned against the inside of the truck door staring at the human sitting behind the steering wheel of the vehicle. Aj was quietly singing along to the song playing on the radio, Jazz recognized it as one of the ones he bought a while back to listen to on Aj's iPod. Her hands lightly tapped against the dark steering wheel as her head bobbed to the beat of the music. She was relaxed, she was healthy, and she was happy. It did Jazz's spark good to see her in such good spirits.

"I brought that purse so you can come into the store with me if you want to. You interested?" Aj interrupted her own singing to ask.

Jazz was startled by the sudden question and sat up a little straighter, "Sounds good to meh."

She glanced over to shoot him a smile before returning her optics to the road. It was a hassle trying to be the mech that went with her to drop off the kids and go to the store, but when Jazz set his processors to something he often got it. All it took was convincing Grimlock to go bother the twins, which was enough of a distraction for Jazz to join Aj in her walk to the door and then to the truck. It only helped that Rosie decided she also wanted to have a quick conversation with the twins before leaving.

The twins were always aiming to leave with Aj now. Even Sunstreaker was fully dedicated to working with his twin in ways to get Jazz left behind. Although, Jazz was fairly certain this was just because Sunstreaker was overly competitive and didn't like the idea of Jazz beating them out. Regardless of the vain mech's reasons, it bothered Jazz to no end watching Aj leave the house with the twins. Pit, it bothered him a little more than he liked to admit.

"Oh, I love this song. Have you heard it?" Aj questioned before turning up the volume some and joining in eagerly, " _I miss the taste of a sweeter life. I miss the conversation._ "

Jazz chuckled to himself before focusing his attention solely back to the human next to him. Why think of the trouble making twins? He won after all.

It had been 2.5 orns since they arrived in this other universe. Only 32 Earth days. When Jazz really thought about it they had barely been there at all, yet it felt like so much longer. Maybe it had something to with their bodies or maybe time here just felt slower, Jazz didn't really know. He also didn't really care. He liked hanging out with the younglings, he liked talking to Rosie, and he liked Aj.

Unlike many of the other mechs that ended up on Earth with him, Jazz was excited about the prospect of learning about a whole new culture. One that in some ways was much like their own. Ending up here was like a crash course in Earth ways. Here he got to explore different topics and culture habits without worrying about a battle about to break out. Well, technically speaking, he still had to worry about battles, but none of the battles they've had here so far could compare to the ones back home or even the ones they had back on the Earth in their own universe.

Jazz was enjoying his vacation more than he probably should and the thought of Wheeljack and the others getting their ride back home done so soon made his spark wilt slightly. The crazed engineer had originally estimated it'd take a fragging solar cycle and now here he was saying he could have it done around possibly four orns?

Talk about the shortest vacation ever.

The saboteur understood they needed to get back. Who knew what was happening back in their universe? Red Alert was probably losing his mind at the fact that most of the officers, including their Prime, was suddenly missing alongside the main players of the Decepticon army.

Still, the thought of going back at this current moment didn't sit right with him. He didn't even want to imagine how depressing it'd be to say goodbye to the younglings. Jazz knew the moment one of them started crying it'd break his spark. Plus, if the mechs left, and the youngling's creator came back, what would Aj do? Jazz seriously doubted she'd stick around. She'd probably go back to the fighting ring, back to Boss. Then the happy, singing Aj beside him would no longer exist. She'd go back to being alone, to being hurt, to being bitter and lost.

That just didn't sit right him.

* * *

 

"I _just_ dropped them off at school, Aubs." I said before letting my eyes scan the aisle for the right thing of Peanut butter. According to the kids it had to be Jif and it had to be smooth not crunchy.

"Not that they were too happy ta go." Jazz chuckled from the small purse sitting in the upper portion of the buggy I was pushing in front of me.

Aubrey gasped, "Is that Jace? Is he shopping with you?" Considering she wasn't here standing in front of me I didn't resist the urge to roll my eyes and just did so. Jazz was witness to it and only laughed more. I glanced over my shoulder and was pleased to see I was the only one in this aisle of the store. "Let me talk to him! I haven't spoken to him since New Year's."

Jazz tapped the side of his head so I knew what he'd be doing and then suddenly I could hear his voice on the line, "Well 'ey there, Aubrey. How ya doin'?"

"Jace!" Aubrey greeted, "I'm doing fine, and you?"

"It's all good over 'ere." Jazz replied. I was sort of used to the mechs being able to hack into phone calls and thing of that nature with their comm systems. Then again, one you get used to small aliens living in your house what _can't_ you get used to?

Aubrey hummed, "That is _so_ good to hear. The kids are always singing praises of you and your friends."

"The kiddos are fantastic." Jazz chuckled, "Ya raised some amazin' ones, Aubrey."

"Aw thank you, Jace." Aubrey said sincerely. The two of them continued, but my attention went elsewhere. I had pushed the buggy out of the aisle and into the main portion of the store, but the moment I did so my eyes landed on a familiar form. It was a man with auburn hair slicked back. His shoulders were slumped forward and covered with a dirty khaki jacket. I could only see his back so I didn't understand why I recognized the rather short man twenty or so feet away.

The man suddenly turned around and all it took was a glance at his face to realize why I recognized him so easily. Before I could move an inch, his brown eyes snapped to me and a sly grin formed on his thin lips.

"We gotta go, Aubs. Talk to you later." I blurted, cutting off something the woman was asking Jazz. She said my name, but I hung up the phone and tossed it into the purse next to mech with me. Without pause, I turned the buggy and headed for the register. The only thing I didn't pick up was a new box of pop-tarts, but the kids would just have to go another day without their favorite after school snack. I needed to leave.

"'Ey." Jazz spoke up, "What's happenin', Aj? Talk to meh."

"We gotta get out of here. I don't want to talk to him."

"Talk to who?" Jazz was forced to stop talking as he retreated further into the purse. The bubbly cashier was speaking to me now as I quickly threw the items onto the black conveyer belt. I paid, thanked her, and then within minutes I was rushing out the door with my bags of groceries and my purse around my shoulders. "Sweetspark! Who are we avoidin'?"

I threw the bags into the backseat of the truck, but before I could open the driver's door a familiar voice called out to me, "Well if it isn't little Aj."

Distaste and frustration bubbled under my skin as I slowly turned around to look at the scum of the earth. He was grinning now, showing all of his tobacco stained teeth. The guy was probably in his late fifties now and he did _not_ age well, not that he looked that good ten years ago.

"Frank. _Wow_." I replied, "I didn't realize how much I _didn't_ miss you until now."

Frank barked out a hoarse laugh, "Always a kidder, aren't ya?"

"More like I'm just painfully honest." I scoffed. My purse shifted slightly, but Frank didn't notice it at all. Just like he didn't notice the small-visored head peeking out to watch what was happening. I did though. For a super saboteur, he wasn't being too subtle right now.

Frank probably wouldn't have noticed a bomb go off beside us at this point though. His eyes were too busy tracing over my body as he nodded his head making his greasy hair slip from where it had been plastered to his head before, "You grew up nice, Aj. Not too little any more."

"I think I just threw up a little in my mouth." I crossed my arms, "So how about you get the frag-er, hell out of here and I'll just head home and take a bath in bleach."

I really needed to get out of the habit of cursing in Cybertronian. It was weird.

Frank shook his head one more time then used his hand to slick back his hair, "What? You don't even wanna talk with your old pal? After everything I've done for you?"

After everything he had done for me? Like introducing me to the world of underground fighting? Stealing more than half of the money I earned and calling himself my manager? All that? Yeah, I owed the dickhead something all right. I owed him a kick to the teeth.

I didn't reply to him and instead let my eyes glare at his face in hopes that the heat and strength of the look would somehow burn a hole in his head. Frank didn't seem fazed by my glare and continued, "I didn't know you were in town, sweetheart."

" _Don't_ call me sweetheart." I snapped.

Frank lifted his hands in mock defeat and took a step closer. I shifted in my own stance rising to my full intimidating height of 5'3. Frank, who was only about two inches taller than me, immediately stepped back. A smirk shifted onto my lips. The good news was, Frank was still a yellow-bellied coward. It helped that the aft had seen me in hundreds of fights and knew just what I was capable of.

"Right, ok." Frank replied, "I heard you were in the big leagues now. Word has spread down from the Big Apple to little ol' us. What is it they call you up there? French fry?"

I rolled my eyes and mumbled under my breath, " _You fucking moron_."

He snapped his fingers, "Oh! _Small Fry_. That's what it is." Frank chuckled, "In my opinion, they don't treat you with enough respect. Down here you're still the _queen_. We got a picture of you hanging on our wall of fame."

"I'm so honored." I said in a dry tone. To think that there was one point in my life where I had been proud to be hanging on that wall next to a group of other shady fighters. If there were any positive sides to fighting up in New York, it was the fact that the underground ring up in New York wasn't anything like the one down here. The fighting ring down here took place in random barns out in the countryside. It was dirty, it was smelly, and it was filled with rednecks and shitheads that had nothing better to do with their time. Now that I think about it, New York was a lot like that too minus the rednecks.

"You should swing by the gym. Take a look." Frank shrugged. Roswell's was a gym downtown that was run by the same guy who ran the underground fighting ring. That's where the wall of fame was and that was how you found out where the next fight was going to be. However, finding out about the next fight wasn't as easy as just walking in and asking about it. You had to know the right people. Frank was one of those people you needed to know. "Hell, if you want. I could get ya a fight. That'd be something tons would pay to see."

I scoffed, "I wouldn't step foot back in y'all's ring if my life depended on it."

"Not even for old time's sake? For the memories?"

"You can take those old time memories and shove them up your aft." I snapped. Frank chuckled again and seemed unfazed by my choice of wording. He had that look in his eye. The one he got right before he fell into a large sum of money. He was planning something in that crooked little mind of his.

Frank took a step closer so he was within arm's reach. It looked like he wanted to get even closer, but my glare kept him at bay. The guy suddenly reached into his jacket and pulled out a card. I guess even low life criminals needed to look professional sometimes.

"Give me a call sometimes. I can set you up with anything you like. Single match, marathon…you pick, Aj." He leaned forward slightly and dropped the card into my purse. Lucky for all parties, he didn't notice the alien being glaring at him. Then again, Frank wasn't known for being observant. "Or you could just call me if you wanna…catch up."

I scoffed, "Beat it, Frank, before I _end_ you."

He backpedaled away as I got into my truck. I didn't spare him a second glance because he honestly didn't deserve it. A frustrated sigh escaped me as I set Jazz and my purse into the passenger seat and started up the beat up vehicle. There was a pause where I just sat in the sat with my hands on the steering wheel. Frank's visit hadn't rattled me per say, but it did leave me less than happy.

Frank wasn't a threat. He was just an annoyance.

My gaze drifted over to the quiet Jazz, but my eyes widened at the sight of the mech standing in the seat with his arms crossed and an irritated look on his features directed at me. In the time they spent here, I had only seen Jazz mad at me once. It was back when I got home from that blind date gone wrong and explained to everyone, minus the kids, what happened. Even then, he had been more frustrated with me than mad. Jazz scolded me for not going to get help. He was upset that I handled it on my own and risked putting myself in danger. Which I argued back that I had hardly been in danger, not that that helped my situation.

"What?" I pressed hesitantly.

"Nothin'." Jazz replied with his lips pressed into a firm line.

I lifted an eyebrow at him, "Yeah, right, that's believable."

Jazz sighed and shook his head, "I ain't upset with you, sweetspark."

"But you're upset." I threw the car into reverse and started making my way out of the parking lot.

Jazz leaned against seat as if it were a wall and crossed his legs at his ankle. His body looked casual, but the look on his face wasn't close to relaxed, "Well, I ain't particularly happy."

"Why?" I pressed curiously. Obviously it had something to do with Frank considering Jazz was fine before we left the store.

"I didn' like what just went down." Jazz answered honestly, "I didn' like the way he _talked_ to ya, I didn' like what the fragger _said_ , and I sure as pit didn' like the way he was _lookin_ ' at ya."

I chuckled in hopes to relieve the tension, "You mean like any other sleazy guy I've dealt with?"

"Like you were a piece of _meat_." Jazz replied firmly. Ever since they got Internet the mechs have thrown in the occasional human saying here and there. Jazz was the biggest culprit considering he knew a few phrases even before they picked up on Aubrey's Wi-Fi. "Tell meh", He began to speak again making me glance over at him briefly before refocusing my eyes on the road, "What do ya plan on doin' when we go?"

I paused, "I don't know what you mean."

"I mean exactly what ah said. We leave, what do you do? Stay with the kids?"

"Until Aubrey gets back, of course."

"Alright", Jazz nodded, "Aubrey gets back home an' she's good an' healthy. Then what?" He pushed himself off the seat and came closer, "Do ya plan on goin' back?"

It was the question that I didn't like to be asked. Most of the mechs had figured that out early on and avoided the topic. Ratchet, of course, paid no mind to my discomfort and continually questioned what my future looked like. It seemed like Jazz would be getting added to that list. Big shock.

Jazz motioned toward me, "Well?"

"I don't have a choice." I snapped and stopped the car at the red light ahead.

"You _always_ have a choice." Jazz said firmly, "You could stay with the kids an' Aubrey, with Rosie."

I let out a sad chuckle. Jazz had no idea how wrong he was. The longer I stayed here the more danger I brought to the few people I cared about in this world. I shook my head, "That isn't an option, Jazz."

In hopes that he wouldn't press the topic further, I reached out and turned the radio up loud so he'd have to shout to be heard. Jazz just didn't understand.

* * *

 

Cooking was not fun. I was a bit better at it now thanks to the practice I got making food for the kids, but after all this was over you can bet your ass I'd be living off take out and frozen dinners again just for the sake of never having to touch an oven again. At least the oven was fixed now. Granted, I put Wheeljack in charge of fixing it, which left me more wary then before. Although, it hadn't killed me yet.

"Do you really think letting the seekers and Megatron fly around town is a good idea?" Granny asked as she painted her nails at the dining room table. Prowl sat on the table with her reading from a datapad.

I continued searching the pantry trying to decide what to make for dinner tonight, "It was my idea to let them out every couple days to fly, and considering my track record for ideas isn't great the answer might just be no."

"I'm just concerned that someone is goin' to snatch them up." Granny said.

Prowl spoke up, "They are fully capable of keeping out of sight and evading human capture, Rosie."

"Besides", I scoffed and began to chuckle at my own joke, "After an hour with Starscream, who's gonna wanna keep him?"

Granny shot me an unamused glare that I ignored. The sound of the door leading into the garage opened, "Aj?"

"Yeah, Pete?" I called back. The kids spent a lot of time these days playing outside and riding their bikes. More often than not, the mechs went out with them and hung out in the open garage. The neighborhood was a pretty quiet one so I wasn't too worried about them being seen, but the thought did linger in the back of my mind.

"There's someone here that wants to talk to you."

My shoulders tensed at his words and I forced myself to remain calm. Granny paused in her brush strokes and glanced over at me. I had no idea who could be outside with the kids and mechs right now, but hopefully the mechs were smart enough to keep out of sight. What I did know was that this probably wouldn't end well. I've only had three visitors show up unannounced and most of them ended badly.

"I always get the worst visitors." I mumbled and tossed aside the kitchen towel that had been draped across my shoulder.

Granny shrugged, "The last visitor you had was pretty _amazin_ '."

"Debatable." I joked, knowing she was talking about herself, "She showed up and now I can't ever get her to leave."

"I just wanna make sure you aint poisonin' these kids with your cookin', Aimee Jane." Granny yelled back at me as I made my way to the garage. The cold air bit at my bare arms and I immediately wished I had a jacket as I stepped into the garage.

The twins had moved into the garage and were standing in front of Bluestreak, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and Wheeljack who were pretending to be toys on the cold garage floor. I wondered if they remembered how badly this plan ended the last time they tried it. As long as Grimlock didn't come bursting out of the house things might be fine. My eyes drifted over to Peter who was standing in the driveway politely talking to a man in a bright orange construction vest and matching hardhat. Both of them noticed me, and Peter gave me a tight smile before his eyes drifted to the mechs again.

"Hi, can I help you?" I asked quickly.

"Hello, are you the head of the house?" The man replied with a question of his own. His light brown hair was mostly covered with a hardhat, and his light blue eyes were bright and friendly just like his tone of voice. I nodded once and he continued, "Fantastic, my name is Tom Cass and I just needed to speak to you about the house next door."

My eyes drifted over to the neighbor's house that had been empty since I got here. A large truck sat in front of the house now and a few people stood in the front yard talking. They were all dressed like Tom.

"Oh, sure." I glanced at Peter, "Hey, Pete. Help your brother and sister take in all the toys alright? It's nearly time for dinner. Your mom should be calling soon anyways."

Peter nodded and then glanced at Tom, "It was nice to meet you, sir."

"You as well, young man."

The boy smiled once more before rushing over to help Tyler and Taylor bring in the mechs. Now I could only pray that if the seekers and Megsy decide to come home early from their flight outside they wouldn't zoom into the garage until after the strangers were vacant from the area.

Tom chuckled, "He's a very polite boy. His parents raised him well."

"His mom did." I nodded and crossed my arms, "So the house next door?"

"Right." Tom shifted in his stance so his body was facing the house next door, but he was still speaking to me, "We got a call that the house needs some serious repair before it's available to move in again. I don't want to get too into the details, but we'll be working inside for a while with some serious chemicals."

My eyes narrowed, "Serious chemicals? This is a neighborhood with kids running around everywhere."

"I understand your concern." Tom reassured, "We have a chemical shed we're going to be setting up in the yard, but it's 100% safe. As long as the kids stay away from the shed and don't go inside the house while we're working they'll be fine."

I glanced over at the people in the yard who were beginning to unload something from the back of the large truck, "When do you guys start working?"

"We'll have the shed itself unloaded today and by the end of the week it'll be stocked up and sealed off. By next week we'll tent off the house and start working."

"How long will it take?"

Tom paused in thought before slowly nodding, "I'd say a couple weeks. A month at the most."

I sighed and then shrugged my shoulders, "Ok. I'll let the kids know to steer clear."

"Thank you so much, ma'am. You have a good evening now." Tom smiled one last time before heading back over to his coworkers. I let my own smile drop from my face as I let out a sigh of relief. Some small part of me had thought that maybe Frank found out where I lived and had come to nag at me some more to fight for him. That would've ended badly for him though considering Granny would recognize him easily and quite possibly rip him to shreds with her newly painted nails. Needless to say, she was not a fan of the guy.

I turned around to head back inside when I noticed the kids had left some toys lying out by the side of the house closest to the one going under repair. It was just a frisbee and a baseball, so I headed over to grab both. The frisbee was leaning against the wall of our house, but the baseball was in the neighbor's lawn by a window. I walked over, with the frisbee in one hand, to grab the ball when something bright flashed in my eyes. Out of reaction, I stopped walking and squinted briefly, but the light was already gone. Hesitantly I leaned back slowly until the light hit me again.

"What the…" I mumbled to myself and glanced around trying to find the source of the light. It didn't take long to realize that the light hitting me in the face was coming from inside the empty house. I walked over, scooped up the baseball, and then leaned toward the window to look inside the house. It was hard to see because the only light that filled the house came from the sun and the sun was nearly below the horizon. A couple more seconds of glancing around the living room area and my eyes finally landed on the source. There was a small mirror shard leaning against the wall that must have caught the sun at just the right angle to shoot out of the window. "Huh."

I leaned back to walk away when my eyes drifted up the wall to notice something painted against the beige wallpaper. It was a circle, about the size of the palm of my hand, that was drawn onto the wall in black paint. I could tell it was paint because there were some areas where it had obviously dripped down the wall before drying completely. Inside the center of the circle was a smaller circle with a symbol in the middle. I narrowed my eyes to try and make out the details, but all I could tell from where I stood was that it was some sort of snake with a winding tail that circled itself and instead of one normal head, it had three necks and at the end of each neck was some sort of writing, but the writing wasn't in English as far as I could tell. The outer circle was just filled with a winding blocky design that one might see on the outer edge of a plate from ancient Greece.

The small painting was unusual to say the least, but something about it was very familiar. I had no idea how or where, but I had seen this symbol before at some point in my life.

"Everything ok?"

I pushed myself away from the window to see Tom calling out to me in concern. I waved my hand once, "Yeah, everything is fine."

Without another word, I turned away and headed back for my garage. As I walked onto the driveway I noticed the chemical shed Tom had been talking about. The shed was about the size of a single trailer and was shaped like a smooth rectangle. It was entirely white except for the gray metal sliding door on one of the smaller ends and the yellow hazard sign painted on the longer side. I'd have to warn the kids to stay away from the house and the shed. Same goes for the mechs. The last thing I needed was Grimlock stumbling over to the shed and getting exposed to some chemical that makes him grow to his full size. Thanks, but no thanks.

I didn't bother shutting the garage door since the kids were probably gonna head back out after the construction crew left so they could wait for the seekers and Megatron. When I stepped back into the house I was hit with a blast of warm air, the sound of laughter, and the smell of macaroni and cheese. A smile slowly lit my features as I let out a relaxed sigh and headed for the kitchen.


	18. Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I make "soundtracks" for each story I write and this one has it's own. This chapter follows close to the main song of Small Fry's soundtrack: Monster by Skillet.

* * *

_"I feel the worst when I'm alone because that's when the monsters in my head say hello." –Unknown_

* * *

 

My fingers brushed across the engraved markings on my bracelet. I hadn't taken it off since I got it, same went for the golden necklace around my neck. Without my scheduled fights, I didn't have to worry about accidentally leaving an opening for my opponents to take me down. Any fighter would love to wrap their fingers around my necklace and use it as a hold as they pummeled my face in.

The kids were constantly wearing their necklaces too. Two days after Christmas I went out and I bought them chains to use. It wasn't too expensive considering they wanted dog tag style chains. I really loved seeing how excited they were by the necklaces. Despite Christmas being weeks ago, they still grinned like mad every time their eyes darted to the engraved metal. I guess I couldn't say much about that considering I was in the same boat. Every time my eyes caught a glance of the gold necklace around my neck, whether in windows or mirrors, a smile lit up my entire face.

Slowly, I dragged my gaze from the Autobot symbol on my bracelet to the red and white bot across the room from me. I had already dropped the kids off on this bright and sunny Friday morning and now I sat on my bed, with my back against the wall and my legs spread out in front of me, staring. Ratchet, however, was very good at completely ignoring me. He acted as if I weren't even in the room as he went through his subspace checking his gear, both military and medical.

The entire time I sat there, running my fingers across my bracelet and tapping one foot against the other, my mind remained on the situation I had witnessed right as I woke up. My alarm had gone off this morning at the same time it always did, and when I opened my eyes I got to watch Ratchet repair Bluestreak's arm and Thundercracker's knee. I couldn't stick around long to question all three of them considering I had kids to wake up and get moving, but now I was back and I wanted answers.

"So are you gonna answer me sometime _today_?" I pressed. Ratchet didn't outwardly make any sign that he heard me at all. He continued putting his junk back into his subspace. I clenched my jaw and pulled my finger away from the bracelet so I could cross my arms over my chest tightly. "Ratch-"

"If you refuse to answer my question, why should I spend _my_ precious time answering _yours_ , youngling?"

So he had heard me.

I knew exactly what he was talking about too.

Apparently, after I got back home from grocery shopping and talking to Frank, Jazz had mentioned something to the others about what I had hinted at. Three days had passed since that trip and I had lost count of how many times Ratchet came to me demanding to know my plans for the future. He had always nagged me about it before, but it seemed like he had become even more determined now.

I sighed, "Ratchet, can't you just let that go?"

" _No_."

The answer was quick, to the point, and had a tone of finality to it. Unfortunately for Ratchet, I wasn't the kind to listen to tones such as his own.

"Ratchet." I said firmly, "It doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that I woke up to two mechs being injured. _What_ _happened_?"

Ratchet spun around suddenly and the glare on his face let me know I was in serious trouble with the bot, "Doesn't matter? _Doesn't matter_?" He walked until he reached the edge of the desk, "How can you say it doesn't matter? This is your _future_! This is your _life_! _How can you care so little_!?"

"It's not that I don't care!" I shouted back. He had ignored my question again and dragged me into an argument. Like hell I was going to let him win said argument though. "I'm just more realistic than y'all! I know what the answer to that question is and I know none of you will like it so I _choose_ not to outwardly say it!"

He scoffed, "More fragging realistic, my aft." It was one of the first times I heard him curse in a direct statement to me. People cursed around me all the time. I cursed all the time. So the fact that Ratchet cursing at me made me pause in surprise was a bit startling. "What you are is _scared_. You're scared to take a risk so instead you plan to crawl back to a messy situation that will probably be the death of you." Ratchet shook his head, "You're afraid. You're afraid to be happy."

"I…" I spoke only to stop. There was a brief pause before I shook my head, "I'm not afraid."

"Very convincing." Ratchet replied sharply.

I narrowed my eyes at him and pushed myself across the bed so I sat on the edge closest to him, "I am _not_ afraid." The mech didn't seem convinced by my firm tone so I changed back to the subject I wanted to know about, "Now tell me what happened, Ratchet."

"Optimus is on his way to debrief you." Ratchet replied. His glare had lessened and now there was something in his eyes that could more closely be compared to worry or pity. Honestly, that gaze was worse than the glare. I looked away and nodded once.

I wondered if Optimus planned on coming alone or if he was going to bring the rest of the officers with him. My answer came to me three minutes later when the red and blue mech walked into the room. He had a casual look about him and I briefly wondered if he had heard Ratchet and I arguing. I nearly rolled my eyes at the thought. I bet the entire house heard us yelling. At least the kids and Granny weren't here to hear it.

"Good morning, Aj."

"Morning, OP." I replied quickly and watched as he climbed onto the desk to stand at the edge closest to me. Ratchet had moved so he was on the other side of the desk flipping through a book that was laid out. "You got some explaining to do."

Optimus nodded, "I know. I'm sorry for any distress we caused." He paused as if waiting for me to say something, but I just motioned toward him. The bot knew exactly what I wanted answered. There was no need for me to repeat the question again. "Last night there was a bit of an altercation. It didn't last long, but multiple injuries stemmed from the fight."

"More than TC and Blue?"

"Yes." Optimus nodded, "Ratchet completed most repairs before you awoke."

"Who?"

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Skywarp, Barricade, Prowl, and Bumblebee were the other injuries." Ratchet spoke up.

I rubbed my jawline, "You repair decepticons too?"

"Those who will let me." Ratchet replied. I remembered what he had told me weeks ago. He was a medic before a soldier. It made perfect sense that Ratchet would go out of his way to fix his sworn enemy here where they had no medic of their own. I could also probably guess the decepticons that wouldn't let him help.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." I mumbled. Fights happened around here. I could depend on that like I could depend on the sun rising every morning. I was lucky the Autobots outnumbered the Decepticons because something told me if it were the other way around I might have more problems.

The autobots fought decepticons. The decepticons fought autobots. I wasn't stupid. I understood that one trip to an alternate universe where they were mini sized wasn't going to fix a billion year war, or however long their war was. However, a part of me wanted to try and fix it. Not fix the war, I wasn't a miracle worker, I wanted to at least fix the situation enough to where they didn't feel the need to fight here. That required me to know more about said war though and I didn't want that. As selfish as it was, I didn't want to be more involved than I was. Many of the mechs here, hell most of them, I considered something of a friend. The only reason I didn't come right out and call them a full-blown friend was because at this point I wasn't entirely certain what a real friend was. The last one I had sold me out. Besides, the only reason I opened myself up to kind of trust them was because I knew they'd be leaving relatively soon and how badly could someone hurt you if you go into the relationship knowing they'd be gone before the end of the year?

Optimus cleared his throat, "If you wish, I can go further into detail. How it came to be, what exactly happened?"

Did I want to know? Did I want to help?

Yeah, I did, but I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted to help someone, the truth was I wasn't the helping kind. The things I touched tended to go up in smoke. Overall, things here were going fairly good. The kids were happy, Granny seemed happy, and for the most part I was happy. Happier than I had been in a while. Happier than I should've been considering the debt I had racked up. It wouldn't last though because nothing does. Nothing I touch stays happy. That's the only explanation for it. I couldn't help because I didn't make things better.

I was a monster that wore a smile and pretended to not be shattered.

The thought didn't send a pang of pain resounding through my body. It didn't make me want to curl up and cry or reach for a solution. It didn't upset me because it was a simple fact I had grown used to. It just _was_. In the end, it was the only explanation that worked too. People ran from monsters, and nearly everyone in my life so far had run off in some form or fashion.

"No thanks." I shook my head and put a small smile on my face, "I think it's better if I don't. Thanks for the offer though, OP."

I stood up to head downstairs, but Optimus spoke up again, "Wait, Aj." Hesitantly, I sat back down on the edge of the bed. I briefly noticed both bots eyes dim out as they spoke over comms before Ratchet walked over to stand by Optimus. "I wish to ask you something."

There was a groan in the base of my throat that begged to be released, but I bit it back out of respect. However, I couldn't stop the frustrated sigh that slipped out, "Why, OP? _Why_ won't you guys give it a rest?"

"We haven't been here long, we won't be here much longer, but in the time we've spent here I'd like to believe we've grown close to you and the younglings. Even Rosie." Optimus spoke in a calm, level voice. "In the same way you claim to feel responsible for us, we feel responsible for you."

I shook my head, "I _never_ asked you to feel that way."

"You didn't have to, youngling." Ratchet snapped.

Optimus continued, "None of us want to leave you in a situation we feel will do you harm. The younglings will have their carrier, but who will you have if you go back to your previous place of residence like Jazz said you suggested?"

"Fragging no one." I blurted in admittance. Both mechs tensed, but said nothing, "But that's the _damn_ point." Ratchet opened his mouth to yell, I could tell, but Optimus lifted a hand to make his medic pause so I continued, "I work better when I have no one. Will I miss the kids? Pit, yeah. Will I miss Granny? I never _stopped_ missing her when I first left…but…when I'm alone, the only person relying on me is _me_."

Ratchet looked taken aback, "So this entire plan of yours, running back to the human male who wishes to do you harm, is to avoid responsibilities?"

I shrugged and Optimus seemed unconvinced. Him and Ratchet shared a glance before the red and blue mech spoke up in a firm voice, "Why are you avoiding responsibilities?"

"Why does anyone avoid responsibilities?" I replied in a noncommittal tone.

"I can only think of a few reasons. The two most common would either be the individual is being immature and lazy, which I don't believe you fall under or…" Optimus paused, "They're afra-"

I stood up quickly, " _I'm not afraid_!" There was silence in the room as my words hung in the air heavily. I pressed my lips together briefly, "You don't have to worry about letting people down if no one's counting on you. You don't have to worry about being a disappointment." A frustrated cry climbed up my throat, "I'm _not_ a mom. I don't have wisdom to share with anyone. Hell, I'm not even a reliable adult! I'm a fuck up."

"Aj-" Both bots began.

"Are you happy? _There's_ your answer. I'm going back because there is _nowhere_ else for me to go. Sure, maybe I've done all right up to this point. Aubrey and Granny seem to think so. Y'all too, but…there is something...something _broken_ in me that I don't want to spread to Aubrey or the kids or to Granny." I glanced down at my hands. The skin was unbroken and light tan. Not a single bruise over my knuckles to be seen. They looked like normal, healthy hands, but I knew better. I knew what was hiding beneath the skin. "These hands weren't made to do anything other than fight. That and screw everything up." Slowly, I lifted my eyes to look back at Optimus and Ratchet. I didn't linger on their expressions because I didn't want to know what they were thinking. "So now, I'm going to walk out of this room and pretend like this conversation didn't happen. I'm going to live out the rest of my little vacation happy as I pretend to be normal. M'kay?"

I didn't give the mechs time to reply to my question before I left my room. There were chores and things I had to get done today and I couldn't waste anymore time thinking about the future.

* * *

 

Starscream's optics drifted over the roughly scribbled Cybertronian in front of him. He spent a lot of his free time going over the plans to get home. Mostly because he wanted to be sure that pit spawned Autobot Engineer didn't blow them all to pieces. Needless to say, he had most of the scribbles and sketches embedded in his processor. The fact that he was looking over it now was just something to do. Despite his optics being glued downward, his thoughts were on other more pressing matters.

Not a mech in this stupid human dwelling hadn't heard the blow out between the Autobot Medic Ratchet and the human femme. It had been the talk of the day. Every mech seemed to be curious as to what the femme planned for her future though most of the mechs had different reasons as to why.

Starscream's own personal reason?

Megatron seemed to be interested in the femme for some Primus forsaken purpose and Starscream wanted to know why. He wanted to know why and then he wanted the answer Megatron hoped to find himself.

Unfortunately, getting the answer was going to be rather difficult. The Autobots already seemed to have something close to it. The femme, Aj, revealed something after arguing loudly with Ratchet, but at that point her words had become to quiet for the rest of the house to pick up on.

Now all the Autobots were in their temporary base having some sort of meeting on it while Starscream stayed downstairs. His optics glued to the scraps of paper in from of him.

" _But you'll come back each time you leave_." Starscream lifted his helm in time to see Aj enter the foyer adjacent to where he stood. She had those white phone things in her ears as she loudly sang to the faint music Starscream could hear from the things in her ear. The femme's optics landed on him and she winked, "' _Cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream_."

He narrowed his own optics at her as she continued to clean the wooden, foyer floors with a broom while singing. Starscream didn't understand it. Wasn't she just upset? Wasn't she just yelling at the quick-tempered medic and Prime? Yet now she was dancing with a human cleaning device while loudly singing to herself.

It didn't make sense.

This was the type of show he expected her to put up for the younglings or for that older human, but none of them were here. It was like she was putting up a façade for an invisible audience. She was wearing that mask again, the one with the smile, but what was the point? Every mech in the house had seen what she hid behind it. So why was she pretending to be so happy?

Starscream slipped the papers into his subspace and then stepped out of the living room to stand at the edge of the foyer. Aj was near the back of the foyer now, by the sliding glass doors, but she still sang to herself with a small smile lighting her features.

Perhaps she was wearing the mask for herself. She was putting on the show in hopes to deceive herself. Perhaps she thought if she pretended to be happy long enough, it might actually just happen. Starscream scoffed.

Humans were so foolish.

* * *

 

The clothes were folded and put away. The floors were as clean as they were going to get. I even went through the house and dusted everything. There wasn't much I could do about the scorch marks still marking the walls and cabinets here and there or the occasional holes in the walls, but other than that the house looked great. I even had time to take a break, work out, take a long hot shower, and then resume cleaning. The kids were going to get picked up by Granny today, which meant there really wasn't much else for me to do today once I finished washing the dishes.

" _My broken pieces, you pick 'em up._ " I sang along with the music blasting in my ears. Yes, I had gotten a lot done in the past six hours, and one of those things had also been avoid the mechs. I wasn't angry with any of them. Hell, I was actually a bit sorry about yelling at Ratchet like I did. However, I wasn't good at making up after arguments or things of that sort. I usually just ignored and avoided them until it completely blew over and nobody even remembered the incident. Once again, I was fully aware of my bad life decisions. " _You are the one thing, one thing I'm living for_."

It had been a stupid argument. My thoughts went somewhere they didn't need to be right now. This was my vacation. I didn't need to think about anything like that. So I'd keep my hands busy and sing so loud that I couldn't hear my own thoughts.

"' _Cause I really don't care where you are, I just wanna be there where you are._ " I paused in my singing to use my shoulder to try and brush my hair out of my face. This whole long hair thing had been endearing a week ago and now it was just a hassle. I wasn't used to it being this long and everywhere. As I tried to keep my hands on the soapy plate while pushing hair out of my face with my shoulder, I ended up knocking out one of my ear buds. "Slag."

" _You're sugar._ " I jumped and my eyes snapped over to a red mech who came sliding into the kitchen loudly. Sideswipe kept pace with the song in my ear, "Y _es, please. Won't you come and put it down on me?"_ I began to laugh and Sideswipe stopped singing to grin at me, "What? I'm singing the right words and I sound fantastic."

I nodded between short laughs, "You do have the words right and you sound pretty good." Sideswipe wasn't a bad singer. He had the type of voice that was easy on the ears to listen to, it was slightly higher than his brother's husky voice, and it translated over well with singing, "But seeing you singing is just a sight."

"Only pretty good?" Sideswipe stayed hung up on those words. "I sing better than the fragger you're listening to."

I chuckled, "You sing better than Adam Levine?"

"Pit, yeah."

"Ok, well Mr. Humility, do me a favor and come stick my ear bud back in, hmm?" I swayed my head slightly to make the loose bud wave back and forth in the air. Sideswipe was quick to use his jetpack and land on the counter beside me. Rather than help me out though, he grabbed the cord and yanked the other out. "Hey!"

He shrugged, "How can I talk to you if you have those things in your ears?"

I rolled my eyes, but my lips twitched up slightly. It was a distraction I was looking for and honestly, I couldn't think of a bigger distraction in the house. "What do you wanna talk about, Sides?"

Internally, I prayed the red mech wouldn't mention anything that happened earlier. Sideswipe dropped down onto the counter so he was sitting down while leaning on his hands casually, "Whatever you want to talk about, babe."

Momentarily, I wondered if Optimus or Ratchet had put him up to coming downstairs to talk to me. Entertain the unstable human downstairs before she loses her mind and starts yelling again. It was a possibility, I suppose. Sideswipe stared at me as I shut off the water and dried my hands, "I think I'm gonna cut my hair."

The mech leaned forward with wide eyes, "Cut your…your _hair_? _That_ stuff?" He pointed to the mop of light brown hair around my face, "Why? Won't that hurt?"

"Not at all." I chuckled, "It's just hair."

"Can I feel it?"

"You want to _feel_ my hair?" I questioned as I turned my iPod off and then wrapped the ear buds around it. I'd have to put it back into the office just in case Jazz wanted to listen to it. Although, now that he had the Internet he didn't really need my crappy iPod. "Why?"

Sideswipe shrugged, "In case you haven't noticed, us Cybertronians aren't too acquainted with it."

I scooped him up and set him on my shoulder so he could feel my messy hair while I walked upstairs. My eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. It was nearly 2:30, which meant the kids would be home soon. "Just don't get your little, metal fingers stuck in it."

The mech didn't reply to me and instead I could feel him batting at my hair with his hands. As he continued to tug at it and pull it this way and that, I headed up to Aubrey's room where I knew she'd probably have some small scissors in her bathroom. I typically cut my own hair because I never had money to waste at the beauty salon. Besides, I was never trying to impress anyone with my haircut. I just needed it out of the way. I had done it by myself since I was sixteen and to be fair I was actually fairly good at it. Was I beauty salon material? No, but it usually didn't end up looking like some sloppy home job.

"Hair is fragging weird." Sideswipe commented as I grabbed a pair of light, silver scissors from Aubrey's bathroom. They were hardly used and super sharp, perfect for cutting hair. Much, much better than using the large, bulky kitchen scissors.

" _You're_ fragging weird."

"Rude."

Sideswipe stuck around. I guess he was curious to see if cutting my hair really wouldn't hurt. Did he think I was lying to him? Regardless, it wouldn't stop me from freeing myself from these long locks. They had managed to grow all the way down to about my mid back. It didn't help that my hair just naturally grew fast.

Halfway through being done and the red mech was still sitting on the bathroom counter watching me cut away.

"Aren't you getting bored of watching?" I asked and shook my hair around to try and level it. As my hair gets shorter, it gets wavier. By the time I finished my hair's gonna end up being a wavy mess, but that usually works for me. The perfect length is about an inch above my shoulders. That makes it short enough to be out of the way, but still long enough that I can braid and pin it back tightly.

Sideswipe shrugged, "A little, but my choice is either sit here and be bored with you or sit around and be bored with Sunny."

"What's he doing?"

"Drawing. _Again_." Sideswipe replied, "He's been doing it a lot more than usual. I guess 'cause he has more free time to do so?"

I lifted an eyebrow, "Sounds about right."

"But he keeps blocking off the bond. He doesn't want me to know what he's working on." Sideswipe added in a bitter tone. It's got to be so weird to have a bond like they do. To have someone literally be your other half. It probably only got weirder when your other half was keeping secrets. I pitied the mech.

"We're home!" Tyler's voice yelled from downstairs. I hadn't heard the front door open, but I heard them slam it shut, "Aj?"

"I'm upstairs in my bathroom!" I yelled back before cutting off the final hunk of long hair. I ran my hair through the short locks and chuckled at how light my head felt now. Sideswipe stood up and tilted his head this way and that. "What do you think?"

Sideswipe grinned, "I like it. It looks good, babe." He chuckled, "I looked up short hair when you mentioned cutting it and I thought you were going to cut it more. I'm glad you didn't."

"Like a pixie cut?" I asked and he shrugged. "You probably saw pixie cuts. Having my hair that short would definitely be less of a hassle, but I can't pull off a pixie cut."

The sound of footsteps down the hall became louder as I went through my hair and did the final touches. I was just double-checking that my hair wasn't lopsided or had random patches of longer hair. So far it looked good.

"Whoa!" Tyler stuck his head in and his eyes widened.

The other two kids stuck their heads in and Peter smiled as Taylor gaped at all the hair lying on the bathroom floor, "You cut your hair?"

"Yeah." I set down the scissors and then shook my head, "How do I look?"

"So pretty!" Taylor squealed, "I love it, I love it, I love it!"

Peter nodded in agreement, "I like it too."

Taylor shot a look at him, "I don't _like_ it, I _love_ it, Pete. There's a difference."

I laughed, "Where's Granny?"

"She said she had to go do something." Tyler shrugged, "Can we watch TV and do our homework later?"

"Sure." I replied and the kids ran off while calling for different bots. I grabbed Sideswipe and set him down on the floor, "I gotta clean this up now. Go keep an eye on the kids."

Sideswipe scoffed, "I think you're just trying to get rid of me."

"Busted." I winked and then gave him a shove that forced him into the hall, "Bye, Rudolph."

By 3:30 I had all my hair cleaned up from the bathroom floor and had moved on to the next thing on my to-do list, which was nothing. I was sitting at the dining room table, speaking to Thundercracker who sat on the table in front of me, while eating a toaster strudel. The kids preferred pop tarts, which meant there were more toaster strudels for me.

"So you cut it simply because it was too long?"

I nodded, "Pretty much. All that hair gets annoying. My head is like two pounds lighter now."

Thundercracker shook his head slightly and I laughed at his response. I reached over and picked up the bottle of water I was drinking out of and began to chug some of the last sips.

" _Ta-da_!"

My eyes drifted over to Taylor who now stood in the kitchen archway with a wide grin on her lips and her arms outstretched. At the sight of her very short, messily cut hair all the water I had in my mouth came spewing out across the table and all over Thundercracker.

"TC, _slag_ , I'm sorry but- _Taylor_! Taylor, God, what did you do?" I quickly stood up and crossed the room as Thundercracker used a napkin on the table to dry away the water.

Taylor's grin fell slightly at my tone, "I cut my hair like you. I wanna be pretty like you."

It was then that I realized she could see my panic and thought she was in trouble. I bit my lower lip before kneeling down in front of her, "Sweetie, you're _gorgeous_. A million times prettier than me. Why would you cut your hair?"

"I wanted to look like you." She emphasized. "You cut your hair."

"Tay, I've been cutting my hair since I was sixteen." I replied and ran a hand through my own wavy mess. Taylor had butchered her blonde locks with God knows what pair of scissors. I had put away Aubrey's when I was done. "What scissors did you use?"

Taylor glanced up the stairs, "My arts and craft scissors."

Peter came out of his room with Wheeljack on his shoulder and stopped at the top of the stairs when he caught sight of Taylor, "Uh oh."

Wheeljack's eyes widened as well.

Taylor saw the look on her brother's face and the one on Wheeljack's and her lower lip began to quiver, "It's not pretty?"

"No no no! Don't cry!" Peter and Wheeljack both began to yell in attempts to stop her from crying. Wheeljack continued speaking, "It's very, _very_ pretty, Taylor! I love it! If I had hair I'd want it to look just like that!"

"Yeah." Peter nodded, "It looks great."

The situation began to draw a crowd. Tyler came out of the living room with Bumblebee and Bluestreak in his arms. Jazz, Sideswipe, Skywarp, and Prowl came walking out of the living room behind him. Nearly everyone was shocked to see the state of Taylor's hair. Although, I didn't know how many of the mechs could tell how badly it was cut. Did they know the difference between a good haircut and a bad one?

Even in this situation though, I think it was obvious. Taylor's hair seemed to be like mine in the sense that as it got shorter it got wavier. Her blonde hair was all above her shoulders now, but in varying lengths. The right side was longer than the left side, but the left side still had a few pieces here and there that matched the right side. The waves just made it look worse.

"What happened to your hair, Tay?" Tyler asked in shock. The little boy wasn't known for his tact. He was a lot like Grimlock in that way.

"It doesn't look good." Taylor's eyes began to water.

Literally, every mech and human around her began to speak at once to try and calm down the girl. Mechs were shouting that she was the prettiest femme in the world while her brothers tried to tell her to stay calm. I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look straight at me, "Taylor, listen to me, ok?" She nodded weakly. "You made a mistake. You shouldn't have cut your hair, but I shouldn't have given you the idea." Taylor's eyes began to water more, but I continued, "It's ok though. It's all going to be ok, because we're going to fix this."

"How?" Taylor questioned.

"Do you trust me?" I asked and gave her a wide grin.

The little girl didn't even hesitate. She nodded her head quickly and then lunged forward and folded herself into my arms. I picked her up and carried her into the living room where I could set her down on the couch. The moment I set her down, Bumblebee and Bluestreak climbed onto the sofa and into her lap.

"It's going to be ok, Taylor." Bumblebee said softly.

Tyler climbed over the top of the couch to sit by his sister while Bluestreak spoke up, "Yeah. Aj'll fix everything. Besides, what's the big deal about hair anyways? I still think you're very pretty. You have really big, blue eyes that always look so happy and your entire face lights up when you smile! Femmes would kill to be as pretty as you are!"

I briefly heard Skywarp question Thundercracker about Taylor's hair as I walked back into the foyer. They transformed and flew upstairs while Sideswipe and Wheeljack headed upstairs themselves by way of stairs. I looked at Peter, "Hey, can you go upstairs and see what kind of mess she made? I think she cut her hair in her room and it's probably everywhere."

"Sure thing." Peter nodded. He bent down to pick up Prowl and the two of them rushed up the stairs.

Jazz was leaning against the kitchen archway with his arms crossed. I passed by him and began to search around the kitchen for the cordless phone since my cellphone was upstairs. He pushed off the wall and came closer, "So what's the plan, sweetspark?"

"I could try and fix her hair myself, but I think I'd only make it worse." I admitted and swiped the phone off the counter before sitting down at the table, "I need professional help."

"Professional?"

I typed in Granny's number and waited for the older woman to answer. Tyler hadn't been clear as to what she was doing after she dropped them off here, but the woman was probably volunteering at some church or hospital knowing her.

"Hello?"

"Granny, I need help."

"What is it? Are the kids ok? The mechs?"

I sighed, "We're all ok, but Taylor chopped off most of her hair and it looks…well, it's not pretty." I paused and glanced over to make sure the little girl wasn't on her way to the kitchen. The last thing she needed to hear was me saying that. "Is that salon still open? The one in town owned by the cousins?"

I could hear Granny moving on the other line, "It is. I'll call Pam now. You get Taylor in the car and meet me there in ten minutes."

Granny hung up the phone without a goodbye and I assumed she was already calling out to Pam. I assumed one of the cousins was named Pam. I only heard about them, never met them, and it was forever and a half ago. I set the phone down and glanced over at Jazz who still stood in front of my feet.

"Mind if I tag along?" He asked.

I arched an eyebrow at him, "Jazz, typically guys don't ask to come along on salon trips. They're pretty boring unless you're getting your hair done."

"Pretty please?" Jazz grinned. A chuckle left my lips and I gave him a ' _why not_ ' shrug. I stood up to get Taylor ready and to let the boys know they'd be staying home with the mechs for an hour or so.

* * *

 

Sunstreaker sat on the bed staring at the sketch in front of him. He was in the medbay right now because it was the only place he could be alone at the moment since Ratchet was having a meeting with Optimus in the base. Didn't they realize it didn't matter how many meetings they had? Talking about ways to help the human femme wouldn't do slag. Especially if said human femme didn't want help in the first place.

He could feel surprise over his bond with Sideswipe, but it was muted because of the block. Sunstreaker didn't like blocking his twin out, but he had a good reason. The moment his red counterpart saw what he was drawing he'd ask questions. He'd ask questions that Sunstreaker didn't know the answer to.

The yellow artist's optics glanced over the sketch again taking in every detail he had laid out onto the human paper. This medium was different than the one he was so used to. Drawing on thin sheets of wood cellulose with graphite was different than anything he had ever done before. It wasn't what he was used to, but he had to admit it wasn't too bad. Sketching period kept him satisfied, but what he really yearned for was paint. He had to admit that he really wanted to try painting on the linen the humans called a canvas. It'd be an experience in itself to test the human methods of painting.

He flipped back to the beginning to see the pages he had already filled. The sketches weren't made of the clean lines he usually worked with. He had been experimenting with the graphite so the first few pages were filled with scribbles and what he considered to be messy warm ups. The page after that was filled with sketches. He typically fit more than one sketch on the large pages just to save room. There wasn't much he hadn't sketched. He drew out nearly every room in this house, he drew his brother multiple times, he drew his comrades, and he had even drawn a decepticon here and there.

Sunstreaker had even drawn the younglings. Drawing humans was something new. Even back on their own version of Earth, the few times he found time to paint or draw he didn't waste time adding humans to his collections of work. However, here he was desperate for new, challenging materials. It hadn't been quite the challenge he hoped for, but it was still interesting.

Humans were filthy, disgusting creatures. Organics made a mess of everything they did. Their entire lives were essentially one big mess. Sunstreaker didn't see that in his sketches though. There was a softness to humans that forced him to use more curves in his drawings than he ever had before. Their eyes were just as expressive as any Cybertronian he had seen. Pit, the humans in this house had more expressive eyes than some mechs he knew. Plus, don't even get him started on what humans call hair. Drawing that was something in itself.

So as he flipped through the book he wasn't taken aback by the sketching of the younglings or the few he had of Rosie. The older human was something fresh to draw simply because her faceplates had something the other humans didn't. Drawing what the humans called wrinkles went right up there next to hair.

His optics glided over the next round of sketches, which were the same human over and over.

Aj.

For Sunstreaker, art was a way to think things through. It was one of two ways his processors worked through things. If he had a problem to think about it was either solved through fighting or art.

And Aj was a _very_ big problem.

For so long, the same question plagued his spark. Who was this organic femme and why was she so fragging familiar? A part of him thought that if he drew her enough times than maybe it would come to him. He had enough drawings of the femme to fill up pages. Some were large, some were small, but none of them seemed to bring him the answers he wanted. The last sketch he did of her, not even a breem ago, came from the memory he had of her fighting. It was the first time they had seen her beating away at the punching bag downstairs. Sunstreaker remembered the look in her optics, the internal fluid on her servos, and the calm expression on her faceplates.

Not five nanokliks after drawing the memory did it suddenly occur to him. He didn't recognize the human femme. Of course he didn't. Why would he know some random organic?

_'I'm heading your way, Sunny.'_

His twin didn't need to announce his arrival. Sunstreaker could feel Sideswipe heading his way. He did the moment the red mech began the ascent upstairs.

Sunstreaker flipped over the page of his last drawing of Aj to see his newest drawing. It was just as messy as if he had just started with the graphite pencil, but that was because he drew it in such a rush. He had finished this quick sketch in under a breem. The lines were far too sloppy for Sunstreaker. A part of him wanted to rip the page out of the sketchbook and get rid of it, but the image itself was seared into his processors now.

_'Sunny? Are you ok?'_

On the page in front of him was a Cybertronian. There weren't enough details in the sketch for him to make out the information he wanted to know, but anytime he thought back into his processor to find a memory of the Cybertronian on the page nothing came to him. Pit, he didn't even know how he drew this Cybertronian. Where did the brief memory come from because it certainly wasn't there anymore?

Sunstreaker didn't even realize the block in his bond had fallen away. His processors were too focused on the drawing in front of him. He didn't startle when he felt a familiar servo on his shoulder. Even when he was kind of out of it, Sunstreaker would recognize the touch of his twin. That was a memory he had engraved into his very being.

"Sunstreaker." Sideswipe spoke firmly. The yellow mech felt over the bond. He felt the worry and confusion. The red mech had come upstairs to share the story he had just experienced. To tell him about what had happened downstairs. Mental images of the human femmes drifted over the bond. Aj with her short hair and Taylor with her own version of the haircut. Sunstreaker briefly felt the urge to draw out both femmes. "Who is she?"

Sunstreaker glanced at his red twin and then followed Sideswipe's gaze back to the sketch in front of him. The one of the mysterious Cybertronian femme.

"I don't know." Sunstreaker replied. He didn't know who she was. He didn't know anything about her. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Sunstreaker did know one thing.

He knew that the human Aj reminded him of her.

* * *

 

The car ride was kind of awkward I had to admit. I sat behind the wheel biting my lower lip, Taylor sat in the passenger seat moping, and Jazz sat between us with his thumb pressed against his lips in thought. Occasionally, I glanced down at the mech in hopes that he would began to chat with Taylor and cheer her up, but he remained stone faced and quiet. Why the hell did he come if he wasn't going to help me?

I began to rack my brain in hopes for something to say. There were no words I could think of though. Any comfort I offered at this point would be repetitive. Besides, she didn't need comfort she needed a distraction.

The word distraction made a light bulb go off in my mind. I had been singing around the house a lot lately, and I knew that anytime a familiar Disney song came out of my mouth the little girl couldn't help but join along. Even if she wasn't sure of the words. Now, what was the last Disney movie we had watched?

I took in a sharp breath as the car rolled to a stop amidst the downtown traffic, " _Hakuna matata. What a wonderful phrase_." Taylor's eyes widened as her head snapped around to look at me. I grinned at her, " _Hakuna matata. Ain't no passing craze_."

Taylor picked up on the look I gave her and she smiled and jumped in, " _It means no worries! For the rest of your days!_ "

" _Sing it, kid_."

" _It's our problem-free_ ", Taylor sang, " _Philosophy! Hakuna matata!_ "

I pressed down on the gas as the car in front of me began to move, " _It's our motto_."

" _What's a motto_?" Taylor quoted.

" _Nothing. What's a motto with you_?" I replied with a wink. Taylor burst into laughter as she bounced in her seat. For the moment, she had completely forgotten about her hair. She just sat in the passenger seat singing and jumping from Disney song to Disney song.

We had ended up singing parts of Mulan, Frozen, Tangled, and the Little Mermaid before we got to the small salon and I parked the car in front of the building. Granny was already there waiting on the sidewalk in front of the salon. Taylor undid her seatbelt and jumped out of the car to greet Granny before I even turned the truck off. Granny wrapped her up in a hug and led her inside as I grabbed my purse and opened it for Jazz.

"Ya handled that fairly well." He commented before hopping into the purse.

"No thanks to you." I replied quickly before pulling the purse around my shoulders and leaving the truck cab. It'd be tougher to hide the mech in here than a grocery store just because there were less people in here, but I'd feel bad if I left Jazz cooped up in the truck for too long.

The salon was just as small as I remembered it being, but it was cozy. I had never gotten my hair done here before, but I vaguely remembered coming a few times with Aubrey before dad left. There were four styling chairs to the left seated in front of large mirrors and a long counter stacked with supplies and hair washing sinks. To the right were a bunch of chairs where you could sit while you waited. Near the front right was a small counter with a register sitting on top of it. There was one person waiting to the right and three of the four chairs were filled with people getting their hair done by a stylist.

"Aimee Jane, come meet Pam and Jana." Granny ushered me over.

I crossed the room and glanced at the two women fawning over Taylor. One was probably around 55 years old with curly auburn hair and big brown eyes. The tag on her apron read 'Pam'. The woman beside her was a few years younger with long dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"Hey, I'm Aj." I raised a hand in greeting.

Pam smiled, "It's so nice to meet you. I'm Pam and this is Jana."

"Howdy." Jana greeted and glanced back down at Taylor, "You're just the cutest thing I've ever seen. You want a lollipop, kiddo?"

Taylor beamed and glanced back at me as if asking permission. I nodded and she whipped her head back around, "Yes, please!"

Jana motioned for Taylor to follow her and the little girl bounded after the older woman towards the last styling chair. Pam chuckled and looked back to Granny, "She is just delightful."

"Isn't she?" Granny grinned.

"Yeah, she was plain adorable when she came bounding down the stairs with her hair all cut up." I joked, "'Bout near had a heart attack."

Pam laughed, "I think all my grandkids have tried cutting their own hair at least once by now."

Granny reached forward and brushed her hand against my hair, "You did yours alright, Aimee Jane. I keep tellin' you to just go out and let someone else cut it though."

"Are you trying to say I look bad, old lady?" I replied slyly.

Pam shook her head, "I think it looks good." She tilted her head slightly and then came forward to touch my hair as well. My body tensed slightly, but I forced myself to stay calm. I wasn't the biggest fan of strangers touching me, but that was hardly surprising. "I could add some layers. That'd really give your hair some volume."

I opened my mouth to decline when Granny let out a gasp of delight, "Oh Pam, that'd be wonderful. Go sit down and wait your turn, Aimee Jane."

My eyebrow lifted as a smirk grew on my lips, "That's so funny. Twelve seconds ago I thought I was a 26 year old woman who could make decisions on her own."

"Hush. Go sit down and wait." Granny replied as Pam looked on amused. I turned on my heel and sat down in the last row of seats furthest away from the other person sitting in the area on their phone. It seemed like they were just waiting for someone who was getting their hair done right now based on the way they kept looking up. Granny walked to the back of the salon with Pam talking while Jana wrapped an apron around Taylor who sat in the black seat with a sucker in her mouth. She grinned at me when her eyes caught my gaze and I smiled back before setting my purse in my lap.

"What are layers?" Jazz questioned quietly.

I paused, "It's exactly what it sounds like. Google some pictures."

Jazz was silent a minute before he hummed in thought, "Alright."

"Think I'll look good with layers?"

"I think you'd look good even with Tay's current style."

My eyes darted down to Jazz who was grinning impishly at me as he lounged on his back with his hands behind his head. I chuckled, " _Kissaft_."

"Jus' sayin'." He lightly shrugged his shoulders, "Ya got a klik or two to talk?"

"Depends on what you wanna talk about." I whispered back quickly.

Jazz tilted his head, "What do ya think I wanna talk 'bout?"

"Nope. I don't got time then."

"Aj."

I ignored Jazz and lifted my gaze to watch Jana cut Taylor's hair. The six year old was watching the TV in the corner that Jana had switched to cartoons rather than the news. There weren't many options when it came to Taylor's hair at this point. The stylist would probably have to just make it into a short bob style cut.

"I'm sorry for pressin'." Jazz spoke up, but I didn't look back down at him, "That's all I can do 'ere, though. Bein' this size, bein' in this body, I can't go out and fix the problem for ya."

"I don't need anyone fixing any of my problems." I said quickly, "I got myself into these messes, I'll handle it on my own."

Jazz shook his head, "But I don't want ya to. I wanna be there to help ya. Pit, sweetspark, I don' know how many times I gotta tell ya this."

"Did OP and Ratchet tell you what I told them this morning?"

Jazz didn't answer immediately. A few more seconds passed before he sighed, "Yeah, they did."

"Good." I nodded, "Now I don't have to repeat myself."

The mech accepted that as the end of our conversation and didn't say anymore. I leaned back in the seat and just watched as Taylor got her hair cut. After about ten minutes, Jana was finishing up. I grinned to myself as Taylor could barely contain her excitement at seeing her hair soon. It was cute how the woman had fixed it. The hair went a little past Taylor's chin length and was wavier than mine. Jana had even given Taylor side bangs to add to the look.

"Alrighty, take a look." Jana spun the chair around so Taylor faced the big mirror. I stood up just in time to see Taylor's big blue eyes widened in surprise as a large grin spread across her pictures.

She whipped around to look at me, "Aj! Look!"

"I see." I nodded, "You look stunning, kid. Now what do you say?"

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Taylor cheered as she reached out to tightly hug the woman. Jana smiled at the child and helped her out of the chair as Pam and Granny came out of the back. Taylor waved at older woman, "Granny! Look at my hair!"

Granny gasped, "Taylor Williams, you look absolutely beautiful. Come here and let me look closer."

Pam glanced at me, "You ready?"

I took off the purse and carefully handed it over to Granny who glanced at Jazz who lightly waved. Then I turned and followed Pam to the open chair. She motioned for me to sit and then when I did she put one of those cloaks around me.

"So layers? Anything else?" Pam questioned as she began to prep my hair.

"Sure. I'm not too picky when it comes to my hair." I shrugged.

Pam nodded and then began to go to work on my hair. As she did so I kept my eyes on Granny and Taylor who were sitting in the waiting area talking. Granny had given Taylor the purse to hold and every once in a while I could see the little girl beam down at the mech in her lap.

At least she was happy again. That was all that mattered.

My hair took longer to cut, but within fifteen minutes she was doing the finishing touches. Pam spun me around so I could look in the mirror and I was slightly impressed by what I saw. It was definitely better than anything I could do with a pair of scissors. The choppy layers did give my hair a lot more volume and made my waves stand out more. It was a messy look, but it matched my personality and lifestyle that was for sure.

"Do you like it?"

I smiled, "It's fantastic. Thanks so much." Pam grinned and helped me out of the chair. She used a brush to get rid of any lingering hairs I had stuck to my person. I nodded at her, "So, what do I owe you?"

Pam shook her head, "This is a favor for Rosie. You don't owe us a thing."

"Are you sure?" I pressed, "Let me give you a tip."

"No, no, no." Pam shook her head, "Your thanks is enough. Rosie is always around helping us balance out our expenses or bringing us food. It's the least we can do."

Granny spoke up, "Oh, my girls are so pretty. Come here, let me take a picture. We can send it to your mama, Taylor."

Taylor bounced over to me happily with my purse held in her arms. I knelt down and wrapped my arm around her. She responded by wrapping her arm around my neck in a side hug. Granny pulled out her phone. I watched as Taylor pulled her arm away briefly to pull her necklace out of her shirt so it showed in the picture. Taylor then returned her arm to where it was and I chuckled.

"Say cheese." Granny said and the both of us responded with wide grins. "There. I'll send it now."

I turned to Pam again as I took my purse with Jazz from Taylor, "Thank you so much again."

"Our pleasure. Come back to see us sometime." Pam replied.

Granny spoke to Pam a bit longer before the three of us exited the salon into the cold late afternoon air. Granny readjusted the jacket around her body before looking to me, "You head on home with Taylor. I got some errands to run, but then I'll come by for dinner. Order pizza around 6, Taylor said she wanted some."

"I want pepperoni!" Taylor added.

I nodded, "Sure. Someone's feeling bossy today, though. I'm gonna start calling you Ratchet."

Granny rolled her eyes before kissing Taylor on the head and heading to her car. I helped Taylor into the passenger side before getting in myself. The moment I got the car started Jazz hopped out of the purse and stretched his arms and legs.

The ride home was filled with Taylor and Jazz chatting about nothing in particular. She was telling him about some of her friends from school, and the mech acted very interested in the whole ordeal as he continually asked her questions.

As soon as we got home, Taylor leaped out of the car and ran for the front door shouting something about showing everyone her new hair. I chuckled and shook my head.

"You did that."

"Huh?" I questioned and picked Jazz up so he sat on my shoulder as I shut the truck door and slowly headed for the front porch. Tyler had opened the door for Taylor and the two of them left it swinging open for me.

Jazz shrugged, "Earlier ya said ya were a screw up."

"Technically, I think I said fuck up."

Jazz ignored me, "Taylor was distressed. She was down in the dumps, and ya fixed it. Ya made everythin' better. A fuck up couldn' do that."

I set Jazz down in the foyer and shut the door behind me. What the mech was saying…I understood that. I got the point, but it was still something I couldn't wrap my mind around. No matter how many times Aubrey called me a good aunt, no matter how many times Granny praised me for watching the kids, it felt like my mind could never shake off the label of a screw up as Jazz said. Some days it seemed like I'd never not feel like a monster.

But maybe Jazz was right. Maybe Aubrey and Granny and all the other mechs had a point. Maybe if I stuck around long enough, and ignored the monster crawling in the back of my mind, maybe it'd fade away. Maybe it'd be nothing more than an old memory. A scar.

"Also, I'd like to point out." Jazz spoke up again, pulling me from my thoughts. His face stretched out into a soft smile, "I think ya look _very_ nice. Prettiest femme in the world."

My own lips broke out in a grin as a chuckle slipped out. I paused before joking back with him, "You kissaft."

Jazz shrugged before heading towards the stairs. I shook my head briefly before heading into the living room at Tyler and Taylor's demand. The smile lingered on my face and I noticed this one wasn't as forced as it had been earlier in the day.

* * *

 

" _Aj_!"

I set down the phone in my hand, forgetting about typing in the Papa John's phone number, as my blood ran cold. All three of the kids called out my name multiple times everyday. I had their voices memorized. They were rooted into my soul at this point. So when I heard Peter call out to me as I stood in the kitchen, I immediately recognized the fact that he wasn't casually calling me out to the garage to see something cool or play a fun game.

Peter was _scared_.

My heart was pounding as I rushed to the garage door. The kids were out here playing with some mechs again as they waited for Granny to arrive. I ripped the door open and ran out only to freeze in my tracks. I had expected a lot. My biggest fear was Boss. A part of me thought I was going to step into the garage to see him or his lackeys standing next to the kids. What I saw wasn't anywhere close to any of my fears.

Nicholas. Fucking Nicholas and his slagging black truck.

He stood at the edge of the garage a few feet away from the kids who stood in front of the mechs. Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bluestreak, Skywarp, Grimlock, Thundercracker, Wheeljack, Optimus, and Soundwave stood behind the kids frozen in place. Even Grimlock was keeping still. My worry had settled some, and anger had taken it's place. I told him to stay away and now I was going to beat the slag out of him for scaring the kids.

"What the _hell_ are you-"

Nicholas lifted his hand and my eyes widened at what looked like a grenade was in his hand, "Don't move, Aj."

" _What the fuck_? How the hell- Is that a fragging _grenade_?" I shouted.

"I don't want to hurt any of you." He said slowly, "Just give me the bots and cons. I want them all."

Taylor didn't cry. Her face scrunched up in anger and determination, "You can't take them! They belong here with us! Leave us alone!"

"Yeah, go away!" Tyler shouted.

" _Shh_." I shushed the kids and slowly took a step toward them. Nicholas raised his hand further up and I paused. The twins didn't fully get the situation at hand, but Peter did. I could see the horror on his face. The color had left his cheeks, "Nicholas-"

" _Just give them to me_! I know the secret!" Nicholas shouted, "I've been watching you. I know they're alive now give them to me."

My jaw clenched and my body tensed. Before I could say a thing, Optimus straightened his posture and stared Nicholas straight in the eye. Even from here I could see the look in the leader's eyes. I had never seen Optimus angry before, but anger was the only word I could think of to describe the look on his face.

"Do _not_ threaten our friends." He said firmly.

Nicholas' eyes widened, "Oh my God. Optimus Prime is talking to me."

"Here's to hoping he starts shooting at you, ya glitch." Skywarp snorted.

"This is amazing." Nicholas grinned, but he was the only one in the immediate area that wasn't pissed or worried.

"Put the weapon away." Wheeljack spoke up with a hard tone and a leveled glare. " _Now_."

All the mechs were on edge. They all understood what the thing in Nicholas' hand could do. Why wouldn't they? Weapons of war were something they were familiar with. I had never seen them so tense though. Even cheerful Bluestreak was quiet with his door wings still and hiked up high.

Peter glanced over at me again and I motioned with my hand for him to start scooting over in my direction. Slowly, while Nicholas' attention was on the mechs he inched toward me. The older boy had wrapped his hand around his little sister's wrist and pulled her back slightly too. Unfortunately, Tyler was on the other side of the mechs and was out of Peter's reach. He was out of mine too.

Nicholas glanced away from the mechs to look at me, "I don't mean any harm, Aj. You don't have to look at me like that."

My glare didn't lessen, "You're making the _biggest_ mistake of your life, Nicholas."

" _Aj_ -"

"You're making the _biggest_ mistake of your life and you're gonna _pay_ for it." I growled between clenched teeth, "This is your last warning to back the hell away and out of our lives. I won't give you another chance."

Nicholas swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. The guy was tense too. He was holding the damn grenade, but he was still more scared than I was. He wouldn't use the fragging thing. He didn't have it in him. I took a step forward and Nicholas stumbled back. At that time, somewhere down the road a car alarm began to go off. It was random and out of the blue and it startled the already jittery Nicholas.

It startled him so badly that his finger, which was looped through the pin, pulled out and activated it. My eyes widened as he tossed it forward and away from him out of pure reaction.

" _Move_!" I screamed, but a loud explosion muffled my cry. There was a bright flash of light that filled my vision and left me seeing stars as I stumbled back from a sound wave. My ears were ringing and I couldn't see anything. The words 'f _lash bang_ ' ran through my mind.

My vision slowly came back to me, but I was in a daze and I still couldn't hear a damn thing. The mechs were all on their backs stunned and not moving. Nicholas was sprinting back to his car with something in his arms. Peter and Taylor were off to the left sitting on the ground. Peter was holding a crying Taylor between his arms as he rubbed at his eyes. I took a stumbling step toward them when my eyes darted over to Tyler.

My heart came to a screeching stop.

He was lying on the ground, back facing me, and he wasn't moving.

Anger was always my go-to emotion, but at this moment there wasn't an ounce of it in me. All I felt was mind numbing fear. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I just stared at Tyler for a few frozen seconds before I lunged forward and collapsed on the ground beside him.

" _Tyler!? Tyler!_?" I screamed as I carefully rolled the boy onto his back. My ears were still ringing and I couldn't hear a thing around me, but I didn't care. Tyler was unresponsive as I yelled at him. The end of his left eyebrow was busted and bleeding and a dark bruise was already blossoming on his left cheekbone. He must have turned to the side right before the flash bang went off and the sound wave that made me stumble backwards had sent him to the ground where his head met the concrete garage floor. " _Tyler_!?"

Sound came rushing back to me suddenly and it hit me like a wall. Taylor was sobbing, Peter was yelling at Tyler and me, the mechs were talking loudly. I couldn't focus on any of it. I set my hand against Tyler's neck and found some comfort in his steady pulse.

"Tyler, buddy, you gotta wake up." I spoke in a hoarse voice as I used my hand to push his blond hair away from his face, "Buddy, _please_."

A second that felt like an hour passed and Tyler's eyes fluttered open. They weren't focused on anything as he suddenly came to. His face scrunched up and he began to cry and sob in pain, "My head _hurts_. Aj, my _head_." As hard as he hit his head, he had to have a concussion. I knew what that headache felt like and I knew the immense pain he was in. I scooped the boy up into my arms and held him tightly. I had to do something, but the fear in my veins left my mind blank.

Optimus stood beside me speaking, but I couldn't focus on his words. Bluestreak was hovering by Tyler not saying anything. Taylor and Peter were moving closer and the hysterical sobs of her twin made Taylor cry even harder.

" _Oh my God_!" Granny's voice screamed.

I forced myself to look over my shoulder. Granny's car was haphazardly parked half on the driveway and half in the road. The driver's door was still open as she ran over.

" _What happened!? Oh my God_!" She cried.

"Tyler has a concussion." I blurted and stood up with him held tightly in my arms, "He hit his head _hard_. He needs to go the hospital. He probably has a fracture on his cheekbone, Granny-"

It only took a moment for Granny to see the state I was in and she took charge, "Get him in the backseat of the car now. Strap him in."

I rushed to the car as Granny went to Peter and Taylor. Tyler's sobs weren't so hysterical anymore, but now he was crying at a steady pace as he held his head, "It _hurts_ , Aj. _Make it stop_."

"You're gonna be ok, kid. I'm gonna fix this." I said firmly as I struggled to get the door open. Finally, I managed to get it swung open and I set him in the seat then pulled the seatbelt around him, " _Don't move_. Don't move your head, it'll make it worse and stay awake, do you hear me, Tyler? _Don't_ go to sleep."

Granny was at the car now. She told Peter to get in the front then helped Taylor to the other side of the car so she could sit by her brother. The mechs had traveled down the driveway and stood at our feet. I reached down and scooped up Bluestreak and Prowl because they were the closest. I set Bluestreak into Tyler's lap, "Don't let him go to sleep, Blue. He _has_ to stay awake, do you understand?"

"I got it." He replied and immediately began speaking to Tyler in his rambling ways. I handed Prowl off to Peter and then grabbed Bumblebee for Taylor. I knew the yellow and black mech could calm down the little girl. I set him in the car and he immediately crawled over the seat to get to Taylor. Ratchet was yelling something then and my mind didn't connect the dots, but I scooped him up and set him into the car as well. He stopped yelling.

I shut the passenger door and Tyler's door, "I'll take the truck and meet you there."

"Aimee-"

"We gotta go now, I need-"

"Aimee Jane!"

" _What_!?" I snapped.

Granny took me by the shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes, "I can handle this, you need to take care of the rest. Optimus told me what happened. That man took the twins." The twins were in the car. The twins needed me. Tyler needed the hospital. Granny continued, "He took _Sideswipe_ and _Sunstreaker_ , Aimee Jane."

I glanced down at my feet and realized I couldn't see the bright red and yellow mechs. Everyone who had been inside had come outside now and they all stared at Granny and I, "Granny-"

"I have to go, Aimee Jane. I need to take him to the hospital. You call the police. You get that man arrested and you get Sideswipe and Sunstreaker back. That's what the kids would want."

"I can't leave Tyler. I can't-"

"Aimee Jane, I can't argue this with you." Granny snapped, "He's going to be fine now you need to get a hold of yourself. Do you understand? _Do you understand_?"

I took a shaky breath and slowly nodded, "Get the twins. Get Nicholas."

Granny nodded, "Then you can meet us at the hospital. I'm going to closest one, the one downtown, ok?"

I slowly nodded one more time. Granny gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and then rushed to the driver's seat of the car. I watched as she hit the gas and sped off down the road. Then I just stood there as the car disappeared from my sight.

"Aj, come inside. Let Soundwave look you over once." Optimus said firmly, "We'll call the authorities."

In that moment something in me snapped back into place. The fear that had flooded my system and left me dumb and useless was long gone now. It was buried deep inside me, and something hot and sharp replaced it. I was deathly calm as I walked back into the garage with the mechs beside me. One of them said something to me, but it didn't click. I shut the garage door and then walked into the house. The moment everyone was in, Optimus began to try and get me to sit down, but I wasn't having it.

"Aj?"

I ignored them and grabbed the truck keys off the kitchen counter and moved for the front door where my boots from earlier sat. I shoved my feet into them hastily and ripped the front door open. Things were clear now. I wasn't a bumbling idiot anymore unsure of what to do. I knew exactly what I had to do.

" _Aj, stop_!"

I turned and faced the crowd of mechs who stared back at me, "Stay here."

"Aj-"

"Stay the fuck here and don't call anyone." I snapped at them. Without another word, I marched out the door and slammed it shut behind me. I had given Nicholas one last warning, and now I was going to end his fragging life.

* * *

 

Sideswipe was pissed to say the least. Today had been a good day, all things considering, and then this glitch had to come by and ruin it. The fact that he was in a dog cage of sorts with duct tape wrapped around his entire body was enough to piss him off, but the fact that this Nicholas guy had the nerve to threaten his humans friends and then harm them? That boiled Sideswipe's energon. He didn't see what all had happened. The flash grenade had sent him and Sunstreaker down to the ground in a daze. Before they could fully find their bearings, the Nicholas guy had grabbed them and started running. In the time it took Nicholas to get to his car, Sideswipe saw Tyler lying on the ground and he saw the red substance smudged under the youngling's eye.

It was no secret that Sideswipe liked the younglings. They were fun. Pit, even Sunstreaker liked the younglings for the most part, not that he'd ever admit it aloud. The twins didn't take well to the people they liked, human or Cybertronian, being threatened and hurt. Any slagger that would hurt a youngling in the first place deserved worse than the pit.

_'I'm going to rip his throat out.'_

_'Reign it back there, Sunny.'_

_'He's a dead organic.'_

Sideswipe glanced over at his twin who was sitting beside him also wrapped up in what the human's called duct tape. The red mech recognized the fact that the tape would ruin Sunstreaker's finish and that little fact only added to the murderous rage built up in the other half of his spark. He wanted to do harm to the organic as well, but the red warrior was still fully aware that Optimus' rule about not harming humans was still in full effect.

"I can't believe I have the lambo twins in my house." Nicholas spoke aloud as he rushed into the kitchen. His optics glanced over to them. He grinned and they glared. "This is amazing."

Sideswipe tried to reach someone over the commlinks again, but he got nothing but static. They had always wondered if they could get the same distance they usually got with their commlinks and apparently the answer was no. They lost contact with everyone a while ago.

_'He has to fall into recharge eventually. When he does, we'll get out of this and then head back home. We can google the address. Do you remember Aj's address?'_

Sunstreaker's reply was rather unhelpful, ' _I'm going to rip out his optics_.'

They had been in worse situations than this. They'd be able to get out of this with some teamwork and determination, both of which they were never lacking. All they had to do was wait for an opportunity.

_'Do you think Tyler is alright?'_

Sunstreaker didn't reply, but Sideswipe felt the briefest flutter of worry. Despite popular belief, Sunstreaker wasn't a sparkless bastard. Plus, both of them had always had soft spots for younglings. It came from the fact that they would've given anything up to have someone care about them even in the slightest way back when they were younglings themselves.

"Why won't you two talk to me?" Nicholas came closer, "Please?" Both of them didn't reply and only hardened their glares even more. Nicholas paused before grinning, "If you don't, I'll paint you pink, Sunny."

Sunstreaker growled, "You stupid fragging glitch. I'll end you before you even get close and if you fragging call me Sunny _ever_ again-"

"This is so exciting. I'm being threatened by Sunstreaker." Nicholas breathed.

 _'Not the usual reaction you get, huh?'_ Sideswipe thought.

Nicholas continued, "I wanted to grab Optimus or maybe one of the seekers, but you two will do."

There was a pause before the twins settled back where they sat and prepared themselves for what was sure to be a long wait. Who knew when this fragger would go to berth?

The screeching of tires halted all thoughts and all movement. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker glanced at each other as Nicholas peeked out the kitchen window across from the table they were on top of. The organic's face paled, "Oh my God."

Seconds later there were footsteps by the front door. Only Sunstreaker could technically see what was happening at the front door, but Sideswipe could look on through the bond. The two of them watched as the tall window by the front door was shattered by a rock and a hand stuck through the jagged glass to undo the lock on the door. Once the lock was open, the hand disappeared and a familiar face stepped into the house. Sunstreaker's eye ridges raised in surprise at the sight of Aj coming into the house wearing only her jeans, boots, and a baggy T-shirt.

 _'Look at her._ ' Sideswipe whispered over the bond.

The look on Aj's face was cold and distant. Her optics were hardened and she didn't even seem to notice the fact that her left hand was bleeding from the glass. She tore her gaze away from Sunstreaker as she marched into the kitchen. Nicholas stood in the middle of the kitchen almost shaking in his shoes, "I'm _sorry_! I didn't mean to drop the flash bang!" Aj just stood at the edge of the kitchen glaring at him. He shook his head, "I just need the money!"

Her face scrunched up and she hissed, " _What_?"

"My roommate left. I have no money to pay rent." He cried, "You don't understand what it's like to owe money or- or- or to be in debt!"

The twins' optics snapped over to Aj. Slowly, her face broke out in a smile, but the smile was harsh and cruel. She let out a bark of laughter, "You _stupid_ fragger. You stupid, _motherfucking_ fragger."

 _'Her language has really evolved since she picked up our curses too_.' Sideswipe commented, but Sunstreaker was quick to shove him over the bond in hopes to shut him up.

"You don't get it." Nicholas snapped, "Do you know how much people would pay for these two? The berserker twins?!" The twins tensed at the word and they felt their armor plates press against their protoform in anger. Nicholas shook his head with a bitter laugh, "One broken, scarred soul separated into two separate bodies. I'm going to sell them to the highest bidder and then I'm going to be filthy rich."

Aj's eyes narrowed, "Those asshats can get in line. These two are _my_ twins. Got it?"

Sideswipe wasn't a fan of being refereed to as if they were something to be owned. Sunstreaker liked it even less. It all stemmed back to their gladiator days where rich mechs thought they could buy the twins and force them to fight for them in the ring. However, Aj's words didn't strike him and fill his spark with anger or annoyance. It seemed to hum in a very familiar agreement. As if they had heard those words before. Sunstreaker noticed this as well, but chose to ignore it.

"I can't let you take them back." Nicholas said firmly.

" _Let me_?" Aj laughed, "Nobody _lets me_ do anything. I just do it."

She took a step toward him and Nicholas lunged back to grab a bat that was leaning against the hallway wall behind him. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both tensed at the sight of it. The glitch of an organic had a blunt weapon to use against her and they didn't like it.

Aj didn't seem fazed though. She shook her head in an amused manner, "You think that'll stop me?"

"Don't come any closer." Nicholas raised the bat and threatened her.

"You _hurt_ my kids." Aj spat, "You steal these two, and now you're _threatening_ me? Telling me I can't take Sideswipe and Sunstreaker home?" She chuckled, "You're gonna need a lot more than a _fucking_ baseball bat to stop me, Nicholas."

There was a pause where Nicholas didn't know what to say or do in response. Aj didn't hesitate any further though. She walked forward at a steady pace and that seemed to startle Nicholas more than if she had lunged at him. The guy lifted the bat over his head.

"Watch it!" Sideswipe barked out, but the Aj paid him no mind. The bat came down and Aj threw out her left arm above her head to block the blow. Her face twisted in pain briefly and her jaw clenched, but she didn't stop moving. She took a step closer and threw a punch with her right servo hitting Nicholas in the dead center of his face.

Nicholas fell back, dropping the bat, and landed on his back as his nose gushed blood and he moaned and cried about the hit. Aj grabbed the bat off the floor with her right servo and stepped closer so she stood right above the guy on the floor who was still bleeding and crying. Aj held the bat so the barrel of it faced downward and then lifted it up above Nicholas' head.

"P-Please no!" Nicholas cried between sobs.

" _Aj_!" Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both barked at the same time.

The femme ignored everyone and brought the bat down with all of her strength. The twins jumped to their pedes, but remained imbalanced because of the tape securing their arms to their sides.

Aj knelt over Nicholas with her legs on either side of his scrawny body. He was shaking as his optics continued to glance at the femme above him and the barrel of the bat that had landed right beside his head.

"You're going to pack your bags and leave." Aj said in a smooth, clear voice. "You're going to pack up all the shit in this house and move far, _far_ away. You're going to move out of the fragging state, Nicholas, and you're not going to tell a soul about the mechs."

Nicholas was nodding his head frantically as he lifted a hand to his broken nose to try and stem the bleeding. Aj slowly stood up and threw the bat across the room, "The next time I see your face, Nicholas, I _won't_ stop myself. Do you understand?" He didn't reply so she repeated in a louder voice, " _Do you understand!_?"

"Y-Yes." He nodded again, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Aj tore her optics away from the sobbing mess on the floor and walked over. Sideswipe let his gaze drift downward toward the femme's left arm. There was a large, ugly blossom of color forming between her wrist and elbow joint. It was a nasty dark purple with red and yellow highlights.

' _It could be broken. Humans break with less.'_ Sunstreaker commented.

' _She'd be in more pain wouldn't she?_ ' Sideswipe thought mostly to himself.

Aj undid the lock and grabbed the two mechs. She cradled Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to her side with her right arm and left the house. The femme didn't glance back a single time at Nicholas or the house. She just set them in the passenger seat of the car and got in herself. Aj didn't immediately start driving though.

She sat in the driver's seat with her right wrist leaning against the steering wheel. Sideswipe kept his gaze on her shaking servos. It was a small tremor, like a twitch of the fingers, and the moment he noticed it she had already clenched her servo into a fist and started the car.

The car ride was quiet. There were plenty of questions reeling in the twins' processors. Things they wanted to ask about, like how was Tyler and the other younglings? Why did she come to help them? Why did she stop herself from beating the slag out o f Nicholas?

Why did she call them hers?

"Is your arm ok?" Sideswipe spoke up. It was the question the two of them had finally settled on.

Aj sucked in a deep breath before nodding once, "I'm fine."

"You're bleeding." Sunstreaker replied. The same arm with the ugly bruise also had the bleeding wounds from the broken glass along her wrist.

She shrugged, "I've had worse."

"Just because you've had worse, doesn't make you fine at the moment." Sideswipe said seriously.

Aj glanced over at them and for a moment all three of them just stared at each other before she forced her gaze back to the road. A few kliks later she was pulling into the driveway of the familiar house they were currently calling home.

 _::Prime?::_ Sideswipe tried over his commlink.

There was a pause before the well-known deep voice replied, _::Sideswipe, where are you and your brother?::_

_::Outside the house. We're with Aj.::_

_::Is she ok?::_

Sideswipe glanced back over at Aj who was still sitting in the driver's seat frozen. Her gaze stayed on the windshield unblinking. He sighed, _::I'm not sure.::_

 _::How the frag ain't ya sure?::_ Jazz snapped over the comm system.

 _::She's dazed and injured.::_ Sunstreaker added.

Optimus was the next one to speak, _::Can you talk her into coming inside so we can attempt to help?::_

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker shared a doubtful glance before they looked back over at the quiet femme. There was a brief argument on what to say before Sideswipe cleared his throat, "Aj we-"

"I said you were mine." She blurted and both twins jumped slightly at her overly calm tone. Aj didn't look at them. She just shook her head, "I'm sorry. That's probably the _worst_ thing to say to y'all. I know _I_ don't like it. I know I've always hated it when Boss looked at me and claimed-."

Aj forced herself to stop talking and the twins were tense again at the look of pain that flashed across the femme's features. She wasn't distant and cold anymore. She was here and in the moment. Her large, blue optics were filled with emotion again and as easy to read as any datapad they've seen.

"I just meant that… It was… I would've said that about any of y'all. Any autobot and any decepticon. You guys belong here with us. For now, I guess." She mumbled the last bit and covered her face with her right hand.

Sideswipe understood what she meant, but he had been more pleased back when Aj was firmly stating that they were hers rather than stating it as just a fact of matter. His spark didn't like the fact that she'd say that about any mech in the house.

 _'What the frag is wrong with us?'_ Sunstreaker thought quietly.

 _'I don't know, bro._ ' Sideswipe replied softly. The red mech didn't know, but something told him that all of this traced back to the mysterious femme Sunstreaker drew earlier.

"It's alright." Sideswipe spoke up, "We get it."

 _::Is she coming in?::_ Wheeljack's voice filled their comm system.

Aj didn't turn the car off, but she opened her door and then reached over to grab the two of them. She left the driver's door wide open as she headed for the front porch.

"Get the others to free you. I have to get to the hospital." She said and pushed the front door open. Aj's optics widened slightly at the sight of all the mechs gathered in the foyer, but the twins had been expecting them. They immediately began to question her and ask about her well-being, but she shook her head and set the twins down. "I'm sorry. I have to go. I'll call you."

Without waiting for any other statement she shut the door and disappeared. Sideswipe glanced around then motioned toward himself and his brother with his helm, "Someone mind giving us a servo?"

Wheeljack and Jazz came over and began to help cut the duct tape off the mechs' armor. As they did so, Optimus asked them to explain everything that happened from their point of view. Sideswipe began to explain from the moment Nicholas scooped them up off the garage floor, but he could feel his brother's processors wandering.

_'If we leave her alone to fend for herself she's going to get herself offlined.'_

' _Yupp_.' Sideswipe replied mentally as he continued speaking out loud. He had mastered the skill of holding two conversations at once millions of years ago. He began to get into the part of the story on how Nicholas got them wrapped up in the tape and thrown into the dog cage.

Sunstreaker continued his own thought process, ' _I get being distant from the situation. I get the look in her optic, but she can't do that unless she has someone watching her back.'_

The yellow mech was nearly growling over the bond. Sideswipe could feel the frustration and anger, _'I know, Sunny_.' He got to the part where Aj broke the window and unlocked the door. Sideswipe noticed nearly every mech was upset by the story, but he logged away the peculiar look on Jazz's faceplates to analyze later.

' _We won't let her get herself offlined._ ' Sunstreaker finalized his thoughts, ' _We aren't going to let her get hurt anymore._ '

 _'We can try. Primus knows the femme is a danger magnet.'_ Sideswipe sighed.

Sunstreaker's final thought had their shared spark humming in determination and resolve.

 _'No one is going to mess with_ our _femme.'_

* * *

 

I didn't like hospitals. That was kind of ironic considering I was trying to be a doctor at one point in my life, but I didn't like to ponder on those thoughts long. I already came to the realization that the only reason I wanted to be a doctor in the first place was to try and selfishly earn self worth.

It didn't matter though. I would happily cross oceans and deserts for the kids, so sitting in the hospital for a couple hours was nothing in comparison. Still, it hurt my heart to see the small boy lying in such a large hospital bed.

Tyler's drowsy gaze drifted around the white, sterile room before landing on me. I gave him a forced smile as I continued to brush his blond hair across his forehead, "Hey buddy."

"Hi, Aj." He replied tiredly. Granny was down the hall talking to some more doctors as Peter and Taylor sat in the corner of the room. We had been here close to three hours now and the other two kids had fallen asleep with Prowl sitting in Peter's lap and Bumblebee and Bluestreak curled up in Taylor's lap. Bluestreak had been sitting with Tyler for a while, but Ratchet took his place. "Who were you talking to on the phone?"

"You saw that?" I had only just come back in after hanging up my phone in the hall. Tyler had been given pain medication for his head that made him beyond drowsy so I assumed he had either been sleeping or too out of it to notice. I let my fingers brush around the stiches at the end of his eyebrow, "I was talking to your mom."

"What did she say?"

"She said she wants to talk to you later. Tomorrow after you feel a little better. She wants you to be ok." I said. Aubrey had been hysterical when I told her Tyler was in the hospital. If I hadn't talked her down I was sure she was going to jump on a plane and fly to us. Luckily, Granny and I both were able to convince not to come. I had to lie of course on how he got injured. I had told her he fell off his bike.

Tyler shifted and frowned when he moved his head. The poor kid was probably going to have a headache for days, "What happened to your arm?"

I glanced down at the ugly bruise on my forearm where the bat had hit me. The nurse had pulled me aside an hour and a half ago to treat my own wounds. They stitched up the jagged cuts from where my arm caught the glass and they even demanded to x-ray my arm. I knew it wasn't necessary though. My arm wasn't broken or fractured. From the way it felt, I was thinking it was just a deep bone bruise. It hurt like a bitch, but I've had worse.

I've had worse. That was starting to feel like my motto.

The door opened and Granny came back in with a doctor in tow. Ratchet froze up and I reached over to scoop him up and hold him in my own lap. The doctor smiled and glanced at all of us, "I have good news. The CT scan was clear. There'll be no permanent damage."

"What about his face?" I questioned as I glanced down at the large bruise under Tyler's eye, "No fractures?"

"None. He got lucky." The doctor nodded, "We're going to give you some medicine to take home that'll help with the headaches. He needs a lot of bed rest and it'll be a little while before he can do any strenuous activity like sports."

I nodded, "Of course. Thanks."

"I'll get you guys released." He replied and left the room.

Granny came over and set her hand lightly on Tyler's head. I had already told her everything about what happened and she already scolded me about what I did. It wasn't like I could call the police though. How was I supposed to explain this? They probably wouldn't believe I was rooming with a group of metal aliens from an alternate universe.

"I'm gonna take Pete and Tay home." I spoke up, "Can you drive Ty home?"

Granny nodded, "Yeah."

Tyler had drifted off which was fine now that we all knew his CT scan was clear. I woke Peter and Taylor up, told them the news that their brother was fine, and then I walked them to the truck with Prowl, Bumblebee, and Ratchet in tow. Bluestreak said he'd stay with Tyler and Granny, and I was fine with that. The drive home didn't take long, but the kids fell asleep in the back of the car with Taylor leaning on her older brother.

"How are your own injuries?" Ratchet asked from the seat beside me. He stood beside Prowl who stared at me expecting an answer as well.

"They gave me some medicine. Just ibuprofen, but I feel good right now." I lied. I wasn't in pain, but I was far from good. My mind was an ugly storm that wouldn't stay still. It wouldn't keep calm. Ratchet and Prowl didn't ask any more questions and for that I was thankful.

Once we got home, Peter walked in holding the mechs while I carried Taylor in. It strained my arm making me clench my teeth, and also making Ratchet scold me, but I was able to carry her upstairs and into bed. She woke up long enough for me to get her changed into her pajamas and brush her teeth, but then she was out like a light. At least Granny got them something to eat at the hospital.

I kissed her on top of the head, said good night to Bumblebee, and then walked out of the dark room. Peter was standing in his doorway, in his pajamas, talking to Wheeljack. I leaned over to kiss him on the head and then told him to head to sleep.

"I love you, Aj."

I froze halfway to my room and turned around to see Peter still standing there. A small smile was forced onto my features out of habit, "I love you too, kid. Good night."

Peter nodded and walked into his room with Wheeljack on his heels. I stepped into my own room and shut the door. Ratchet was downstairs doing God knows what so for this moment I was alone. My eyes shut tightly and I buried my hands into my short hair.

How could I possibly think the monster in me would _ever_ fade away? It was always there waiting in the dark, waiting for me to give in and I would always give in eventually.

I couldn't sit here and think about that though. Tyler and Granny would be home soon and I'd probably have to carry Tyler out of the car. I forced myself to stand up and ignore the storm raging in my mind and soul. With stiff movements, I walked over to my closet to grab a jacket. As I ripped the jacket off the hanger it caught the edge of the stack of boxes in the corner and they all came tumbling down.

Honestly, I didn't even yell or curse at the inanimate objects. This was just my luck. I was fully prepared to use my foot to shove all the junk back into the closet and slam the door shut for now when my eyes caught sight of something. I threw my jacket onto my bed and reached down for the piece of paper that was half sticking out of an old book that used to belong to my mom.

The paper was thick, old, and crumpled in the corners, but the black markings on it were as clear as day. The same circle with the spiraling snake tail and the same three non-English markings for heads. This was the same symbol from the house next door. That's why it had looked so familiar to me.

I truly had seen the marking before.


	19. Bored

* * *

_"I abhor the idea of a perfect world. It would bore me to tears." – Shelby Foote_

* * *

 

The first thought to come to me when I agreed to watch the kids for Aubrey was something along the lines of, ' _This is going to be the most boring two months of my entire life'_. I dreaded the thought of boredom for the first sixty seconds and then I realized that boring could be good. Boring could be _great_. When you have a life that seems to go a million miles per hour like mine, boring could be exactly what I needed. I had gotten excited at the idea of a boring two months babysitting children.

Considering I was currently sitting upstairs on the office computer googling information on a mysterious symbol a week after a flash bang sent Tyler to the hospital while metallic alien beings were watching Netflix downstairs, I think it was safe to say my life was _far_ from boring. Luckily for us, things had slowed down some in the past week. Tyler was recovering well. The two of us got our stitches out three days ago at the hospital. His lingering headache had disappeared after the second day and he had no outward signs of distress or pain. I kept him home from school for the first two days, but by the third day he was begging to go back to school to see his friends. If it were up to me he'd still be at home. The entire experience had thrown me into super overprotective mode.

I didn't even let the kids play outside anymore without me or Granny watching them. It was easy to see they were getting slightly annoyed by it, but after what had happened they didn't even try to argue with me.

The kids were currently in school now. Granny had picked them up about twenty minutes ago to drop them off. As soon as they had left I kicked Prowl and Wheeljack out of the Autobot base and plopped down into the computer chair. For the past week, I've been trying to figure out what the strange symbol I found meant. Luck was not with me though. I didn't even know what key words to use to search and the ones I picked didn't bring up the results I wanted. The word ' _frustrating_ ' didn't even begin to cover it.

I could probably ask one of the mechs to find it online for me. With their computer like brains and internal Wi-Fi connection, they'd probably find it no problem. Something stopped me from reaching out to them for help though. I didn't know how to explain it, but there was just this feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me to play this one close. I've had gut feelings that saved my life before so I wasn't about to go against it now.

My cell phone began to ring from the back pocket of my jeans. I heaved a sigh before exiting out of all the windows I had brought up and then pulled out my phone. Aubrey's number was flashing on the screen.

"Hello?" I greeted and leaned back in the seat bringing my feet up to the desk.

"Aimee?" Aubrey began. She had only said my name, but I could already tell something was wrong. Her voice was shaky and filled with worry.

My legs slipped off the desk and I sat forward at full alert, "Aubs? What's going on?"

"Have you tried using the card I gave you today?"

"It's like 8 AM, Aubrey. Granny took the kids to school. I haven't even left the house, yet." I replied, "Why?"

She paused before taking a deep breath, "You can't use the card for now. We…- It'll just get declined so don't even try."

I scoffed, "Did big daddy Wes cut us off?"

"Aimee, I'm serious." Aubrey replied firmly.

"Ok. I got it."

"Maybe Rosie can lend you some money for the time being or-"

"No." I shook my head despite knowing she couldn't see me, "I have some cash stored away for a rainy day. Do you know how long it'll be declined? Is this a permanent thing?"

Aubrey sighed, "I'm not entirely sure. Maybe a week or two? I'll find out exactly and get back to you."

"Is he still paying for your treatments?" I asked in concern.

"Don't worry about that, Aimee."

My eyes widened, "Of course I'm going to worry about that."

"It's fine. The treatments are on schedule." She answered, "I have to go, but _don't_ use the card, Aimee. It's important that you don't."

"Ok, ok." I replied, "I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, bye."

Aubrey hung up without another word and I sat still in the chair worried out of my mind. The card had for sure been a blessing. I used it for gas, for food, for well everything. If this had been Aubrey's money I would've been more frugal with it, but since it belonged to Wes I didn't even care. I was tempted in the beginning to go out and use the damn thing to try and buy a car or something. It was petty of me, but I'd do anything and everything to piss that guy off. Even indirectly.

There was a light knock on the door that made me jump slightly. I quickly stood up and walked over to open the door I had shut. That was one thing that was useful about their size. To get alone time all I had to do was close the door.

Prowl stood on the other side staring up at me. I blinked owlishly, "Uh, yeah?"

"We have a meeting downstairs. You'll want to be there for this." He replied.

"Will I?" I asked skeptically before picking the mech up. He lightly glared at me from the corner of his eyes, but he didn't argue with me as I carried him downstairs to the kitchen where this supposed meeting was taking place.

* * *

 

The three mechs stood in living room staring at each other. Two tall front liners faced the much short saboteur. It was quiet between the three of them, but Jazz could tell the twins were having an internal conversation across from him. The mech kept his arms crossed casually with a small, amused smile on his faceplates. However, amused was not how he felt at the moment.

 _::The meeting is beginning.::_ Prowl said over his commlink. All officers were supposed to be there, but Jazz was a bit preoccupied at the moment.

 _::I hear ya talkin' in the other room, Prowler.::_ Jazz replied quickly, : _:Go ahead an' get started. I'll show up.::_

All went quiet again and Jazz blocked out the sound of Wheeljack talking in the kitchen. The meeting was just about how they were getting home. It was meant to get Aj caught up and on the same page as all of them. He wasn't a fan of meetings in the first place, but that was one he didn't care to go to at all.

" _We've been dancing around the subject for nearly the past two megacycles._ " Sideswipe spoke suddenly in Cybertronian. " _So I'm just going to say it_."

" _Go 'head._ " Jazz replied in their natural glossa and nodded his helm once. This should be good.

Sideswipe glanced at his brother before turning back to Jazz, " _It's really cool that you were keeping Aj company and being her unofficial guardian or whatever, but you don't have to do that anymore_."

" _Oh_?" Jazz felt his forced amused smile disappear.

The red mech either didn't notice Jazz's change in demeanor or didn't care, " _Yeah. We got it covered now_."

The saboteur let out a bark of laughter, " _You two got it covered now_?"

The twins didn't reply and Jazz only laughed more. Partly because he thought the situation was downright funny and partly because he knew based on the look the twins shared that his laughter was putting them on edge. He liked the twins. He really did. Pit, during the meeting, millions of years ago, when the officers had to decide whether or not to let the two dangerous mechs have a chance and stay he had been one of the ones to vouch for them.

" _For this past_ week", Jazz used the human time measurement and it was the only English word come out in the sentence, " _The two of ya 'ave stuck to 'er like a sparklin' clings to its carrier._ " Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't like that analogy and their frames tensed. The yellow mech crossed his arms tightly over his chassis, but Jazz continued, " _I get that she's somethin' interestin' in this borin' situation, but that doesn' mean-"_

Sunstreaker was the one to interrupt him when he growled out, " _It isn't like that_."

" _It's not?_ " Jazz challenged. His tone suggested there was only one answer he would accept and he already knew it.

Sideswipe rubbed the back of his helm, " _Come on, Jazz. Prowl and Ratchet might've been yelling at us for that, but you knew from the beginning that that wasn't the case_."

" _Maybe, but things 'ave changed_." Jazz shrugged, " _I mean, why else would the two of ya be so pit bent on being around 'er?"_

Sideswipe glanced back at Sunstreaker. The two of them shared a knowing look before the red mech turned back around with a sheepish smile, " _It's…kind of hard to explain. We're still sort of working through it ourselves."_

Jazz scoffed and shook his helm, " _So you want meh to what? Get out of the picture_?"

" _When you say it like that it sounds really bad_." Sideswipe chuckled, " _It's not that we don't want you to hang out with her… We would just rather it be us than you."_

" _Tell ya what_." Jazz began after a beat or two. A sly smirk grew on his lips and he saw Sideswipe visibly wilt at the sight, " _You convince her real temporary guardian to this and I'll back of_ f."

Sunstreaker's optics narrowed, " _Real temporary guardian?_ "

" _Ya 'ave to ask_?" Jazz chuckled, " _She's blastin' 'is signature_."

Both twins shoulders slumped at the same time when they realized what Jazz was saying. They had to ask Ratchet.

Now it was no secret that the grumpy, occasionally violent medic had a soft spot for the twins. Granted, he showed this soft spot by beating the slag out of the two of them every time they stepped into his medbay, but it was a soft spot nonetheless. Every mech knew the harder Ratchet hit you the more he cared, and the dents the twins got from the medic could rival Optimus', Wheeljack's, or Ironhide's dents. It wasn't surprising though considering how many times Ratchet put the twins back together from scratch.

"So good luck with that, mechs." Jazz said in English with a wide grin. He nodded at the two of them before turning on his heel and heading out of the living room. If the two of them seriously thought they were going to ask him to back off and he would without question then maybe Ratchet had hit them way too hard in the helm way too many times.

* * *

 

I bit my lower lip as I tried to convert the information from Cybertronian to English. The time conversions still weren't my strong point, "Ok, so an orn is like 13 days or so, right?"

"Right." Wheeljack nodded encouragingly. He stood across from me at the table with Ratchet on his left and Starscream on his right. Soundwave stood on the other side of Starscream while Prowl, Optimus, and Megatron stood closer to me. The meeting was to tell me more about their plans to get home. I spent ten minutes sitting at the table nodding at Wheeljack's scientific speak while smiling. Despite considering myself decently smart, listening to Wheeljack and Starscream talk about their 'get home' plans made me feel down right dumb.

"So in like two weeks you'll be about ready to start building, and in another two weeks you could have that thing built with the right materials on hand?"

"Precisely." Starscream replied in a rather bored tone.

That meant they'd be here for only another month. Around mid-February they'd be ready to go back home. I really needed to talk to Aubrey and find out exactly when she thought her treatment was going to be over. Would she come back before they left? Would more of Boss' lackeys come looking for me by then? I always assumed the mechs would leave before I would, but if Aubrey came back that meant I could go. She wouldn't need me here, and if she did need help with anything she had Granny who'd be more than happy to help.

"Aj?" My attention snapped back to the mechs at the table. It had been Optimus who spoke up. I must have zoned out for a moment because all the mechs were looking at me and I just now noticed that Jazz had joined us on the table. "Does that sound alright?"

I nodded quickly, "Yeah, it sounds good. Works for me." I shifted in my chair, "Is the meeting adjourned or…?"

Optimus nodded with amused eyes, "Yes. It is."

"Sweet." I stood up and clapped my hands. Without pause, I reached out and held my hand out to Ratchet, "I'm heading up to my room. Wanna lift?" Ratchet sighed before stepping onto my hand. I brought him up to my shoulder and started to head out of the kitchen. Sarcastically, I spoke up, "I've never seen you this excited before. It's freaking me out."

"Shut up, youngling."

My room was empty at the moment when we got up there. I set Ratchet onto the desk like he asked before heading over to my bed. The stuff Kyle had brought me was shoved under there, and I knew in the mess of my belongings would be a brown paper bag shoved into a black music box. In the bag would be what I called my emergency funds. This bag of emergency funds was different from the money pouch I always kept with me. This one I usually left at home in my closet.

Every couple months I would stick a couple dollars into the bag for safekeeping. Sometimes I'd have to use money from the bag, but for the most part I tried not to. That was the reason why I didn't use this money for the kids Christmas gifts. If memory served me right I should have nearly 3000 dollars in this bag. That should be enough to keep the kids and I afloat while Wes' card was broken.

I opened the music box and grabbed the brown paper bag. Immediately I could tell something was wrong based on the weight of the bag alone. With wide eyes, I ripped open the bag and dumped out the clumps of cash. I could feel Ratchet watching me, but all my attention was focused on counting the money in front of me.

The total came out to be 1520 dollars. I was missing nearly half of what was supposed to be in here, and only one person other than me has recently touched the bag.

 _"That fragging no good piece of shit_!" I snapped and crumpled the brown bag angrily.

"Youngling!" Ratchet snapped back at me.

I scoffed, but my anger was still directed at Kyle rather than Ratchet, "Apparently stealing Boss' 20K from me wasn't enough! He took half of my emergency fund!"

"Calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down! I don't want to calm down! He-"

" _Youngling_!" Ratchet snapped again and I shut my mouth in response. I still wore a frown on my face as I crossed my arms tightly over my chest and glared in the medic's direction. He put his hands on his hips and stood at the edge of the desk, "What can you do about this?"

My anger got the best of me and I quickly replied, "I can track him down and end his stupid, motherfuc-"

"Is there _anything_ you can do at this moment that will get you back your money?" Ratchet interrupted my rant with his own question.

"Well", I began and then hesitated, "No, but-"

Ratchet nodded, "Exactly. There is nothing you can do. This human has ruined enough for you. Why let his actions bother you again?"

I sighed and leaned against my bed as my fingers brushed across the edges of the cash, "When you put it like that it makes sense." Ratchet gave another curt nod, but I continued, "But sometimes it just feels good to yell and be angry, ok?"

Ratchet sighed, "I don't know why I call you youngling. You're more of a sparkling than anything else."

I forced an amused smirk on my face before turning back to the money on the floor with a disgruntled sigh. Ratchet was right and I knew he was, but like I had told him sometimes being angry just felt like the right option. It was something I didn't even have to think about. My mind just automatically went there. Quickly, I cleaned up all the money and stood up to set it back into the music box and then on my desk by Ratchet. I pulled out a few hundred to place into my wallet, but I was pretty sure I left my wallet downstairs.

The sound of approaching footsteps made Ratchet and I both glance over at the door. The twins strolled into the room, but they paused when they noticed me standing by the desk and Ratchet.

"Oh, _you're_ in here." Sideswipe said in an odd tone.

"Well, it is _my_ room." I said at the same time that Ratchet said, "When _isn't_ she in _my_ medbay?" My eyes snapped over to Ratchet in a light glare, but the medic completely ignored me.

He stepped to the side of the desk, "What do you two idiots want?"

"Aw come on, Hatchet. We have names you know." Sideswipe replied quickly and began to jog up the staircase made of books to stand on the desk. Sunstreaker followed behind him, but I didn't understand why they were trying to get closer to Ratchet at the moment seeing as the medic's eyes screamed annoyance.

"Yeah, like dumb and dumber." I joked.

Sideswipe grinned at me, "Now that's just hurtful."

Sunstreaker was currently leveling a glare in my direction, but his glares these days weren't as heated as the ones he shot my way when he first got here. I chuckled, "Oh don't look at me like that, Sunstreaker. I'll let you be dumb instead of dumber if you like?"

"Does that count as another nickname?" Sideswipe thought aloud.

"No!" Sunstreaker snapped at his brother. Ever since last week when I went to get them from Nicholas things had changed. It wasn't that big of a change, but it was noticeable. I think somehow I had managed to earn some points in Sunstreaker's book because he wasn't so harsh toward me anymore. Now, instead of our relationship being him glaring at me as I shot off snarky responses, it was more of the two of us bickering and mocking each other. So still not best friends or anything of the like, but it was a step up.

Ratchet cleared his throat and glared at all of us, "If you three morons just plan on standing around and mocking each other then do it somewhere where I don't have to put up with you."

Sideswipe nudged Ratchet with his elbow, "You know you love us, Hatchet."

The medic's reply was a few whacks over Sideswipe's head with the wrench from his subspace. Sideswipe was laughing between yelps of pain though so I wasn't too concerned.

Sunstreaker sighed, "We have to talk to you, Ratchet."

Something about the yellow mech's tone caught my attention. The look on Ratchet's face told me that I was right to notice something. The medic was obviously better at reading these two than I was and his look of annoyance had immediately shifted to one of slight concern and slight curiosity, "What is it, Sunstreaker?"

There was a pause where I noticed they were using comms, but before I could ponder on that any longer, Ratchet turned to face me, "Get out."

"Wait, what?" I pressed. "What's going on?"

"Patient-Doctor confidentiality." Ratchet answered with ease.

I scoffed, "You're kidding me, right?"

"Do I kid about the well-being of my idiotic comrades?" Ratchet snapped.

I opened my mouth to reply, but hesitated. My eyes glanced over to the twins who stood off to the side with stiff shoulders. They had the same expressions on their faces that they were known for. Sideswipe was grinning impishly and Sunstreaker stood on the line of frustration, annoyance, and boredom. Despite those familiar looks though there was something else that put me on edge. Something in their eyes that made me wonder if they were nervous about something. I crossed my arms as my eyebrows scrunched together, "Are you guys ok? Is something wrong?"

"Everything is fine, organic." Sunstreaker scoffed, but his shoulders had stiffened less and his eyes weren't so hardened, "Don't be so paranoid."

Sideswipe nodded, "Sunny is right." The yellow twin shoved him for the nickname, but his red counterpart didn't miss a beat, "Nothing is wrong."

I glanced over at Ratchet who nodded in response. A sigh slipped from my lips, "Ok, I guess." Quickly, I forced a grin onto my lips as I backpedaled toward the door with the money for my wallet in my pants pocket. I'd probably find my wallet in the kitchen. "Good luck with them, Ratchet. I'll see you later, Lala. Bye, Po."

I slipped out of my room and the last thing I heard was Sideswipe laughing as Sunstreaker asked aloud, "What the frag is a teletubby?"

It took me a good five minutes to locate my wallet. I had left it on the kitchen counter like usual, but apparently it had fallen off the counter and Grimlock had gotten ahold of it. It took me another minute or two to convince him to give it back to me. He might've looked like a dinosaur, but the metal creature tended to hoard things like a dragon.

I dropped down onto couch with a loud groan and flopped over to the side. It wasn't even 9 in the morning and I already felt like taking a nap. Admittedly, I wasn't sleeping super well these past few nights. Sometimes I just couldn't sleep and other nights I had the nightmare that I could never actually remember. The only reason I didn't shut my eyes now and try to catch an hour or two of rest was the fear of waking up in a cold sweat again. 

Another groan left my lips as I forced myself to sit up and reach toward the coffee table to grab the TV remote.

"What are you doing?"

I glanced over to see Bumblebee climbing onto the couch to stand next to me. The mech's door wings fluttered curiously making me chuckle. I shrugged, "Thought I'd kill some time with Netflix." I leaned back into the plush couch, "Hey, have you seen the seekers around? It's been kind of quiet. I haven't heard Skywarp cackling."

"They're still out flying." Bumblebee replied. My eyes widened in surprise and he continued, "You didn't know?"

"No." I said loudly, "When did they go out? How?"

"Skywarp and Starscream got the door open. Thundercracker said he'd tell you before leaving." He answered. Thundercracker had stopped to talk to me after the meeting, but it was a quick conversation I honestly couldn't even remember. Maybe I _should_ get some sleep.

I sighed, "Well hopefully they wont stay out too long."

All four of them had started staying out later and later and I wondered what it was they were doing exactly. Were they just flying around stretching out their wings or should I be concerned for the small town of Summerbrooke? Bumblebee noticed my slight stress and stepped closer, "So, what are you going to watch?"

Before I could start flipping through the movie selections or even open my mouth to reply to the yellow and black bot, I heard a loud thud from upstairs. My shoulders tensed and I quickly stood up, "Apparently nothing."

My eyes caught sight of Bumblebee's eyes going out of focus as he listened to his comm and I noticed his door wings tense and stand up straight in the air. I didn't linger around to question him and instead decided to go straight to the source. As I rushed up the stairs I noticed Optimus, Jazz, and Prowl rush out of the office as Wheeljack and Bluesteak came out of the twins' room. I briefly wondered where Soundwave, Barricade, and Grimlock had slipped away to, but didn't linger on it. One of them called out to me, but I beat every mech to the medbay where the loud thud had come from.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I stepped into the doorway of my room, but I was 1000% positive what I saw wasn't it.

Ratchet was standing on the desk checking an unconscious Sideswipe. He looked up at me when he heard me come in, but my shocked eyes remained glued on Sunstreaker. The foot tall yellow mech was lying in the middle of the floor, but he was no longer a foot tall. My room was the small guest room, probably only 11 feet wide in total, but Sunstreaker's body nearly took up the entire width of the open floor. The lanky mech's long legs had knocked over the staircase made of books by the desk and his upper body and squashed the stage of cardboard boxes Wheeljack and Peter had made so many weeks ago. He was also unconscious.

"I- Wha- This- You- He?" I stuttered and slowly lifted my arm to motion toward the large, yellow warrior.

Ratchet pressed his lips together before sighing, "We have a bit of a problem."

"B _it of a problem_?" I yelled, "Oh my God! Oh my- I can't handle this."

"Maybe ya should take a seat, sweetspark." Jazz replied as he set his hand on the back of my calf.

I buried my hands in my short hair and immediately sat down in the doorframe amidst the other mechs, "I don't have the sanity to deal with this."

"It will be fine. He's only 6'8"." Ratchet replied.

" _Only_?" I cried.

Optimus stepped forward, "Ratchet, what happened?"

The medic glanced at Sideswipe one last time before looking back to Optimus, "I was speaking to the two of them." His eyes narrowed at that part and he shot a brief glare to Jazz who was sitting on my knee now then continued, "Sunstreaker's spark began to give off odd readings. I thought he was having a spark attack, but instead this happened."

"What happened to Sideswipe?" Prowl asked.

"The stress on Sunstreaker's spark carried over into Sideswipe's. They're both fine and should be up and running in a few kliks." He shrugged.

"He's 6'8"." I repeated in disbelief.

"We've established that." Ratchet snapped.

Wheeljack was on cloud nine as he hovered around Sunstreaker, "This is so exciting. How is Sideswipe not this size yet? All the changes thus far, they've happened to the twins nearly at the same time."

"Sunstreaker was still first. Apparently this change isn't following the same time line as the others. Sideswipe could change at any moment." Ratchet answered.

I placed my hand on my forehead and gasped, "Oh my God, he's 6'8"."

"I think 'er processor's fried, Ratchet." Jazz spoke up.

"You ok, Aj?" Bumblebee questioned hesitantly.

I shook my head, "You don't understand. Sunstreaker is 6'8" and he _isn't_ the tallest of you." My words seemed to hit their mark and all the mechs tensed slightly. "Grimlock is going to grow and he's going to be fragging huge." My face paled, "Megatron is going to probably be over 7 feet tall."

It was quiet in the room, but I could tell they were all speaking over their comms. This would usually bug me, but I was too busy freaking out to really care at this point. All the mechs were going to grow. Thankfully, they wouldn't be their full big ass size, but they were still big enough now to tower over me. Keeping them from fighting was easy when I could just pick them up and throw them into the dryer, but now? Good Lord, Megatron could probably pick me up and shove me into the damn thing. This was bad. This was so bad. It was entirely possible that the only reason the Decepticons had been behaving so well was because there wasn't anything they could do to me. My size put me in charge, but my 5'3" self wasn't going to be at the top of the food chain anymore.

"I'm totally gonna get shoved into the dryer." I mumbled and buried my face into my hands.

" _Hey_." Jazz snapped his head to look at me, "Everythin' is gonna be fine, sweetspark."

Optimus stepped toward me as I slowly lifted my head, "I assure you, Aj, that no harm will come to you, Rosie, or the younglings."

I glanced over my shoulder in time to see Grimlock come stomping into the room with Barricade and Soundwave only couple feet behind. Ratchet began to shoo everyone out of the medbay claiming that Sunstreaker would need to adjust to the change in his body. He allowed me to stay, but I think that was just because he had no idea how to move me out.

Ratchet checked Sideswipe one more time before looking over at me, "Get up and go over to Sunstreaker. I need you to manually check his spark pulse for me."

"Why can't you do it?" I asked.

"My scanners won't work on the moron." Ratchet growled. "Let's hope they'll start working again when I go through the change."

I pushed myself to my knees, "Can't I just bring you over to check him yourself?"

"I have to check Sideswipe's pulse while you check his. We have to make sure they're in sync."

Well, at least I could mark ' _Take a Cybertronian's pulse_ ' off my bucket list, right? I moved across the floor on my knees, sat on some of the crushed cardboard boxes, and then settled beside his neck and chest area.

"So how do I do this, Ratchet?"

"We've never had an human big enough to do this." Ratchet mumbled and rubbed the side of his face, "You wont be strong enough to pull back his chassis armor, but your hand may be small enough to still find his protoform."

I blinked, "None of that told me what to do."

"The spark pulse will not be on his neck where you find your own pulse. It will be lower down toward the edge of his chassis armor and to the right." Ratchet explained and tried pointing toward it with his own hand. The pointing wasn't super helpful though.

"Are all spark pulses there?"

"No. Once the war began, mechs began to move their spark casings to confuse their enemies. It's harder for a femme to move their spark casing because of the internal design, but some have." Ratchet explained, "Now check his pulse."

I sighed and moved forward hesitantly. The yellow mech was strange to look at. I had grown pretty used to seeing him walking around the house with his brother, but seeing him like this was different. There were so much detail to take in both on his armor and his face. Still I could barely focus on those details now because of how much the lack of color in his eyes bothered me. I hated seeing any of the mechs unconscious.

"There is a plate around his neck to protect the protoform there. You'll find a clip to release it near the back connected to his helm protection."

"Right." I mumbled and reached forward. The neck armor Ratchet was talking about was smooth and cool to the touch. It took me only seconds to find the latch the medic was talking about, but it took me a minute to get it unhooked. Once it unlocked I pulled it open and pushed it to the left side of his neck like an open door.

"Now", Ratchet continued, "You're going to have to squeeze your hand under his chassis armor. Once you get close to the area the pulse will be easy to feel."

The protoform was also metal, unsurprisingly, but it was different than the smooth metal that had been covering it earlier. It was a dark, gunmetal gray with an almost odd texture to it. I set my hand on the base of his neck and my eyes widened at how soft the metal felt. It was almost like it wasn't even metal. The protoform was also warm. I'd say it was warmer than human skin by a couple degrees at least.

"Sometime this orn would be nice." Ratchet scoffed.

I rolled my eyes and pressed down on his protoform slightly to try and stick my hand under the bright yellow chassis armor like Ratchet told me to. It took a few tries, considering I was scared to push too hard down on Sunstreaker despite Ratchet's reassurances that he'd be fine, but I finally managed to get half my hand under his armor. That's when I felt the first pulse.

It was similar to the feeling of a beating human heart, but his had a constant, faint rumbling in the background that I could feel under my palm. The beat seemed irregular too.

"How is this supposed to feel, Ratchet, because it seems odd." I bit my lower lip.

"Listen to Sideswipe's and see if they match up." He replied and a moment later I could hear the exact same rumbling noise that I currently felt beneath my hand. The beat I was hearing was three quick pulses followed by two longer, slower ones. It matched the one beneath my hand perfectly.

I smiled, "It matches." Slowly, I began to pull my hand back, but my fingers lingered on the strange metal texture, "So do different sparks have different beats?"

"Typically." Ratchet nodded. "There are some that are more common than others, but for the most part each spark pulses at it's own rhythm."

"Do you just have all the Autobot's spark pulses memorized?"

Ratchet smirked, "I have the database with all the Autobot's medical information stored away, but there are a few mechs with spark beats that I could recognize in my recharge." He motioned toward the twins, "This is one of them."

"I bet." I snorted before slowly pulling my hand back some. My eyes lingered on Sunstreaker's form as I began to soak in the details. His yellow armor had a shine to it from all the time spent on it, but I noticed his protoform had a shine to it too but this shine was faint. I shifted my head slightly and changed the angle from where I was looking and the shine only grew. It was like the gunmetal gray skin was reflecting the sunlight streaming from the window. My eyes narrowed when I noticed a patch of lighter protoform at the base of his neck towards the back.

Before I could investigate further I heard a startled cry from the desk. My eyes shot over just in time to see Ratchet duck under a punch thrown from Sideswipe as he tried to restrain and calm the mech down.

"Aj, move!" Ratchet yelled.

I glanced back at Sunstreaker just in time to see his eyes light up. There was only enough time for me to recognize that light indigo glow before things began to move fast. Sunstreaker sat up quickly and his long arm swung out in panic. Ratchet yelled something again, but my only focus was on what was happening. I ducked just in time and then threw myself forward so I was inches away from his chest. It was my typical first move when going up against someone who was bigger than me. The closer I was too them then the harder it was for them to use their long limbs to get to me.

" _Sunstreaker_!" Ratchet roared.

I shoved at the yellow chest to try and push him back onto his back, but the mech shifted his shoulders so I fell forward and he was able to throw me aside onto the floor on his other side. I hit the wooden floor, but bounced up quickly, ready to move, but it was unnecessary. Ratchet was yelling in Cybertronian and based on the look worn on Sideswipe's face, he was talking to Sunstreaker too. I had forgotten that when the mechs wake up from being in stasis they typically woke up swinging.

My body relaxed as I pressed my back against the side of my bed, but I couldn't get my mind to calm down. I bit my lip as my hands balled up. It was ok. Everything was ok. There was no fight here.

Sunstreaker's shoulders slumped as he seemed to realize my same thoughts. I watched as his hand rise to his neck as he quickly snapped his neck armor back into place.

"I was gonna do that for you, but the whole ' _trying to knock my head off'_ thing distracted me." I joked.

Sunstreaker turned his head to look at me with narrowed eyes and I unintentionally flinched. His glare lessened slightly and he forced himself to look away, "What happened?"

His voice sounded more hoarse and rough. Was that because of his size or because of the rude awakening?

"Yeah." Sideswipe snapped, "How come he's bigger but I'm not? What the frag is up with that?"

"It's just the next change to occur." Ratchet replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world. I scoffed, but he continued, "Your own change could occur at any moment. It'll probably send both of you back into stasis."

"Great." Sunstreaker replied dryly as he began to look over his armor. I found I was unable to take my eyes off of him. It was weird seeing him lying on the ground that size, but seeing him move around and talk while being that tall was just crazy. Slowly, I stood up and brushed off the back of my pants absentmindedly.

At my movement, Sunstreaker glanced over at me with those glowing purple eyes. The light shade of indigo had the faint outline of a circle in the center that looked like a large pupil. It focused on me before darting across the room to his twin and then back to me. Had their eyes always been like that or was it just something I noticed because he was larger?

"Can I help you?" Sunstreaker snapped at me.

My eyes widened and I shook my head, "No. Not at all. I mean, I guess you could apologize for nearly giving me a concussion, but other than that…"

Sunstreaker rolled his eyes before standing up himself. My head followed his movement and slowly began to tilt up to stare at his face. Damn, he was tall. It didn't help that I was just short too. My face was at the same level of the middle of his chest. The yellow mech took notice of this too and a smug smirk grew on his face.

"How does it feel to be approximately 17 and a half inches shorter than me, organic?"

"Just 'cause you're bigger than me now doesn't scare me. I'll take a baseball bat to your finish, big bird." I replied with a forced smirk of my own. Admittedly, I was a little bit scared of his height, but I never let someone's height worry me before.

Sunstreaker frowned as Sideswipe laughed from the desk. After learning that he'd be going through a growth spurt of his own the red mech became downright jolly. In fact, he was so happy that he had no worries as he jet packed across the room and tried to stand on his brother's shoulder. I watched as Sunstreaker shifted around and tried to swat his red twin off his clean armor.

Ratchet and I both heaved a sigh at the same time, but I didn't think it was for the same reason.

Two hours later I was in the kitchen making a quick thing of coffee. Sideswipe was grounded to the medbay until he made his change, and Sunstreaker would be in there too except for the fact that Ratchet sent him downstairs to me to get some coffee. The new size meant they needed fuel more often.

Megatron and the seekers had finally come home. The four of them took one look at Sunstreaker and then all the decepticons disappeared into their base without a word to me or anyone else. It left a bad taste in my mouth and an unsettling feeling in my stomach. All the autobots were upstairs having a meeting of their own which didn't really comfort me all that much.

"Would you hurry it up?"

I rolled my eyes before turning to face Sunstreaker. He was leaning his back against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his chest and one foot propped up against the counter door behind him casually. Even leaning over like he was, the mech still towered over me. It was something that would take a while to get used to.

"You can't rush perfection." I replied.

Sunstreaker smirked, "I'm not rushing perfection. I'm rushing _you_."

"You wouldn't know perfection if it came up and bit you on your shiny aft." I scoffed in response.

The yellow mech straightened his posture slightly and motioned toward himself, "Excuse you. Have you taken a look at me?"

"Trust me, I've seen enough of you to last a lifetime." This time it was Sunstreaker who scoffed as I opened the counter and reached up for a coffee mug. "Did Ratchet tell you how much I should give you?"

"Yes. Just pour it until I say stop." He answered. I set the mug down on the counter and moved to grab the pot of hot coffee. Before I could begin to pour the liquid though, the mech spoke up again, "You know, I think I liked you better with long hair. It suited you more."

"Well I think I liked you better when you were a foot tall and punt able." I countered without missing a beat. A smug smile grew on my lips when I noticed the scowl on his.

He crossed his arms again, "Watch it, femme."

I winked at him mockingly before I began to pour the coffee. It reached about three quarters of the way up before Sunstreaker told me to stop. I set the pot back where it belonged and then picked up the mug to hand to him, "Here you go, you Giraffe."

Sunstreaker pushed off the counter and took a step toward me. It closed the space between us and I felt my shoulders tense unconsciously. Despite my mind screaming that there was no need to feel like I was about to fight, my body wasn't listening.

"I'm getting quite tired of those fragging nicknames, so stop it."

"Stop _now_? When the door has been opened to a whole new world of nicknames mocking your height?" I questioned, "No thanks."

Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes, "I wasn't asking."

"Well that's a shame because I really don't respond well to demands." I shrugged, "It's a personal flaw of mine."

The argument would've continued, that I was sure of, but the sound of the doorbell ringing cut it short. My eyes widened slightly since I wasn't expecting anyone today. Sunstreaker took a step back and glanced over his shoulder.

"Here's your coffee. Go upstairs."

Sunstreaker glared at me but accepted the mug of coffee that I shoved into his hands. He took a few slow steps out of the kitchen, but lingered in the foyer staring at the door.

I sighed, "Will you get your big shiny ass upstairs sometime today, you overgrown minion?"

Sunstreaker scowled at me, but I only grinned at him in return. I used my hands to shoo him towards the stairs. He scoffed once before turning on his heel and moving up the steps. As he slowly made his way upstairs, I took this time to smooth down some of my more wild strands of hair and smooth out the wrinkles in long sleeve v-neck.

As soon as the yellow mech was out of sight I swung the door open and frowned when I saw Granny standing there with her hands on her hips and her lips drawn in an unhappy line.

"Granny? Why didn't you just come in?"

"I left my key at home." She sighed, "Oh I am just so _livid_ , Aimee Jane. I am beside myself."

I scratched the back of my neck and shut the door so the cold air couldn't seep in anymore, "What's wrong?"

"This is just the worst thing that could possibly happen." She snapped, "He's on his way here now to talk to you. I pulled some strings and called some favors so he would be in charge of it all. We'll be fine, but I am so angry!"

Whenever Granny was really upset she tended to ramble around the topic. It was an endearing feature that turned to an annoying one whenever I was trying to get information out of her.

"Granny. Just tell me what's going on?"

"You are gonna get the biggest shock of your life today, Aimee Jane, and I pray to the good Lord above that you don't try and take matters into your own hands." Granny sighed.

I chuckled, "I don't think anything could surprise me today."

"What do you mean?" Granny pressed.

"Oh, nuh uh." I shook my head, "I'm not answering your question until you answer mine."

I heard a car pull up into the driveway by the truck. Granny sighed, "Oh good, he's here. You talk to him and find out the details. If I hear another word of this I'll commit a felony."

"You?" I chuckled, "Should I be worried?" Granny didn't answer and it was then that I noticed the look of true anger in her eyes. This woman got angry at me a lot over the years, but there were only a few times I ever saw this look and they were usually reserved for when someone she cared about was in danger. I bit my lower lip in thought.

"Where are the mechs? They need to stay out of sight."

"Autobots are upstairs. Decepticons are in their bathroom base." I replied. Granny walked across the living room and swung open the bathroom door. There were the faint sounds of complaints, but I watched as Granny shooed them upstairs. My eyes landed on Megatron long enough for him to smirk at me in return. My lips pressed together as he transformed and flew upstairs. Granny sent them all up the steps then looked at me. I nodded, "You should go see the mess I dealt with this morning."

"What happened?"

"Just…Talk to OP before you go into the medbay, ok?"

Granny sighed and nodded, "It's gonna to be a long day isn't it?"

I forced a tight smile before watching her walk up the stairs. She got to the top step just as the knock came at the door. It was then that I realized Granny hadn't told me who was supposed to be here and why. I was going into this completely blind. Fun. A sigh slipped my lips and I rubbed my face once before turning around and opening the front door.

The man standing on the front porch was taller than me, but after standing by Sunstreaker for the past ten minutes this guy didn't seem too tall. He had an oval face with a strong jawline covered in scruff. His dirty blonde hair was medium in length, parted to the side, and neatly styled so his hair didn't brush against his lightly tanned forehead. The guy's greenish blue eyes widened slightly when they landed on me. His lips parted in a slight smile as he rubbed his hand against the scruff on his jaw.

"Wow. You're… _wow_." He chuckled as the friendly smile grew. He lowered his hands and straightened the black leather jacket on his torso. It was worn over his purple button up shirt that was tucked into his dark boot cut jeans. "Rosie told me you were here, and I expected you when I knocked on the door, but actually seeing you again is…something else."

My eyes widened slightly as I began to slowly recognize the man in front of me. He must have noticed my look of shock because he chuckled again. I shook my head, "Oh my God."

"It's nice to see you again, Bradshaw."

I almost flinched at the fact that he used my last name like that. The only people who called me by my last name were the people up in New York who also bet money to watch me bleed. Hearing it this time though didn't bring up any memories of the fighting ring. Instead it brought back memories from Summerbrooke High School.

Despite all of today's crazy happenings and Granny's ominous warning, I found myself chuckling, "Prince Charming?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "I had kind of hoped you let go of that nickname."

"Keep dreaming." I replied, "I can't believe you're here."

"I can't believe you remember me." He countered.

I shook my head, "Of course I remember you. God, I crushed on you all four years."

His eyes widened, "You crushed on me? _Me_?"

"Well, yeah." I scoffed, " Josh Levi Thompson, the Prince Charming of SHS back in the day. I'm 90% that every single girl in our graduating class had a crush on you at some point."

Josh rubbed the back of his neck, "I think you're exaggerating."

"I'm really not."

"I was so sure you hated me too." He shook his head and smirked at me.

My eyes widened, "What, why?"

He shrugged, "Well, I asked you to prom. You said no, never showed up to Prom with anyone, and then you never spoke to me again."

"Granny says I show my affection in strange ways." I replied awkwardly.

Josh crossed his arms, "I'll say."

Honestly, I liked high school. I know it's popular for people to hate it, but for me it wasn't so bad. It was during high school that horrible things happened to me like my dad ditching us, Aubrey ditching me, and then getting addicted to the fighting ring right here in this small town, but other than that it was good. Based on my past alone, one might think I was a loner during that time, but being a loner would've just attracted more attention to me. I had a good amount of friends in a number of cliques around the school and one of those good friends was Mr. Popular himself, Josh Thompson. Like I had said to him, everyone liked Josh and it made sense for them too. Back in high school he was the package deal. He was quarterback of the football team, Prom King (not that I was there to vote for him), voted most likely to succeed, he was handsome, he was funny, and above all else he was a _good_ guy. Just looking at him now it didn't seem like too much had changed. He still had that charm about him and attractive smile.

We were in the same grade, even though he was a year older than me, and I met him through a cheerleader friend of mine freshman year. I had a crush on him sure, but it wasn't one of those crazy crushes where I was doodling his name on my notebooks. He was the type of friend that would've been there for me through all my hard times if I had been brave enough to actually share my hard times with the world. I hadn't been though. I just faked a smile through school and pretended like my life wasn't falling apart.

I had been super excited when he asked me to Prom. I remembered because it was one of the few things during senior year that made me feel like a typical high school girl. It was short lived though since I had to turn him down. Instead of dancing the night away in an overpriced sequined gown, I fought in my first marathon fight. What made it worse was that I didn't even win that night. I just came back to school that next Monday with a black eye, busted lip, wounded ego, and lies about a kickboxing accident gone wrong.

The only reason I stopped talking to him was because he started dating the only girl in school I couldn't stand. It had felt like a betrayal at the time, him choosing her despite me giving him many reasons not to. For the most part, I was an easy person to get along with in high school. There was one girl that rubbed me the wrong way though and just thinking about her now annoyed the hell out of me.

"So, what are you even doing here?" I questioned with a shake of my head.

"Partly to see an old friend, and partly business."

"Business?" I questioned. It was then that I noticed the cop car sitting in my driveway. My eyes widened again, "You're a cop?"

Josh used his hand to tap the shield badge on his dark brown belt, "Sheriff actually. Technically, I'm off duty right now, but Rosie asked me to take the lead on one of the newer cases to come in."

I was still trying to wrap my mind around the whole sheriff thing, "I thought you wanted to be an Engineer?"

"Plans change." He sighed with a tight smile, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, of course." I nodded and shifted to the side so he could come in. After shutting the door, I motioned for him to enter the kitchen, "You want some coffee? I just made some."

Josh nodded, "Sure. Thanks."

I quickly poured him a mug, "How do you take it?"

"Little milk and sugar. I'm not picky." He pulled off his jacket and set it on the back of one of the chairs before sitting down. I fixed his coffee before coming over to sit in the chair across from him. He quickly thanked me before taking a quick sip. There was a pause before he spoke again, "Bradshaw-"

"So what changed? What's going on in your life?"

Josh lifted his gaze from the mug to me, "Aimee." Everyone from high school would know me as Aimee rather than Aj. "We really need to talk about this case."

I knew he was right, but I also knew that knowing about this case would ruin my already fragile mood. A part of me wanted to know what was going on so I could fix whatever problem was bothering Granny, but another part of me didn't want to hear a thing. I forced a smile, "Whatever you say about this case is going to make me angry, isn't it?"

Josh nodded once, "Yeah. From what Rosie told me it'll make you very angry."

"Then don't tell me yet." I replied quickly, "Let's catch up first. I just want to have at least one normal conversation today." He looked hesitant. "Please, Charming?"

He paused before shaking his head with a soft smile, "How's medical school? You should be graduating soon, right?"

"I should be around this time, yeah, but I never went so that kind of throws a wrench in the whole graduating thing."

Josh set down the mug in surprise, "You never went? Rosie told me you got accepted."

I nodded, "I did. I was all set to go, but then…" Josh kept his curious gaze on me. He didn't know about me fighting in the underground ring. He was a smart guy and probably had his suspicions, but I had never out right told him in high school and I didn't plan to now. "I just decided I didn't want to go. I didn't want to be a doctor."

"Wow. Just like that?"

"Just like that." I leaned against the table with a smile, "But I'm boring. Tell me about you! What did you do after high school?"

Josh rested his arms on the table, "Went to school about an hour from here at the University of Alabama."

"War Damn Eagle." I commented. It was the war cry of the University of Auburn, which was also Alabama's number one rival. Southerners around these parts took the whole Alabama versus Auburn football games very seriously. Back in high school, I had been an Auburn fan and Josh had been the Alabama fan. I guess some things never changed.

He rolled his eyes in response, "It's disappointing to know your taste in football teams hasn't improved at all." I scoffed in response. He shook his head before continuing, "Got a BS in Criminal Justice and came back here to work as a cop."

"And by 27 you became sheriff of our sleepy little town?" I asked with a grin.

"The elections were held about a year ago." He shrugged with an embarrassed smile.

"I expect no less from you, Prince Charming." I replied and he laughed in response. "But why here?"

Josh looked sheepish, "Well, it's home, you know?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Yeah, but I remember you specifically saying you wanted to try big city living. This is not big city living."

"Like I said, plans change." He shrugged, "I um…" He paused briefly and then began to speak quickly, "I got married and she didn't want to move to a big city so-"

" _Whoa_!" I blurted and forced him to stop, "Married? Who the hell did you get married to?" There had been a grin on my face when I asked, but the uncomfortable look on Josh's face made my smile falter slightly. I shook my head, "You didn't…No. _Her_?"

Josh sighed, "I married Hannah during our junior year in college. I actually tried to invite you, but getting in touch with you was hard and Hannah…"

"Oh." I bit back any mean words that came to mind. I tried to congratulate him, but my voice was strained, "As long as you're… happy then I'm happy for you."

He chuckled, "Well I'm divorced so…"

"Oh thank God." I breathed and Josh smirked at me in amusement. My eyes widened and I shook my head, "I didn't mean it like- I wasn't trying to-….Sorry?"

Josh laughed, "We divorced two years after we got married, Aimee. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too broken hearted over it. She didn't even want to take my last name when we got married."

"Yeah, because she's evil." I replied quickly and Josh laughed more. Hannah Cox was the bane of my existence during high school. There honestly weren't many people I could say that I truly hated with all of my being, but she had secured a place on that list fairly quickly.

Hannah Cox was, without a doubt, one of the smartest girls in the high school. I shared a lot of classes with her because we both were on the honors track, and because of this I originally tried reaching out to befriend her. Hannah wasn't having it though. She got it in her head that I was the competition and did everything she could to try and put me down or make me look inferior. She was just plain mean and she was cold hearted. It was petty of me to hate her, but I really didn't care.

"She owns her own clothing store downtown. She's still super bitter about that fact that you got accepted into medical school and she didn't. In fact, if you see her around town maybe you should just act like you're graduating soon." Josh chuckled.

My attention only caught one thing in that entire sentence though, "What do you mean if I see her around? She's here?"

"Yeah." Josh nodded, "Imagine how awkward it is for me when I run into her at the grocery store."

I groaned, "That makes me never want to leave my house."

"I can give you a list of all the places she visits regularly." Josh suggested with a smile. I chuckled at the thought of keeping a 'places to avoid' list in the truck just so I could avoid a girl I hated in high school. There was a small part of me that tried to be positive and think thoughts along the lines of 'It's been years. I'm sure she's not a total psycho anymore.' Those thoughts didn't survive long though. Obviously she was still all sorts of crazy considering Josh divorced her. "Now as fun as this is, we should talk about the case."

I sighed, "You're a party pooper, Charming."

He shrugged but kept a tight smile on his face in an attempt to comfort me, "Sorry, Aimee. Rosie would have my head if I didn't tell you the news."

"And the news is?"

Josh paused for a second before continuing, "Rosie told me the whole story already and I want you to know that I'm on your side so don't lose your temper." Those words were probably supposed to be comforting, but they only put me on edge. "Your neighbor, Nicholas Delotte, is pressing charges against you."

There was a pregnant pause in the room where I just stared at Josh who sat across from me with a look close to regret. I shook my head once, "I'm sorry? What?"

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "Aimee-"

"He's going to try and press charges against me?" I chuckled coldly, " _Me_?"

"It's not going to go far. All he really did was reveal his own wrong doings. I'm having my men-"

I shook my head, "Read me the charges."

"Aimee, you and I both know that isn't going to help anything." Josh said seriously.

"Read me the damn charges, Josh." I replied and leaned back in my chair. Josh sighed in response as I crossed my arms over my chest. He might not have known about my fighting, but Josh was very aware of my temper. He was the only person from high school who had seen lose it before. It had been during junior year, and unsurprisingly, it had been Hannah who pushed me over the edge.

He shifted in his seat and pulled a small notebook from the pocket of his leather jacket. Josh flipped it open and went a few pages in before glancing back up at me, "According to the report filed", He let his eyes dart back down to the page, "Nicholas Delotte is pressing charges against one Aj Bradshaw for breaking and entering and for attacking him physically."

I shook my head again in disbelief. That little shit head. My blood boiled beneath my skin and it took every ounce of my self-control to just sit in my seat and not go running down the street to finish what I should've done the last time I was there.

"Aimee?"

"I'm going to murder him." I spoke up, "I'm going to beat the life out of that little asshole."

Josh tilted his head slightly, "I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that."

"I can't believe this!" I cried, "I cant believe- Do you know what he did? What he did to my-"

My words came to a halt as I found myself unable to speak. I didn't even have the words to express just how angry I was. All I wanted to do was pound my fists into something until I couldn't feel anything. I'd prefer that something be Nicholas' face.

"I know." Josh said calmly. He leaned forward again, "I know the story. Rosie told me about how he came with the flash bang to steal some collector items. She told me about Tyler's injuries. He's not going to get away with that."

"Josh-" I blurted, but I didn't get far.

He shook his head, "I know we haven't seen each other in a very long time, but I need you to trust me on this, Aimee. I'm not going to let this guy get away with that. A lot of things have changed since high school, but you can still count on me. That hasn't changed."

I forced myself to bite back the anger that was building up in my chest and took a deep breath, "What are you going to do?"

"First thing tomorrow I'm going to arrest him for assault on minors with a dangerous weapon." Josh nodded, "I have a statement from Rosie, but I was hoping to talk to the kids. Get their account."

I nodded, "Yeah. Ok. What about me? Do you need my statement?"

Josh hesitated before sighing, "Rosie says I shouldn't."

"What? Why?"

"She said…" Josh clenched his jaw, "Aimee, are you involved with something you shouldn't be? Either here or in New York?" My eyes widened briefly in surprise. Maybe if my head hadn't been so clouded with anger I would've been able to come up with something to say on the spot, but I drew a total blank. I had no idea what to say, but based on the look worn by Josh, nothing I said would really help anyways. He nodded, "I wasn't the smartest guy back then, still aren't now, but I wasn't stupid."

I frowned, "I never said you were."

"I knew a lot more than you probably wanted me to know." He shut the notebook in his hand and tapped the edge against the table, "As Sheriff, I should probably take you in. Try and find out what you know about the fighting problem we have here in town." My jaw clenched. "But I'm not going to do that."

"Why not?" I questioned and I was honestly curious about it.

Josh shrugged, "Call it a favor for an old friend."

I chuckled, "I'm not very good friend material, and you know that."

"It has been a very long eight years without so much as a peep from you."

"If it makes you feel any better, I ignored everyone from high school after graduating. It wasn't just you."

Josh smirked, "That helps some." He shook his head, "We've always had a really strange relationship. Not hearing from you for eight years didn't really surprise me. I never got angry or upset about it though because I knew the kind of person you were."

"The type of person I am?" I repeated.

Josh stood up and I followed his example, "Despite you constantly saying you weren't friend material back then and even now, you are. I knew that if I ever needed your help, and I managed to get in touch with you, you'd cross the world for me."

He wasn't entirely wrong. There were a few darker months in my life where I probably would've left him out to dry, but for the most part I would've come back down to Alabama to help Josh Thompson. I mean, I came all the way down here for Aubrey.

"I mean", Josh pulled his jacket off the chair, but he didn't put it on yet, "You do consider me a friend, right? You said you had a crush on me, which honestly I wish you had told me eight years ago, but…"

When I first came down here I was so convinced that the only friend I had in the world was Kyle. Now it seemed like all of that had been flipped upside down. Kyle was dead to me, and I suddenly found myself with people that I actually did care about. People that I refused to even think about over the past eight years. Coming back to my roots was showing me that there were people who still cared about me even though I left them in the dust. There were people that considered me a friend or family. People like Granny, and Abramo, and the kids. Hell, I even had a pack of aliens upstairs that I considered friend for the most part. Now, there was Josh.

Any anger I felt toward Nicholas, any frustration I felt with the mechs growing suddenly, fell away as I came to that realization that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't as bad at making friends as I originally thought.

My head bobbed up and down as a smile broke through my features, "Yeah. Yeah, you're my friend."

"Good." Josh replied before yanking his jacket on, "I got to head out, run some errands, but I'll be back to talk to the kids. Does 3:30 sound good?"

"Sounds perfect." I agreed and walked beside him back towards the foyer.

"You should buy me dinner sometime." Josh grinned.

I laughed in surprise, "I should buy _you_ dinner? Charming, did you lose your chivalry?"

Josh chuckled and joked, "I figured you owed me considering you weren't there to console me after my divorce."

"I warned you about her when we were 17." I replied, "If you had just listened to me…"

"Alright, alright. I guess I could pay. It's not like you ignored me for eight years or anything." He shrugged and I shoved him in response. How could I have possibly let my mind block out someone as great as Josh? This was the kind of person I needed in my life. Someone that could make me laugh when only minutes ago I wanted to murder someone. I briefly wondered what would have happened if I skipped that marathon fight so many years ago and had gone to Prom with him. Would I have ditched this town for New York the day after graduating? Would I be graduating med school because Josh had convinced me that I didn't need fighting?

It was always interesting to see different paths my life could've gone down, but I knew better than most that it was a waste of time thinking about what could've been. I could spend years wondering what would've happened if I had done this or that, but in the end what good did it bring?

"Don't you sass me, boy." Granny's voice drifted through the foyer. Both Josh and I turned our gazes toward the second floor where we could see the older woman standing behind the stair railing and in front of the office door. Her gaze had been looking upwards to someone taller than her who was standing in front of my room door out of sight.

"Rosie?" Josh called out. Granny's head snapped to him and her eyes widened. "Who are you talking to?"

My own eyes glanced from the curious look on Josh's face to the one of panic on Granny's. It was obvious to both of us that she had no idea what to day. She was like a deer stuck in headlights. The thing about Granny was, she didn't lie. Lying wasn't up her alley in any way, shape, or form. If anything, she was brutally honest when push came to shove. Luckily for me, her, and the many hiding aliens upstairs, lying was something I had gotten used to.

"Friend of mine." I blurted and Josh looked back toward me as I continued, "Him and a few of his friends are staying here to help look after the kids. They're military guys on leave."

Josh narrowed his eyes at me, "Military guys? Stationed where? Fort Rucker?"

Fort Rucker was the closet army base to us. It was probably only an hour or two away. I nodded, "That's the one."

"How do you know a bunch of Army guys from Fort Hood?"

"Met one in New York. His name was Jace." I replied quickly, "Jace introduced me to some of his other friends. When they found out I was down here visiting they came to visit."

Josh crossed his arms, "Came to visit and then stayed?"

"They're helpin' Aimee Jane with the kids." Granny said quickly as she came down the stairs, "They're all really great guys. You'd like them, Joshua."

"Great. Can I meet them?" He replied and didn't tear his gaze away from mine. It was in that moment that I knew Josh could tell I wasn't telling the truth. I mentally cursed his police officer skills.

"They're pretty busy, Prince Charming. Maybe later."

Josh paused before his curious look grew a bit sterner, "Everything is ok, right?"

My own hardened look softened as I gave him a quick nod. Granny shook her head, "Nothin' is ok until you get horrible man into prison, Joshua Thompson. I _will_ call your mother."

Josh held his hands up, "I'm taking care of it, Rosie. I'll be back around 3:30 to talk to the kids and by tomorrow he'll be out of your hair."

"Promise?" I pressed.

Josh tore his gaze away from Rosie to look at me. He smiled and then held his hand out with the pinky outstretched. I chuckled at the sight of it. During one of the first real conversations I had with him, I promised him something about the project we were doing. I couldn't remember what I had exactly promised, but I remember laughing when he held out his pinky for me to take. I only laughed harder when he didn't relent.

I shook my head and linked my pinky with his. He tilted his hand so our thumbs were pressed together with our pinky fingers still linked. "Promise, Bradshaw."

Granny clapped her hands, "Good. You pick up the kids today, Aimee Jane. Walk me out, Joshua." He gave me a quick good-bye smile before offering his arm for Granny to take. She smiled and looped her arm through his. As they walked down the porch I heard Granny ask, "You said you knew Aimee Jane from school, but you didn't tell me the two of you were close…"

I shut the door with a smile. It was funny how Granny would unknowingly drag Prince Charming to my door out of all the cops in town. I still was amazed to see how many connections and people Granny knew though. I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering the old lady was always helping out everywhere. Another chuckle left my lips before I turned around and paused to see Sunstreaker leaning against the stair railing glaring down at me.

"Can I help you?" I questioned with a curious gaze.

"That old organic is a pain in the aft." He replied grumpily.

"Yes, but she's _our_ pain in the aft."

* * *

 

The horror movie playing on the television suddenly paused making the mechs around the room glance around curiously. Skywarp audibly complained as his optics snapped to the femme sitting to Jazz's right. He hadn't been startled by the sudden pause like the others in the room. Wheeljack, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Aj, and himself had settled down to watch the movie thirty minutes ago, but Jazz hadn't paid attention to a single thing that happened on the screen. His optics had been glued to Aj the entire time.

"What did you do that for, organic?" Skywarp demanded.

"I want popcorn and I don't want to miss the movie." She stood up as Skywarp continued to complain, "Oh stop whining. I'll be back."

"Need some help?" Jazz stood quickly. The human sent him a grin before scooping him up and the two of them headed toward the kitchen. It would be an understatement to say that Jazz was excited to soon not be this size. He missed his actual size, no doubt, but anything would be better than being ten inches tall.

Aj set him down on the counter and went toward the pantry to get the popcorn she was looking for. Jazz tilted his helm as he watched her come back to the microwave with a content look on her face while humming a song under breath. It didn't make any sense. Every mech in the house had heard about that slagging male human. Rosie had not only come upstairs and announced it, but they could hear the conversation Aj was having with the new male human. Well, the mechs listening in could at least.

It had been a miracle that they convinced Sunstreaker to not go walking down the street to destroy the punk. The fact that Aj wasn't doing that right now was just plain surprising. Jazz had seen the look on her face when she left the house to go get the twins back. He had seen the look on her face when she realized what that fragger had done to the younglings. It didn't make sense that she was so upbeat right now. Jazz was happy she was in a good mood, but it made no sense.

Aj hit the start button and then glanced back down at him, "What's up with you?"

"Not a thing, sweetspark." Jazz grinned, "How are you doin'?"

"Good." She replied hesitantly. Her optics narrowed at him, "But you've been acting weird. What's really going on?"

Jazz shrugged, "I don't know wha' you mean."

"Oh really? So how come you've been staring at me for the past thirty minutes?" She questioned with a smirk.

The saboteur very rarely ever got caught doing anything, but there were a few occasions where he'd slip up and get sloppy. This moment could now be added to that extremely small list.

He forced a grin, "Well, why wouldn' I? A femme as pretty as you." Aj rolled her optics and glanced back to the microwave which was on its final minute. Jazz could either let this conversation go and count it as a loss or push on and just ask what he wanted to know. She already caught him staring. "Why aren't ya pissed?"

"Hmm?" Aj glanced back down at him with wide optics. Did the femme know how easy it was to read her optics? No matter how stern she kept her other features, her large optics were as open as a book. It was half the reason why he always managed to keep the upper hand over her in their games of poker.

"That fragger of a human called the authorities on ya." Jazz replied.

Aj pressed her lips together briefly before sighing, "I am pissed, Jazz. Of course, I am. When Charming told me the news I just wanted to…"

Jazz nodded. That was the source of this situation. He had his suspicions, but now they had been confirmed. "Charming?"

"Josh." She corrected quickly, "Prince Charming is this stupid nickname I made up when we met." Jazz didn't speak up and she took that cue to continue, "We got put together for this project in…history? I think it was history. He was just so…nice. He was painfully polite and the picture perfect gentleman. It was actually kinda funny at the time. I mocked him by calling him Prince Charming. It stuck."

The microwave began to beep and Aj turned to handle it. Jazz watched as she pulled off the door and set it down on the counter before reaching in for the hot bag of popcorn. Jazz had been looking for something or someone that could make Aj happy. The kids did the trick, but he needed more than that. He had to find something that would convince the human femme to pull away from the fighting scene. It seemed like this Prince Charming character was just the type. He was making her hum and smile after even the worst of news. However, Jazz didn't find himself to be very happy that his plans were working out. He had an inkling of an idea on what it was, but he still wasn't entirely sure.

"Do ya plan on tellin' 'im 'bout us?" Jazz spoke up as she poured the popcorn into a bowl and then threw away the trash.

Aj laughed, "Tell him about the metal aliens I'm housing? No, I don't think so. I kind of want him to think I'm sane."

"You could always show us to 'im. Like with Rosie."

She shook her head and began to press the microwave door back where it belonged, "Granny found out by pure accident. Too many people know as is."

"Will you fraggers hurry it up!?" Skywarp yelled from the living room. Jazz guessed that the only reason the seeker wasn't in here bothering them was because Thundercracker was keeping him in place.

"Hold your horses!" Aj yelled back before opening the fridge.

" _What horses_!?"

Jazz watched Aj scoff to herself before continuing to look for something. His own processors trailed away. He needed someone other than the kids that could make Aj happy. Someone that could keep her out of trouble, and he knew for a fact that he didn't want it to be this Prince Charming guy. Sure, he made her happy this one time, but Kyle made her happy at some point too. Just look at what happened there. Jazz didn't trust this human, and like pit he'd put the life of his human into the hands of someone he didn't trust completely.

Aj turned and offered her hand to him. He smiled before jumping on and allowing her to set him on her shoulder so she could grab the bowl of popcorn and the water bottle she fetched from the fridge. As the two of them reached the foyer they stopped when two loud thuds rang throughout the house.

 _::Everything is fine.::_ Ratchet's grumpy tone echoed through the comm unit. _::Sideswipe went through the upgrade and both of them fell into stasis.::_

"What happened?" Aj questioned, but Jazz could see that the human already had an idea.

He nodded, "Sides grew. Both of 'em are a-ok, sweetspark."

"Good." She replied before pausing, "Well, not super good because now Sideswipe is nearly 7 feet tall, but yeah."

"I'm pressing play!" Skywarp yelled again.

Aj snapped something back at him, but Jazz's attention remained on what was going on upstairs. He seriously could not wait for this upgrade.

* * *

 

"Oh my God, will you just get out of my way!?" I snapped. The only reply I got was a snicker from the bright red, very tall mech. Sideswipe had cornered me in the kitchen as I tried to leave to pick up the kids. He was just as tall as his brother which meant when he stood in front of me like this all I could see was red. In fact, if he stood any closer to me right now my nose would be pressed up against his chest.

"What's the magic word?" Sideswipe said between laughs. He was really enjoying this _'taller than me'_ thing.

"If you don't move I'll kill you in your sleep."

Sideswipe shook his head and made a disapproving clicking sound, "That isn't the magic word, babe. It's more of a very rude threat."

" _Sideswipe_!" I yelled. His grin widened, but it disappeared just as quickly. A hand grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him onto his back. Sunstreaker stood over his brother with a glare narrowed down at him.

Sunstreaker scoffed, "Maybe you like the sound of Ratchet screaming at us over the comm link, but I don't."

"Aw, Sunny, I was just having fun." Sideswipe's grin returned as he grabbed at his brother's legs. Sunstreaker began to shake his leg in a poor attempt to dislodge the mech, but it didn't do much.

I groaned and walked around the red mech, "No wrestling. The last thing I need is for the two of you to go careening through the fragging wall."

"We'll keep an eye on them." Prowl replied. The smaller mech stood on the base on the stairs beside Optimus. Megatron and Starscream stood in the doorway of the living room watching.

My eyebrows furrowed in response to Prowl's words. Maybe two days ago that would have reassured me, but now? If jumbo Sideswipe and Sunstreaker decided to do something how were they going to possibly stop the twins? Both of them were now the perfect size to pick up another bot and toss them into the washer or dryer like I've done so often.

"If you two fragging morons don't stop this instant I'll beat you offline." Ratchet growled from the top of the stairs. Both the twins came to a halting stop as the medic came down the stairs yelling in Cybertronian. Even Prowl, Optimus, Megatron, and Starscream were flinching at whatever the hell it was he was saying.

I nodded, "Good. I'll be back then."

"See you soon." Optimus gave a quick good-bye, but Ratchet didn't pause in his rant. As I stepped out the door the last thing I saw was Ratchet charging into the kitchen with a wrench in hand. He was less than a foot tall and yet he still managed to strike fear into the sparks of many. He struck fear in my heart occasionally.

I jogged to the truck and paused briefly to look at the giant, ugly white shed sitting in the neighbor's yard. The construction people had set it there, filled it up with whatever chemicals they needed, and then hadn't shown up again. When I called the city to try and figure out what was happening they told me the construction workers were in the middle of a strike or something. The receptionist had promised me that someone would be out to get rid of it, but no one had shown up to clean up the shed yet. I scoffed at the shed before jumping into the truck.

The drive to school was a quick one and the kids were eager to see me as they bounded across the school field to the truck. Tyler had a bandage on his elbow from where he had apparently fallen at recess. The little boy blew off my brief worries though as he explained that he simply tripped over a rock. That didn't stop me from questioning him about his head in concern that maybe his concussion left permanent issues. Tyler groaned as he answered my questions. Taylor was a bit upset because her dance classes after school were cancelled today, but the little girl never stayed upset for too long. I was more worried about Peter who was silent as his twin siblings dominated the car conversation.

"Pete?" I spoke up when Tyler had to take a break from his rant to breathe, "How was school buddy? You alright?"

Peter nodded quickly and readjusted his glasses, "School was fine. I'm just tired."

"Are you sure?" I pressed again in worry.

He gave me a tight smile, "I'm sure. How was your day? How are the mechs?"

I raised my eyebrows and sighed. They had to find out eventually. I might as well tell them now, "My day was… interesting. The mechs, well, they went through an upgrade today. Not all of them, it's just the twins so far but-"

"What happened?" Tyler asked loudly. Even Peter seemed to perk up at this new information.

"The twins got…a bit taller." I replied as I turned the truck onto our street.

"They did? How tall are they?" Peter asked.

"A little under 7 feet tall." I mumbled.

The kids burst out in excitement at this and I inwardly groaned. Of course they'd be excited about this. They didn't really think of the negative sides of anything the mechs did. None of them considered that this meant the decepticons would now tower over us all or that any small argument could turn into a brawl that could take down our house. They also didn't think about the fact that Grimlock was now going to be a huge dinosaur in our house.

The truck came to a stop and the kids rushed out to get to the house. I turned the car off and followed after them at a slower pace. When I got inside I couldn't help but smile at how the twins bounced around Sideswipe and Sunstreaker excitedly. Peter was asking Optimus a question off to the side.

"What is that?" Ratchet snapped as he caught sight of the bandage on Tyler's forearm.

Tyler paused and glanced at it, "It's just a small cut I-"

"Come to the med bay. I'll take a look at it." Ratchet replied and began to climb up the steps.

Tyler frowned, "But Ratchet!"

"Come along, youngling. I won't repeat myself."

The little boy looked at me and pleaded with his eyes for me to cut in, but I just shrugged my shoulders in response. Tyler groaned then paused before his eyes widened and a smile crossed his lips, "Can Sunstreaker come with us, Ratchet?"

Sunstreaker glared at the boy, "What? No-"

"Fine. Both of you get to the medbay." Ratchet replied sharply.

"Frag no. The last place I want to be is that-" Sunstreaker began, but Ratchet stopped and turned around to glare at him. I could tell they were speaking over the comm link. A moment passed before Sunstreaker sighed and began to march up the stairs. Tyler cheered and raced up the stairs as well.

My eyes glanced back over at Taylor who stood in front of Sideswipe staring up at him with a bright smile. Sideswipe grinned back down at her and the sight of it all made me chuckle. Whereas I came up to the middle of the twin's chest, Taylor, at around 3'5" or so, only came to the red mech's hip.

"Sideswipe?" Taylor batted her eyes and put on the best puppy dog look she could manage, "Can you give me a piggy back ride?"

Sideswipe paused and I could tell he was mentally googling the term. His eyes brightened again and his grin grew, "Frag yeah!"

Taylor squealed as he dropped down onto his knees so the little girl could climb onto his back. I stepped forward to put an end to that when I noticed Peter sneak upstairs with a frown on his lips. I opened my mouth to call out to him, but was distracted again by Sideswipe who stood up with Taylor clinging tightly to him. He took off into the kitchen and I cringed when their heads got close to the top of the doorframes. It was a good thing the ceilings and doorframes in this house were so high. The doorframes themselves were probably around 7 and a half feet tall which worked for the twins, but I had a strong feeling that by the end of this upgrade some of the mechs, like Optimus and Grimlock and Megatron, would be ducking under them.

"Be careful!" I yelled as I heard them turn out of the kitchen. I caught sight of Sideswipe bouncing down the back hall toward the other entrance to the living room. My eyes shot over to look back at Peter, but the kid was out of sight. I sighed to myself and rubbed the back of my neck. Something was obviously bothering him.

The sound of a car pulling up in the driveway made me turn and peek out the window. Josh was back and he was about ten minutes early. I bit my lip, glanced back over my shoulder at Sideswipe who was jumping up and down in the middle of the living room while Taylor cheered on his back, then back to Josh who was getting out of his car. I quickly cracked the door open and peeked my head out, "Charming!"

Josh paused in his motions and turned his head over to look at me. He raised an eyebrow in question as his lips twitched up in the corner. I pointed at him, "Stay there! I'll bring the kids out."

"Alright." He replied calmly.

I slammed the door shut and took a deep breath, "Sides!"

"Yeah?" He asked innocently. My eyes widened when I looked over at him to see him holding Taylor by her ankles upside down as the girl swung her arms and laughed.

"No!" I shouted, "Put her down!"

"Don't be such a party pooper." Sideswipe replied.

Taylor giggled, "Yeah, don't be a party pooper, Aj."

My eyes narrowed into a glare that Sideswipe smiled sheepishly at. He carefully set the little girl down. I took a step toward them, "Head upstairs and make sure everyone stays out of sight." Sideswipe held his hand out and Taylor high fived it before he went on his way. "Peter! Tyler! Get down here now!"

Taylor skipped over toward me and stopped about a foot away with a bright, innocent smile. I chuckled briefly before looking back at the staircase where the boys came bounding down.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"There's a guy here to ask you a few questions about the…man who stole Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The one with the flash bang." I knelt down so I was closer to eye level. Their faces grew more somber at the mention of Nicholas and my eyes couldn't help but dart over to Tyler's light pink scar from the stitches. "You have to tell him what happened, but you can't mention the mechs, ok? Just say that they're toys. Collector items. Do you understand?"

The kids nodded silently. Peter spoke up, "Is the guy a police officer?"

"Yeah, sort of. He's the sheriff and-"

Taylor's eyes widened, "Sheriff Thompson is here?"

"Wait." I blurted with a confused gaze, "You know Josh?"

Taylor took that as her answer and shoved past me to get outside. Peter and Tyler followed her lead and ran out. I stepped into the open doorway and watched as Taylor sprinted over to him with a loud greeting. Granny's car was parker on the side of the road now and she stood by the young sheriff.

"Hey, sweetie!" Josh chuckled and lowered himself so Taylor could throw herself into his chest. He picked her up with a laugh as Taylor wrapped herself around him. "Hey there, Pete. Tyler. I heard you got hurt, kiddo, how are you feeling?"

Tyler smiled, "I'm ok."

Taylor climbed out of Josh's grip to hug Granny. Josh knelt down by Tyler to take a look at his scar, "I wanted to come check on you sooner, but I was busy this week. Sorry."

"Did you catch any bad guys?" Tyler questioned.

"Oh yeah." Josh nodded, "And I need your help to catch one more."

Tyler beamed at the situation when Josh said it. Then again, he had worded it a whole lot better than I had. Peter shook his head, "We haven't seen you in a while. Where were you?"

Josh scratched the back of his head, "I was out of town over Christmas and New Year's. A couple weeks before that I had this boring sheriff conference thing in Montgomery."

"Sheriff Thompson! Sheriff Thompson!" Taylor cried, "You have to meet our aunt!" Taylor whipped around, "Aj! Come here!"

I shut the front door and jogged down the porch to join them. Josh grinned at me before looking back to the kids, "I already know your aunt. We're old friends. I knew her as Aimee though." He stood back up, "So should I not call you Aimee anymore or…?"

My lips twisted in thought as I crossed my arms. I ignored his question entirely, "You didn't tell me you knew the kids."

Josh's smile drooped and he nodded, "I got to know Aubrey pretty well when she moved back here. I help her out from time to time. Watch the kids when her babysitter is out of town."

"You left that detail out." I forced a smile. Honestly, I didn't know how I felt about Aubrey and Josh being friends. It just seemed weird. It made sense, of course, but the thought had never occurred to me.

"I'm sorry." He replied sincerely, "I didn't even think about it."

"Are you going to take us out for ice cream?" Tyler asked excitedly, "Can we ride in your car?"

Josh smiled, "That sounds like a great idea. We can talk over some rocky road."

"Ew", Taylor stuck her tongue out, "I want bubblegum!"

"I don't know guys." I cut in suddenly, "I can't leave the house right now, remember?"

The kids seemed to understand that I was hinting at our 7-foot tall problems hiding upstairs. I didn't want to be away from the house longer than I had to be. Not until I was more comfortable with what was happening.

"I can take them and then bring them back. If that's ok with you?" Josh suggested. The kids began to plead for me to say yes, but I was frozen in place. The truth was, I wanted to say no. It was not ok with me. There wasn't much that I could refuse the kids, but when it came to me worrying about their safety I'd shut down just about anything.

Josh was a good guy. He could make even the worst of days seem not so bad and he could make me smile when I was angry which was a feat in itself. The guy was sheriff of this little town. The kids knew him. Aubrey obviously trusted him, but some part of me couldn't. I liked Josh, I did, but liking someone and trusting someone with the people you care most about was very different. For the first time in a long time, my gut was telling me to give out my trust, but my mind wouldn't let me. My mind was riddled with fear of what could happen if I wasn't there with the kids and that kept me from saying yes.

The look Josh gave me told me that he knew exactly what was going on in my head, and I noticed the way his shoulders drooped slightly. Granny cleared her throat and stepped forward. She hadn't spoke up much yet except to greet the kids, but now she was ready to say her piece, "I think that's a great idea. I'll go with 'em. I could use some ice cream."

"Yeah, ok." I said quickly and the kids cheered happily. Granny had caught onto my hesitance too apparently. I trusted her with the kids, no doubt in my mind. She smiled at me before rounding the kids up and taking them over to the police cruiser to help them buckle into the back. Josh glanced over his shoulder at them before looking back to me. I shook my head, "It isn't personal. I like you. You're my friend, but…"

Josh nodded, "No, I get it. It's ok."

"How long do you think y'all will be out?"

He shrugged, "I don't want to just jump into it. The whole situation probably shook them up and I don't want to upset them." I nodded in agreement and he continued, "Maybe an hour and a half? Give or take."

"Sounds good." I nodded, "Take care of them."

Josh gave me a firm smile, "I will, Bradshaw. I will."

I stayed in the yard and watched as the police car drove away with Granny and Josh in the front and all three kids riding in the back. Sure, I had avoided losing my temper today and stayed in a relatively good mood, but I guess I couldn't overcome all my issues in one day. I wondered briefly if I'd ever overcome that trust one. A sigh slipped my lips and I shoved all those thoughts to the back of my mind as I went back inside.

The moment I stepped in I heard faint yelling upstairs. My body tensed and I jogged up the stairs making the voices louder.

"-it isn't that big of a deal!"

" _Says you_!"

I came to a screeching halt at the top of the stairs. My eyes briefly glanced over the mechs standing half in and out of the med bay. Ratchet was yelling from inside the medbay, Grimlock was standing in the doorway of the office, and the seeker were hovering outside the door in their jet mode probably because the ground was so crowded with mechs. I could barely focus on those details though because my eyes settled on an unfamiliar man standing in the middle of the hallway with his own eyes locked onto mine.

My mind was racing and the tension in my body only grew. I didn't know who the hell this guy was, but he was in my house glaring at me. He was an intruder and I wasn't the biggest fan of strangers breaking into my home. My eyes took in the only details they needed to know at the moment. He was tall. He looked strong. His entire body was tense, but he wasn't in a position that said he was ready for a fight. Unlucky for him, I was.

Without missing a beat, I charged forward to attack. Me being my size, I had to take advantage of any opportunity. I struck first, and I struck hard. When I got close enough, I threw myself upwards slightly and leaned my entire body into a diving punch at the guy's nose. It was the type of attack that typically gave me the upper hand in a fight, but the intruder ducked to the side in time to avoid it.

" _Stop_!" He barked in a hoarse voice, but I had landed from my first attack and immediately moved into a second. I threw my leg out into a sidekick, but he caught it easily and held it firmly to his side. Quickly, I reached forward to wrap my hand around the back of his neck and then threw the rest of my weight forward to knee him in the chest with my free leg. This time I made contact and with a grunt he dropped my leg in response.

I was somewhat aware that the mechs around me were yelling something, but all my attention was focused on the fight. At this moment, there was nothing else.

"Hey!" He barked again as I threw out a combination of punches that he expertly blocked. I went to throw another kick, but this guy was smarter than I had hoped. He caught my leg again, but immediately used it to shove me back and slam me into the wooden floor. The wind was knocked from my lungs, but I didn't stop moving. If he got me pinned then it was game over. I tried to pull my knees into my chest so I could use the leverage and shove him off, but he countered my movements until he was sitting on my hips while pinning my wrists on each side of me. " _Aj_!"

The trance I was in snapped as he yelled out my name. He knew my name? How did he know my name? The mechs were still yelling, but why were they keeping their distance? I didn't mind it, hell I preferred it since I didn't want them getting hurt because of me, but in this scenario I figured they'd ignore my wishes and help anyways.

"Aj." The guy growled again as he glared down at me. I was sucking in air, still trying to catch my breath from when I had been knocked down, but I traced my eyes over his features. He had a square face shape with a strong jawline. His lips were pressed together in anger and his scrunched up eyebrows matched the emotion. The guy had light brown stubble across his jaw line and above his mouth that was barely visible and the only reason I noticed it was because he was so close. Another feature that was barely noticeable were the light freckles that stretched over his cheekbones and bridge of his nose that blended into his light tan skin. His light brown hair was short in the back and sides, but longer on the top by a bit and at the moment it was messily styled with a few pieces hanging in his face.

He was entirely unfamiliar.

"What the frag are ya doin'?" Jazz snapped from somewhere I couldn't see, "Get your aft off her!"

"Only if she _calms_ down." He snapped back between gritted teeth. My eyes focused in on his own. At first glance his eyes were a bright blue, but on closer inspection there was a color there that blended into the light blue flawlessly. It was a color I could only describe as a light indigo.

My eyes widened as I took in a sharp breath, "Sun- _Sunstreaker_?"

"Who the frag else would it be, femme?" He snapped back in reply and that was answer enough. The very human looking Sunstreaker didn't move for another second or so then slowly he released my wrists and sat up. He pushed off his knees and stood, but I remained lying on the ground in shock.

"Stay calm, Aj." Thundercracker spoke up in reassurance, but it didn't help in the slightest.

I sat up, but stayed on the ground staring up at the flesh covered Sunstreaker, "H-How?"

Bluestreak began to try and explain, but his long, rambly answer mixed with the answer Bumblebee, Wheeljack, and Skywarp tried to provide. It was a mess of voices spouting confusing terminology, but I could barely even focus on any of it. The guy was shorter than the actual Sunstreaker, but was still on the tall side. If I had to guess I'd say maybe an inch or two above 6 foot even. He had broad shoulders that were covered with a tight white t-shirt. His right arm was covered in some sort of tattoo. It was a huge tattoo sleeve that blended together in a series of navy blue swirls, sharp lines, and dots. He wore a pair of black sweatpants and it was now that I noticed the yellow autobot symbol over one of the front pockets.

This couldn't actually be Sunstreaker.

Right?

"All of you shut up!" Ratchet snapped, "You're only making it worse."

The guy scoffed and crossed his arms, "I didn't realize this could get any worse, Hatchet."

"Well, you did nearly get your aft kicked by a human femme." Sideswipe snickered from the medbay door where he was leaning against it. How did I miss the bright red mech? "That would've made it worse, right Sunny?"

"Shut the frag up, slagger."

Ratchet growled, "The two of you get back in my med bay. I'm not done running tests. The rest of you scatter." He glanced at Wheeljack, "You're half the reason we're in this mess so you get in there too." Wheeljack happily jogged into the room as Bumblebee and Bluestreak backpedaled away from the medbay and away from the raging Ratchet. "One of you grab Aj since it doesn't look like she'll be getting up on her own."

Jazz walked over and stopped by my hand, "You alright, sweetspark? Are ya hurt?"

"That can't be Sunstreaker." I replied with my eyes still glued to the guy who was quietly arguing with Sideswipe, "That cant be- How can- Oh my God."

Optimus came over, "She seems physically fine, Jazz. Once she gets some answers everything will be ok."

"He's human. He's a human guy. That doesn't make sense." I muttered to myself in disbelief. Sideswipe shrugged as the guy stormed into the medbay then came over toward me.

"Ratchet. Keep us updated over the comms." Optimus spoke up. Ratchet nodded from the medbay door. I briefly caught sight of Jazz frowning before Sideswipe bent over and scooped me off the ground with ease. My arm hooked around his neck for support.

Sideswipe chuckled, "I'm not going to drop you. You weigh _nothing_."

I didn't reply and just let him carry me into the medbay. He used his foot to shut the door behind him before he walked over and set me on my bed.

My eyes remained glued on the supposed Sunstreaker as the guy sat in the desk chair nonchalantly. His eyes were glued on something across the room and when I followed his gaze my eyes landed on a bright yellow Lamborghini parked in the corner of the room. It was bigger than before obviously, but still small enough that I could probably hold the car in both my arms.

"That's Sunstreaker!" I cried and pointed at the car, "That's- He- Ratchet, what is going on?"

Ratchet sighed irritably, "This is also Sunstreaker." He was standing on the ground between all of us with Wheeljack who was reading through a datapad, "It's his holoform."

"Holoform?" I recognized the word. It was one I heard the mechs mention occasionally, but it didn't answer any of my questions. "What the pit is a holoform?"

Ratchet didn't even comment on my Cybertronian curse and instead glared at Wheeljack, "Would you like to explain, you fragging glitch?"

Wheeljack's fins lit up and he replied to Ratchet's grumpy tone with an overly cheerful one, "Certainly! A holoform is what we use blend in better and also interact with the world around us. I assume you know what a hologram is?"

I nodded, "Yeah, but I've only seen it in movies and stuff."

"Well, there is a mech back home named Hound. He does absolutely brilliant work with hologram technology and he set us up with holograms to use. However, he noticed that though the holograms are helpful there is much they couldn't do." Wheeljack continued, "He came to me with the idea to create a type of hologram that could take a physical form and be used to interact with the world and humans around us. It's very helpful in human meetings and business deals not conducted in our own base."

"But…how?" I pressed and sat up straighter so I was on the edge of the bed.

"Once we built the device all it took was a simple systems upgrade. Ratchet worked it into all the mechs stationed in the Ark and by the end of the second human month on Earth we all had holoforms." Wheeljack shrugged, "It's a very interesting process though. You see, we programmed it to work off the residual spark energy so in a sense the holoform truly is a part of the mech. Hound and I worked very hard on it."

I didn't reply immediately and just continued to look over Sunstreaker's holoform. I never would've thought in a million years that the guy sitting here was actually a huge metal alien from outer space.

Wheeljack continued, "All the programs were set up to search the Internet and pick different human features to best match the mech." I lightly chuckled to myself. Sunstreaker's holoform program definitely picked the perfect features for glaring. "Clothes however have to be programmed by Ratchet, Hound, or I. Most mechs found things they liked and we programmed them into the system in the beginning."

"And you chose sweats, Sunstreaker?" I questioned and Sideswipe laughed beside me.

Sunstreaker clenched his jaw, "Pit no. I never even used this stupid programming. It's fragging pointless. Why the pit would I want to even pretend to be a filthy organic?"

"Sunstreaker never sent us a clothing file." Ratchet scoffed, "That's the default Hound put in."

"So Helios over here doesn't like pretending to be human?" I questioned and I caught sight of Sunstreaker rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "Then how come he doesn't just go back to being the big, yellow, metal pain in the ass?"

Ratchet shook his head, "He can't."

"Being that these aren't are true bodies, he doesn't have the control box for the holoform programming." Wheeljack explained. "The control box is a sort of manual override that allows us to turn the holoform on and off without the full usage of the coding in our processors. Without that box, Sunstreaker has to allow the coding to run it's full course before he can turn the holoform off and on by will."

"How long will that take?"

Sideswipe snickered, "Could be an hour or it could be weeks."

"Shut the frag up." Sunstreaker snapped at his twin.

"So you're stuck like this?" I questioned. Sunstreaker let his gaze snap back to me, but he didn't reply. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head, "And here I thought today couldn't get any weirder."

Wheeljack turned and began to ask Ratchet something in Cybertronian, but my attention was still on the used to be yellow mech. Sideswipe reached over me with his long arms, grabbed the edge of the chair Sunstreaker sat in, and pulled him closer.

"Stop pouting, Sunny. It's very unbecoming of you." Sideswipe chuckled.

"Can the two of you still do that twin talk thing?" I asked curiously.

Sideswipe nodded, "Yup. Like Jackie said, the holoform is basically the essence of his spark and that's how we communicate."

I twisted my lips in thought before reaching forward. Sunstreaker stiffened at my sudden movements, but he didn't stop me from pressing my hand against his chest right where a human heart would be. Beneath my hand was the soft material of his shirt, but I could also feel the pulse that I had felt earlier. A small smile lit my features. This was crazy. This was beyond crazy, but at the same time it was so remarkable. Mind you, I'd find it a hell of a lot more remarkable if it wasn't happening to me, but still.

My eyes drifted over his features once more in fascination when suddenly his light glare turned to a slight smirk. Sunstreaker scoffed, "I know I'm gorgeous femme, but you can stop staring."

I laughed and opened my mouth to reply, but I ended up only laughing more. Sunstreaker's smirk fell as I pulled my hand away. When my laughter had died down to chuckles I spoke up, "Oh, don't flatter yourself, buddy. You are _so_ not my type."

"What?" Sunstreaker snapped as Sideswipe leaned toward me curiously to ask, "You have a type?"

I nodded, "Of course I do. Everyone does. And I'll tell you now, pretty boys just don't do it for me."

Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at me, but I glanced over at Ratchet and Wheeljack. Whatever Wheeljack had been asking the medic, he apparently didn't like it because Ratchet was now beating Wheeljack over the head with the wrench as Wheeljack continued to try and argue his point.

I stood up and Ratchet paused in his assault to look at me, "Are you alright now?"

"Peachy." I shrugged, "This holoform thing isn't any weirder than y'all suddenly growing multiple feet or showing up in this universe to begin with."

Sideswipe nodded his head in agreement as I headed for the room door. By the end of all this, there wasn't going to be anything in the known universe that could surprise me. That, and I was going to be bored a whole lot more easily without the mechs around.


	20. Prayer

* * *

_"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." – Bruce Lee_

* * *

 

I peeked my head out the door one more time and when I was positive that the coast was clear I slinked out of Aubrey's room into the hall. It had been about ten minutes or so since I tried to attack Sunstreaker's holoform, and that meant I had about an hour and twenty minutes before Josh and Granny brought the kids back. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with that time too.

"Grimlock." I whispered as the mech tried to cross the hall to the office. "Where is Ratchet?"

"Him Ratchet in medbay like always. What you human doing?" Grimlock demanded in his normal demanding voice. So much for being discreet. The dinobot's eyes glanced over me skeptically. I had used the spare clothes I kept in Aubrey's room to change out of my jeans and long sleeve shirt to a pair of sweatpants and a tank top.

"What about Sideswipe?" I questioned as my eyes darted to the office door where I knew most of the Autobots were. The entire day had been filled with one impromptu meeting after another. "Do you know where him or his brother are?"

Grimlock scoffed, "How would me Grimlock know that?"

Either they were both still in the medbay in which my plan was sunk, or one of them was down in the kitchen still getting coffee to drink. I decided to take my chances and hurried down the stairs with an occasional glance over my shoulder. Lately, some of the other mechs were getting just as controlling as Ratchet when it came to me working out in the garage.

I offered Thundercracker and Soundwave a smile and wave as I passed them in the foyer and slid into the kitchen. Sideswipe was standing by the counter with a white mug lifted to his mouth, but he froze at the sight of me. My eyebrows scrunched together at the sight. This was still beyond weird. It would be days before I really got used to seeing any of the mechs like this.

Sideswipe lowered the mug and glanced over what I wore, "Ratchet is going to kill you, you know that right?"

"He can try. Until he's your height I won't take any of his threats seriously."

Sideswipe snorted, "Well enjoy your freedom while it lasts. He'll be going through the upgrade sooner rather than later with our luck."

I grinned, "Actually, I was hoping you and Sunstreaker would enjoy the freedom with me." Sideswipe tilted his head slightly in confusion. "Can you convince your twin to come with you and meet me in the garage?"

"Probably, but why?" Sideswipe asked.

I bit my lip briefly and for a second I questioned my plan. The hesitance didn't last long and my lips stretched out into a smile, "I want to spar with him. For real this time."

Sideswipe paused in surprise, but slowly a wide grin crossed his features. He nodded quickly, "We'll meet you in there."

The mech took off past me and I jogged to the garage. Ever since I got past the whole shock of holoforms, I couldn't stop thinking about the small fight I had gotten myself into with Sunstreaker. It hurt me to admit it to myself, even though it was obvious and like hell I'd ever say it to him, but Sunstreaker was a much better fighter than I was. He had millions of years of experience under his belt. Not only that, but I was certain that Cybertronian hand to hand combat differed from human fighting styles. If I played my cards right then maybe I could get the twins to teach me a trick or two that I could use in the ring.

I grabbed my tennis shoes and slipped them on before picking up my tape and wondering if I should use it. After a moment of hesitance, I tossed it aside and began to stretch out my arms and legs. It was absolutely freezing in the garage, but I knew if I kept moving around I was bound to get used to it. My cell phone rang suddenly, reminding me that I had slipped it into my sweatpants' pocket. I pulled it out to see Aubrey's number flashing across the screen. My first instinct was to answer it, but then the garage door opened and Sideswipe came waltzing in with a slower Sunstreaker behind him. I paused with my eyes on the screen before I shook my head and set the phone aside. I could always call her back later.

"This is stupid." Sunstreaker spoke up as Sideswipe shut the garage door. The holoform version of the yellow mech continued to snap at me about how dumb this idea was, but I wasn't paying attention. My eyes darted from Sunstreaker back to Sideswipe. Sideswipe was kind of a lanky mech in the sense that he was tall and slim with broad shoulders. Sunstreaker's holoform had that same body type just in human form. "Are you even listening to me, organic?"

I shook my head, "Nope. You ready? Because we gotta make this fast."

"I'm not going to spar with you." He replied firmly

"Aw come on, Sunny." Sideswipe whined and set his head on top Sunstreaker's head which made the holoform's hair only that much messier. Sunstreaker tried to shrug Sideswipe off him, but when the mech didn't budge Sunstreaker just gave up with a huff of slight annoyance.

They were having an internal conversation, but I didn't have time for that. I crossed my arms, "What? You scared I'll kick your aft again?"

Sunstreaker's eyes narrowed at me, "That fight ended with _me_ on top of _you_. I won, you lost."

I scoffed, "Only because I stopped fighting." That was a bold faced lie. I had most definitely lost. "I recognized you, so I let you pin me."

Sideswipe was beaming from behind Sunstreaker and he gave me two thumbs up encouragingly. Sunstreaker scoffed and stepped forward so he was only a couple feet away from me. I didn't need any more encouragement than that, without any warning I lunged forward.

For the first thirty minutes of sparring, Sunstreaker wiped the floor with my ass. I had lost count of the number of times he knocked me down. I'd probably have bruises on my sides, elbows, and butt for days. He never threw a punch or kick though which made this sparring session very one sided. Sunstreaker stayed on defense the entire time and only used offense to put me off balance and send me to the ground. Sideswipe was seated with his back against a shoe rack cheering me on. Not that that made me a better opponent in this match.

At some point though, the sparring match changed. It was around the time that I had to pause briefly to catch my breath and use the edge of my tank top to wipe away the cold sweat that had collected on my forehead. Sunstreaker's holoform still looked perfect which for some reason irked me. Instead of going back into fighting though, Sunstreaker had stepped forward and started scolding me about everything I was doing wrong. I was insulted at first, but Sideswipe stood up to stand behind me and suddenly the twins were walking me through corrections. It was little movements here and there that bettered my balance and kept me from being knocked over so easily.

"Your angles are decent and you stay in range, but you get lazy when punching." Sunstreaker snapped as he stood across from me. He was standing closer now and I could see beads of sweat at his hairline. "Instead of throwing a bunch of fast punches, do less with more power."

Sideswipe, who was still behind me, let me get into a fighting position before he pressed one hand against my right forearm and the other on my left shoulder. "Follow through. Throw your _entire_ body into it."

The red mech slowly moved my right arm forward as he pulled my left shoulder back. Sunstreaker stepped forward and tapped his foot against my calf, "Remember your legs too."

"I know that, but I usually don't have enough time to throw all my power into a punch." I sighed and continued the movements with Sideswipe, "I'm constantly moving."

"I noticed." Sunstreaker replied in a bored tone, "It's a good habit for someone your size, but it just tires you out too fast. This is better. Listen to us."

Sideswipe pulled his hands away, "Are we going to show her?"

"Yeah." Sunstreaker nodded and before I could voice my confusion they swapped places. Now Sideswipe stood in front of me with a wide grin and Sunstreaker stood beside me. "We're going to show you what to do if a Cybertronian our size attacks you."

My eyebrows rose, "Listen, if a Cybertronian _your_ size attacks me, I'm pretty sure I'm dead. Even if I listen to all your advice, none of my attacks are gonna do much to your metal armor."

"Well, duh." Sideswipe chuckled, "We're just going to teach you a few things that'll buy us enough time to get there and save you."

"My heroes." I replied with a smirk.

Sunstreaker rolled his eyes before pointing to his brother, "The first thing you need to do is what you did earlier today when I attacked you."

"When _you_ attacked me?" I questioned.

"When I woke up from stasis? I think your exact words were ' _I tried to knock your block off'_."

I nodded, "Oh, that. You didn't really attack me. It wasn't your fault."

"Regardless", Sunstreaker replied quickly, "You did something smart for once in your human life." I sent him a glare that he ignored. "You got closer to me so my arms couldn't swing out at you. Now go."

My eyes darted back to Sideswipe in time to see the grinning mech take a large, almost comical, step toward me with his arms outstretched in my direction. I bit back a chuckle and ducked under his arms in a quick movement. Now I stood only an inch or two away from him.

"From here there are three places to attack: the neck, the right side of the hip, or the left side of the hip. Those are the spots where your small hands can grab the exposed wires." Sunstreaker explained.

I turned to look at him, "For the record, my hands are average size for my height. Y'all are just some metal giants."

"Let's see." Sideswipe chuckled and took a step back and then held his hand up. I chuckled and pressed my hand against his, but the tips of my fingers barely touched the midpoint of his own.

Sunstreaker sighed, "Will the two of you focus?"

"Sorry, Sunny." Sideswipe chirped, but he didn't sound too apologetic. He pulled his hand away and then took a step forward again so we were back into position.

I glanced at Sideswipe's hips and then to his neck, "I don't see any exposed wires."

"It's under the armor." Sideswipe explained.

"Sunstreaker, you didn't have any wires under your neck plate thing. It was just protoform." I spoke up.

Sideswipe shook his head, "We're altered. Our armor and wiring is different. Most mechs and femmes have wiring that rests under their plates and above their protoform, but ours is attached to the underside of our plates."

"Why?"

"Our armor is still based off the Gladiatorial rings where it was stupid to have wires in places where opponents could grab them. It works out for war battles too." Sideswipe answered breezily, "We nearly died once in our early days of being Autobots because we never told Ratchet about the fused wiring in our armor. It isn't something you can tell from an outer scan. He still saved us obviously, but he nearly murdered us himself after we woke up."

Sunstreaker scoffed, "We aren't going to get anything done if you two morons keep talking."

"Sorry." Sideswipe and I both replied at the same time.

Sunstreaker stepped forward and grabbed my hand. It startled me a bit how human his hand felt. His skin was warm, but there were callouses on his palm. He pulled my hand to the side of Sideswipe's hip, "See that seam? If you slip your hand under it you'll feel the wires there. Just grab as many as you can and try to rip them out."

"I have no wires to show you, but feel free to slip your hands under _any_ of my seams." Sideswipe said with a wink. I chuckled, but Sunstreaker balled up his other fist and punched his brother in the chest. Sideswipe stumbled back with a laugh while Sunstreaker grimaced slightly and flexed his fingers.

"Hips and neck." I nodded, "Got it."

"If you're going against a seeker or someone with door wings, just look for the wires at the base where they attach." Sideswipe nodded, "Those are _really_ sensitive."

Sunstreaker bobbed his head once before continuing, "There are also wires in the hands and wrist that you could probably get to."

Sideswipe held his left hand out, "Those you _can_ see on us."

I leaned forward to get a closer look. Sideswipe's hands were black, but the armor around his forearm was mostly silver with a red plate on the upper side. At the moment his hand was outstretched toward me with the palm up so all I could see was the silver armor. Sunstreaker reached his own hand forward and pointed to the thin wires around his wrist. They weren't brightly colored like the ones behind my TV, but instead they looked like silver and gold pieces of twine.

"Pull on them the right way and they hurt like the pit." Sideswipe chuckled. Sunstreaker's eyes glanced over at me and I briefly saw him smirk before his holoform's fingers wrapped around a couple silver wires. Sideswipe's eyes widened, but before he could do or say anything Sunstreaker yanked on them hard. " _OW_! What the _frag_ , Sunny!?"

Sideswipe yanked his hand back and cradled his arm to his chest with a look of betrayal on his features. I laughed as the twins argued with each other. The moment the argument began to die down though more of my questions arose, "So what are the wires for? Are they like your nerves? But if they are, why are they external?" The twins stopped talking and both turned to stare at me. Sideswipe was smiling and Sunstreaker just looked surprised. I shrugged, "What?"

"It's nothing." Sideswipe shook his head quickly, "About the wires, they are like nerves, but they're more like an extra set of nerves. We also have an internal nervous system that allows us to feel touch on our protoform, but the wires allow us to feel with our armor. Remember? Our armor is more than just armor. It's like a second skin to us, sort of."

I nodded, "But you can take your armor off, can't you?"

"Yeah", Sideswipe answered slowly. He glanced at Sunstreaker before looking back to me sheepishly, "Ratchet is a whole lot better at explaining this than we are."

"Ok, but I have a question about your protoforms now." I said quickly, "If that's your primary skin, and the armor is a form of second skin, then how can your limbs be ripped off and you just be fine? According to all of y'all, Jackie loses more limbs than any of you could count."

Sunstreaker nodded, "Our healing abilities far exceed you humans."

"Rebuilding armor and wiring is no problem for mechs like Ratchet and even Wheeljack." Sideswipe added, "And our protoform heals like crazy. If we lose say an arm, then our protoform can regrow it to how it was with some time. There's scarring around the area the limb was lost of course, but the protoform skin goes back to it's original state."

My eyes widened, "You can regrow _limbs_? Seriously?"

"Cybertronians are superior to you humans in multiple ways." Sunstreaker replied before moving toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"We're obviously not going to get anymore training done today." He answered before disappearing entirely.

Sideswipe gave me a bright smile, "He'll be back."

I nodded and took a seat on the cold garage floor. The cold air was starting to affect me again, and I was starting to realize how tired I was after that long sparring/training session. Sideswipe sat down beside me with a noise that sounded very much like a sigh.

"I know Sunstreaker didn't use his holoform before now, but did you?"

Sideswipe nodded, "Yeah. It was kinda fun, but it got boring fast."

"Is it weird? To see things from a human's perspective?" I questioned.

He paused, "It takes a while to get used to the size difference, but… it feels kind of similar to how I am now. There are some major differences of course, but the basic programming is the same."

I chuckled, "I don't think I could ever get used to walking around pretending to be a Cybertronian."

Sideswipe laughed, "I think you'd be surprised. Humans and Cybertronians have so much in common. It's actually kind of strange when you sit and think about it. We share customs, and social cues, and even some physical practices."

"Humans can't transform into cars and airplanes."

"Well, I didn't say we were _identical_."

Sideswipe's dry tone made me chuckle to myself. I tore my gaze away from him and leaned back on my hands with a sigh. As I released the sigh, I realized my breath could be seen and I cringed slightly. Ratchet was seriously going to murder me for being out here when it was this cold. It honestly wasn't bothering me too much anymore though. My eyes darted back to Sideswipe who shifted closer to me. He moved his legs so I sat between them.

"What are you doing?" I leaned forward and away from him cautiously.

Sideswipe shrugged, "You're cold, and I'm producing extra heat to compensate for the temperature."

"What?" Sideswipe rolled his eyes and grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back so I was leaning against his chest. Though his armor was typically cool, it was warm right now making me smile. " _Oh_. That's nice."

"I'm _very_ nice." Sideswipe replied brightly as I crossed my arms and pressed my entire weight against his chest. It was silent for about a minute before I felt Sideswipe's fingers poking at my shoulder. "I like these."

My eyes narrowed as I turned my head to glance at him out of the corner of my eye, "Like what?"

"These tiny dots. I like them." Sideswipe said sincerely, "Google calls them freckles." My eyes softened as I realized what he was talking about. There were dark brown freckles scattered along my shoulder, back, and down my arms. They weren't super noticeable unless you were close enough. "Were you created with them?"

"I think one or two I was born with, but most of them I got when I was little." I replied and shook my head. My gaze focused back on the room ahead of me rather than trying to catch the red mech in my sights. "When I was younger, I played softball every summer and the uniform was a sleeveless racer back. That's where I got most of them. Even now when the weather gets warm I rarely wear sleeves." I chuckled, "I should wear sunscreen, but I'm always too lazy to apply it."

"Hmm." Sideswipe hummed to show that he had heard me, but his attention was still on my freckles. One of his fingers dragged across my right shoulder to and from each freckle as if he were connecting the dots. His finger stopped at the back of my arm right above my elbow, "You have eight on this side."

"Really?" I glanced at my right shoulder and tried to count them myself. "I didn't think I had _that_ many. What about my left side?"

Sideswipe switched hands and began to drag his fingers across the freckles on my left side as I mentally counted what I could. He beat me and chirped, "Seven."

"Huh." I shivered and leaned back against Sideswipe to try and absorb as much heat from him as I could. "What about you? Do Cybertronians have freckles?"

"No freckles." Sideswipe snickered in response, "We have something sort of similar though. Certain mechs and femmes get them when they're created. They're called spark spatter."

I pulled away from the warmth of his chest so I could turn around where I was and face him. Sideswipe pressed his knees against my arms so I stayed warm, "Spark spatter?"

"I know you don't like talking about how we're born, but I'm going to tell you anyways." Sideswipe grinned and I rolled my eyes in response. He was lucky I was too curious to care at the moment. "You know about the Well of Allsparks, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it's where sparks are…created?"

"Right." Sideswipe said encouragingly, "Sparks are created there, but at that point they're still not able to survive on their own. A carrier, your equivalent of a mother I suppose, takes the spark and keeps it beside their own spark in an incubation hold for it to develop completely. Most femmes are built with the incubation hold early on, but anyone could get one with the right operation. Most mechs these days don't have them though because to have one your spark has to be in the dead center of your chest and in war it just isn't good strategy to keep your spark there." Sideswipe, despite his protests, explained things very well and his voice, which was smooth and less hoarse than his brother's, was easy to listen to. "Some femmes have had their incubation hold removed for the time being so they could relocate their spark."

"Huh." I commented, "So when does the protoform form then?"

Sideswipe answered, "When a spark is finished developing in the incubation hold, the spark is removed and set into their spark casing. The spark begins to build the protoform around it and when the protoform is completely done they're known as a sparkling." He tilted his head and hummed to himself, "They're probably around the size of Peter at that point."

"The size of Peter?" I laughed, "That's your newborn size?"

"We get pretty big, babe." Sideswipe smirked, "It always differs of course. Sunny and I were small sparklings."

"How come?"

"We're twins, so that meant our carrier kept both Sunny and I in her incubation hold. The two of us had less room to grow so our sparks ended up being a bit smaller than average. It's one of those facts of being a twin."

"Ok." I said slowly, "I guess that makes sense. So how do you get spark spatter then?"

Sideswipe chuckled, "Well, typically a newly created spark will linger in the well for a breem before rising up and being accepted by a carrier. The longer a spark lingers in the well then the longer they're exposed to the Allspark. It leaves an imprint on their spark like a scar. It isn't dangerous to the spark, but once the spark begins to grow its protoform the imprint shows as spark spatter."

"So you and Sunstreaker stayed in the well longer than average?"

"We were in the Well for around six breems." Sideswipe nodded, "It's because we started as one spark, but then we split. The split took a couple breems and then our sparks lingered in the well to get adjusted to the change."

"Oh. Well, does it look like freckles? Like mine?" I questioned.

Sideswipe shook his head, "No, not exactly. It looks like our protoform was…bleached, sort of. It's lighter in those areas. We can't get rid of it either. Even if the parts of us where the spatter is located gets ripped off, and mind you it has multiple times, the protoform regrows to it's original state and the original state includes that spatter pattern." My mind drifted to the lighter spot I saw at the back of Sunstreaker's neck when I opened his neck plate earlier today.

"Can I see your spark spatter?" I asked suddenly. Sideswipe's eyes widened slightly and he didn't answer immediately. The garage door opened and we both glanced over to see Sunstreaker standing in the doorway with a bottle of water. He crossed the room and handed to me. "For me?"

"Well, I don't need it." Sunstreaker replied gruffly. I gave him a quick smile before taking the bottle and beginning to drink some of the ice-cold water. Sunstreaker sat down by his brother and Sideswipe lowered his left leg in response so I could see the yellow mech's holoform. He cleared his throat, "You don't ask to see someone's spark spatter."

My eyes widened and I lowered the bottle away from my lips, "Why?"

"It's rude." Sunstreaker said bluntly.

"Sunny." Sideswipe said quickly before he rested his hand on the back of his neck sheepishly, "You see, there is no shame in showing protoform, it's not like you humans and being naked, but it puts us in a very vulnerable position."

I rubbed the back of my neck, "Oh, sorry. I wasn't trying to make y'all uncomfortable. Sometimes I get carried away with my curiosity." I could feel my cheeks heat up in shame as I apologized. Of course I couldn't just ask to see their spark spatter. It had been a long time since I threw all caution to the wind and let my curiosity take lead, but I definitely learned my lesson here.

Sideswipe shook his head suddenly, "No, don't apologize I- It just-" He glanced at Sunstreaker who sighed in irritation before he turned back to me with a grin, "Hang on." The red mech held his left arm out toward me and began to toy with the armor in certain places. I couldn't see any outward latches, but he was somehow able to disassemble his arm plates. He lifted his gaze up from his arm to me, "Just don't laugh, ok?"

"Why would I laugh?" I questioned with narrowed eyes.

Sideswipe paused and opened his mouth, but he looked like he didn't know what to say. Sunstreaker sighed and spoke up, but he kept his gaze away from me, "A little spark spatter looks alright, but a lot is ugly. It's imperfect."

"We have a _lot_." Sideswipe said sheepishly, "I wasn't thinking when I said not to laugh. I forgot ours would be the first you'd see."

"Show me." I nodded with confidence.

Sideswipe glanced over his shoulder at the closed door once before he pulled the armor around his forearm off. My eyes widened at the light gray designs decorating his dark gunmetal gray arm. I couldn't see his biceps area or his hand and wrist, but it looked like it traveled into those parts as well. I lifted my hand to touch his arm, but hesitated and shot the red mech a glance. He nodded with a firm smile and I pressed my fingers against his protoform. The light gray design didn't feel any different from the rest of his protoform. I suddenly recognized the designs and my eyes shot over to Sunstreaker's right arm. My eyes widened again and Sunstreaker let out a small sigh before lifting his holoform's right arm and holding it up next to Sideswipe's.

"It matches." I chuckled in amazement, "They _match_."

"Our carrier used to say that after we split, the allspark was between us which is why I have the spark spatter on my left side and Sunny has it on his right." Sideswipe smiled at me.

"Don't call me that." Sunstreaker muttered softly. He kept his arm held up, but he was staring at the garage door.

I shook my head, "Side? So it's not just your arm?"

Sideswipe replied by pulling his arm away from my hand and reaching over to pull up Sunstreaker's holoform's shirt. I forced myself to ignore the holoform's very toned abdomen to look at the tattoo design that traveled down his right side and disappeared into his pants. Sunstreaker shoved Sideswipe's arm away and pulled his shirt down. Sideswipe chuckled, "It fades just below our hip."

"That's amazing." I laughed, "How could anybody hate that?"

"Every species has a standard for beauty." Sideswipe shrugged and began to put his armor back into place, "The Cybertronian standard doesn't include spark spatter."

I shook my head, "Why does it make that pattern? The swirls and dots and sharp lines kind of repeat if you follow it up your arm."

"It's a pulse." Sunstreaker replied quickly as he reached over and hooked a clip that Sideswipe hadn't gotten to yet, "Pulses are patterns."

"The pulse of the Allspark?" I questioned. Sideswipe nodded. I chuckled, "So, it's like you guys have the heartbeat of your planet etched onto your skin- _er_ , protoform. That's really cool."

Sideswipe's small smile stretched out, "Yeah. I guess so." He turned to look at his brother. Sunstreaker's expression had softened slightly, but his walls went right back up as Sideswipe nudged him with his huge elbow.

"Come on." Sunstreaker stood up and offered me a hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet, "It's too cold for you in here."

"Yeah." I rubbed my arm with my hand, "Josh and Granny'll probably bring the kids back soon too."

I bent over to pick up the water bottle, grabbed my phone where I had set it earlier, and then rushed into the warmth of the house.

* * *

 

"We're obviously not going to get anymore training done today." Sunstreaker replied before walking out of the garage. He shut the door behind him and headed toward the kitchen. As he walked he rolled his human like shoulders and scrunched his face up in frustration. There was a very good reason why Sunstreaker never used this stupid programming. It was absolutely pointless. Why would he ever want to pretend to be a human?

Admittedly, it was a bit useful over the past forty minutes or so. He wouldn't have been able to spar with Aj in his true form and that had been entertaining. The organic femme wasn't too bad of a fighter. She was nowhere close to the level of him, his brother, or any other Autobot truthfully, but for a human she was good. He had no doubt she'd be able to hold her own against other humans.

He felt his chest hum in pleasure as Sideswipe sat in the garage with Aj. He could tell the feeling came from his brother being amused, but he couldn't tell exactly what Sideswipe was doing. They could communicate, but some things were a tad bit muted while he was in this form.

Sunstreaker walked over to the fridge and pulled it open. He had seen the femme pull out plastic bottles of H2O from here before. Why she didn't grab one earlier and bring it with her to the garage was lost on him. She should've known that she was going to need it.

He grabbed a bottle and slammed the fridge shut. That's when he noticed the two mechs standing in the kitchen doorway glaring at him. Sideswipe's elated mood was effecting Sunstreaker still, so instead of replying to the glare with one of his own he smirked, "Can I help you mechs?"

"Ya thirsty, Sunny?" Jazz questioned with a frown.

"Don't call me that." Sunstreaker snapped. Honestly, it was like no one knew how to use his entire designation. Was it that fragging hard?

Ratchet scoffed, "Where is that glitching femme?"

Sunstreaker leaned against the fridge, "I think you both know the answer to that question."

"You stupid, slagging pit spawn." Ratchet snapped, "You just fragging let her go out into the cold to practice fighting?"

"She's like you in the sense that she doesn't ever take no for an answer." Sunstreaker replied.

' _Have you seen her freckles, Sunny?'_ Sideswipe suddenly asked over the bond, ' _They're so cute_.'

Sunstreaker's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. Freckles? She had freckles? And had his twin seriously just used the word cute? Admittedly, the word cute floated across his processor briefly when he saw how the femme's face lite up as she began to ask questions upon questions, but that didn't mean he'd use the word in an actual sentence. Jazz spoke up and regained Sunstreaker's attention, "She could get hurt or sick out there."

The mech stuck in holoform scoffed, "I get it. She's a fragile human, but you don't have to act like she'll fall apart if looked at the wrong way. She's tougher than that."

"It doesn't matter if she's tough or not." Ratchet yelled, "She has no self preservation!"

Sunstreaker rolled his optics and ignored the glare Ratchet threw at him, "Sideswipe and I are keeping an eye on her. If she pushes herself to far we'd stop her."

"You two? Is that why you asked me for my fragging permission to be her unofficial guardians today?" Ratchet questioned, "I swear to Primus, if you two slagging morons are just using her to keep yourself from boredom I'll reformat you fragging idiots-"

Sunstreaker knelt down so he was closer to the two mechs. He kept his serious gaze on Ratchet, "It isn't about that, Ratchet." Ratchet's optics softened slightly. If Sideswipe were the one speaking then Ratchet would probably argue more, but Sunstreaker understood that Ratchet knew when he was being serious or not. "We were correcting her fighting forms. We showed her what to do if a Cybertronian our size attacked her. I just stopped to get her some water."

Ratchet paused in thought, "Did you point out our wiring system?" Sunstreaker nodded. The medic scoffed to himself, "Don't let her stay out there too much longer. It's cold out and I doubt she wore the correct protective gear."

"Fine." Sunstreaker replied. Ratchet turned on his heel and left the area, but Jazz remained where he was with a firm look focused on Sunstreaker's holoform's features. "What, Jazz?"

"You're encouragin' 'er." Jazz snapped, "She needs to _stop_ fightin' not learn how to do it better."

Sunstreaker narrowed his optics at the mech, "Should I have not shown her how to defend herself against one of us?"

"It was pointless 'cause I don' plan on havin' the 'cons anywhere near 'er once they go through the upgrade." Jazz replied, "Do ya want 'er to fight 'em?"

"Frag no! But I want her to know how to defend herself in case Sides and I aren't around."

Jazz shook his helm, "Ah get it, Sunstreaker. Ya wanna help 'er, but this is the exact _opposite_ of helpin' 'er."

"Is it?"

"Yes it is! Fightin' is gonna get 'er offlined! She has to stop!"

Sunstreaker let out a cold laugh and shook his helm, "None of you mechs seem to get it. You can't _force_ her to stop fighting."

"Sunstreaker-"

"If someone had tried to stop Sides and I from fighting in the rings back then do you know what we would've done to them?" Sunstreaker questioned, "We would've _ripped_ their sparks out of their chassis."

Jazz pressed his lips together briefly, "Your point?"

"She has to make the decision to stop fighting herself." Sunstreaker said firmly and stood back up, "I'm just making sure she knows how to protect herself until that day comes."

Jazz was silent for a moment, and Sunstreaker took that to meant that he had won this argument. The pause lasted another couple nano-kliks before the saboteur shook his helm. His reply came out in Cybertronian, " _I changed mah mind. I don't care what Ratch says. If he ain't around, I'm 'er temporary guardian."_

"We'll see." Sunstreaker replied in English. His holoform wasn't able to make the sounds necessary to speak Cybertronian. He turned around and headed back to the garage with the bottle of water in hand. The argument should have probably put him on edge or at least made him angry, but the pleasant humming in his chest kept him in a relatively good mood. When he opened the garage door both his brother's wide optic stare slid to him along with Aj's gaze. She sat in between his legs with a small smile on her lips. Her optics were wide and bright with excitement and her face was flush from the exercise and cold air.

Jazz had been right about one thing. There was no way in pit a single decepticon was going to get close enough to Aj to hurt her. Sunstreaker would offline a mech for looking at her the wrong way.

* * *

 

"Josh is here!" I yelled out as I ran a hand through my damp hair. The police cruiser was pulling up the driveway and I could sort of see the kids sitting in the backseat. I pulled the jacket around me closer and prepared to go out into the cold. It'd only be worse now because of my wet hair. "Stay upstairs and out of sight!"

"Roger that!" Skywarp cackled and then flew past me into the kitchen.

"You can't say _'roger that_ ' and then ignore my order." I replied while throwing my hands up in frustration. Rather than chase after the mech, I turned and left out the front door. The cold air bit at my cheeks and I blew out a breath in response.

"Aj!" Taylor rushed out of the car as Granny opened the door, "Sheriff Thompson let me get _sprinkles_! Lots and lots of sprinkles!"

"Oh yeah?" I chuckled and returned the hug that she gave me. Peter and Tyler got out of the car as well, but they were still in the middle of a conversation with Josh who was shutting his own door. "How'd the statement taking go?"

Granny nodded, "It went just fine. Joshua got exactly what he needed." The older woman leaned forward then, "Also, if Joshua mentions anythin' 'bout the supposed military men, I'd like to point out that I _may_ have panicked some."

"What do you mean you panicked?" I whispered back in alarm.

"Aimee." Josh came over and I forced a smile on my lips. He held up a waffle cone with a scoop of ice cream on top, "Chocolate chip still your favorite?"

I chuckled in surprise, "You remembered my favorite ice cream flavor?"

"I lost a bet in the beginning of senior year and I had to buy you chocolate chip ice cream every week for three months." Josh replied with a laugh, "You don't forget something like that."

I took the ice cream from him happily. Yes it was cold outside, but like hell I was going to turn down free ice cream. Quickly I licked the side that was starting to drip onto the cone.

"So, those four guys home still?"

My shoulders tensed as I pulled the cone away from my face, "What?"

"Your four army buddies." Josh nodded toward the house, "Granny told me more about them. Jace, Scott, Steven, and Theodore, right? I was kind of hoping to meet 'em."

I quickly nodded my head, "Right. Yeah. Them. You want to meet them?"

"Yeah." Josh replied and crossed his arms, "I can be paranoid too, Aimee."

Granny laughed, but it was awkward and tense, "Such a good boy. Making sure they're safe in the house. How about we just go and maybe later-"

"Yeah, ok." I cut Granny off. The kids eyes all widened at me. "Lemme just run in and see if they're done with that, um, conference call to their boss."

Josh nodded, "Sure."

I gave him another smile before turning around and heading for the door. As I got to the porch I ate some more ice cream from the cone. This wouldn't be too big of a deal. I had fake human Sunstreaker to help me out now.

"Are we just gonna stand inside for a bit and then pretend like they're all busy?" Granny whispered as she sped walk beside me. I opened the door and the two of us went in.

"What is up with those names?" I questioned.

Granny sighed, "I told you I panicked. Jace is Jazz, obviously. Scott and Steven, I was thinking of the twins."

"Theodore?" I said the name with a confused tone.

"Thundercracker, of course." Granny defended her choice. I rolled my eyes and jogged up the steps. Granny followed behind me. Optimus and Prowl stepped out of the office and greeted Granny who shot a quick reply back. Her attention turned back to me, "What are you doin', Aimee Jane?"

"I'm looking for Sunstreaker." I mumbled under my breath as Sideswipe stepped out of the medbay.

"Oh, Rosie, hey." Sideswipe waved.

Her eyes were wide, "You grew already?"

Sideswipe nodded, "Yup. You looking for Sunny, babe?"

The red mech motioned into the medbay behind him. I walked past him and nearly dropped my ice cream cone when I spotted Sunstreaker's holoform standing in the center of the room. I hadn't seen him since our workout, but now he was no longer dressed in the plain shirt and sweats. He wore a pair of nice jeans with dress shoes, and an expensive looking navy blue sweater over a white button up shirt. His hair had been styled suddenly so instead of being messily pushed out of his face it was combed off to the side neatly but still maintained its volume. He was in the middle of adjusting a watch around his wrist when he looked up at me with a bored expression.

"What?"

I opened my mouth but just ended up shaking my head. Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me from his desk, and Wheeljack who was standing over by Sunstreaker's actual body, which was still in his alt mode, clapped his hands once, "We got that one outfit programmed now. If you have any others, just let Ratchet or I-"

"I don't have the time or patience to input outfits into his fragging holoform programming." Ratchet snapped.

"-so just let _me_ know, and I'll get it in for you." Wheeljack finished with a thumbs up. Sunstreaker nodded once, but he was still staring at me. Sunstreaker cleaned up nice for an alien species. He looked so pleasantly put together. I glanced down at my own outfit of torn jeans, my Ratchet shirt that I got for Christmas from the kids, and my old, light brown leather jacket. Still rocking that hobo trash look apparently.

Granny came in behind me, the last words of her conversation with whoever was in the hall echoing behind her. Her eyes landed on Sunstreaker and she shook her head, "Who are you? Aimee Jane, who is this?"

I cleared my throat, "Granny, meet our Steven."

"Steven?" Granny cried.

Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at me, "Who the frag is Steven?"

There was an awkward pause before Granny whipped her head to glare at me. She lifted her finger in my direction, "What did you do?"

"Why do you automatically assume it's my fault?"

"This is Sunstreaker's holoform, Rosie." Ratchet spoke up with sigh, "I can't believe we have to go through all this again."

I shook my head, "We don't have time to go through it all right now. Sunstreaker, I need your help."

"With what?"

"I need you to meet Josh." I smiled sheepishly. It took a minute to convince all the mechs in the immediate area that this was in fact a good idea and no I haven't lost my mind. It took a whole other minute to explain to Sunstreaker that his name was Steven and he was in the Army, but was staying here with some of his friends helping me take care of the kids.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Granny pressed as the three of us came down the stairs.

"Not really, but it's worth a shot, right?" I chuckled nervously. As we reached the foyer, I peeled off into the kitchen and set my ice cream cone face down into a bowl so I could come back to it later. Then I jogged out the front door to catch up with Sunstreaker and Granny.

The kids looked startled to see the stranger come waltzing out of our house, but thankfully they didn't question it and remained quiet. Josh glanced from Sunstreaker to Granny and then to me. I hooked my arm through Sunstreaker's left arm and pulled him forward a step, "Josh this is Steven. We call him Stevie."

"Don't call me that." Sunstreaker replied in a bored tone.

I grinned, "We call him Steven."

Josh nodded and held out his hand to shake, "It's nice to meet you."

"Same." Sunstreaker replied and reached out with his right hand to shake hands with Josh.

"To be honest, I didn't really know what to expect when Aimee said she had a bunch of military guys living with her and the kids." Josh smiled, "I got to say, you don't really look like an Army guy."

My face paled slightly. Josh had a very good point. Sunstreaker's holoform's hair was too long on top to be a military cut for one. As I began to sweat bullets I heard a laugh of all things. For a moment, I thought I was just having an aneurysm, but then I realized it was Sunstreaker who was chuckling with a slight smile on his features. He nodded his head, "I get that a lot. We all do. We're part of special division that requires us to blend in on certain missions. So we grow out our hair and stuff. We got a couple guys back home with full beards."

Josh chuckled, "Got it." I was still staring at Sunstreaker in total shock to realize that Josh had turned his attention back to me. Granny was just as startled as I was though. Josh cleared his throat and my eyes snapped over to him, "Are the two of you…?"

Before I could even comprehend the question enough to answer Granny shouted, " _Oh heavens no_!" Sunstreaker and I both took a step back as Granny sidestepped in front of us. I had my eyes narrowed in confusion at the older woman while Sunstreaker lifted an eyebrow at her actions. "They are _not_ an item, Joshua. Aimee Jane is _completely_ single, and she's ready to mingle if you know what I mean."

Granny winked at Josh and I shook my head in disbelief, "Oh my God. You did not just say that, Granny."

"There is no shame in being single, Aimee Jane." Granny shook her head and turned back to Josh with a casual wave, "She's too shy to admit that she's in the market and looking for a man."

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment and I glanced over at Sunstreaker who was staring at my face. I yanked my arm away from him to cross them across my chest. Josh chuckled to himself and gave him a smile, "I don't think I'd ever use the word shy to describe, Bradshaw."

Taylor chose this moment to butt into the conversation, "Wait, Aj isn't looking for a man!" I mentally prayed that Taylor wouldn't finish that sentence, but my prayers went unanswered. "She's getting married!"

Josh's eyes widened in surprise, but his lips stretched up into an amused grin, "Married?"

"Taylor, sweetie, Aimee Jane and Jace aren't actually going to-"

"Yes they are! He gave her a ring! We just need a judge!"

The little girl and the old woman began to argue about my love life in front of a chuckling Josh and an amused Sunstreaker. I, on the other hand, was hoping the ground would open up beneath my feet and just swallow me whole. I sighed and glanced over at Tyler and Peter who were quietly speaking to each other. A second passed before they looked at me, gave me a quick smile, and then the two of them jogged up to the porch to head inside. At least they had the right idea.

"Ok!" I yelled loudly, ending the argument and pulling all eyes onto me, "Hey Steven. How about you take Granny and Taylor inside, hmm?" My eyes locked onto his pleadingly, "Please?"

"Sure thing." Sunstreaker replied smoothly. He looked over at Josh, "It was nice to meet you, man."

Josh nodded with a smile as I gave Sunstreaker one last confused look. He had a small smile on his face that wasn't like his smirk and was very different from his typical glare or look of boredom. It suited him though. The small smile looked a bit better than the glowering glare. He took Taylor by the hand and all three of them headed to the house. I slowly turned back around to look at Josh who was smirking at me. "So, thanks for the uh…the ice cream."

"My pleasure, Bradshaw." Josh chuckled, "Steven doesn't seem too bad. Can I get his middle and last name for a background check?"

"Charming." I replied in a dry tone.

He grinned, "I'm joking." There was a pause before he rubbed the back of his head, "So when I was talking to Aubrey, she mentioned you were dating one of these guys?"

"When did you talk to her?" I asked.

"About an hour after I left here the first time." Josh shrugged, "So which one is it and why is Granny trying to dump you off on the nearest single guy?"

I groaned and rubbed my face with my hands, "Granny is…well, she's Granny. Honestly, it's… It's just really complicated."

"I've noticed that most things dealing with you are." Josh replied.

"Aubrey thinks we are dating, Jace and I, so can you just not mention otherwise?" I pleaded.

Josh nodded, "You're secret is safe with me, but I'm pretty sure Taylor is already planning your wedding."

"Trust me, I've noticed."

"I've got to work all day tomorrow, but I'll call you after we bring Nicholas in."

"Thanks. Do you need my-"

Josh shook his head, "Nope. Granny gave me your number and told me you were free all week. All day, everyday."

"That old woman is going to be the death of me." I said slowly. "Thanks again though, Charming. You're a life saver."

He backpedaled toward his car, but paused, "Oh hey, Taylor wants to check out this new art store that opened downtown. We passed it on the way back here."

"Text me the address." I nodded, "I can take her tomorrow."

Josh nodded and gave me a quick wave before getting into his car. I returned the wave and then headed back inside. When I stepped into the foyer I noticed Sunstreaker leaning against the kitchen doorway glaring at Megatron, Starscream, and Barricade who stood in the living room doorway. The three decepticons slunk away when I arrived, but Sunstreaker stayed where he was.

"Everything ok?"

"Everything is fine." He replied grumpily. It seemed the normal Sunstreaker was back. "The younglings and Rosie are upstairs having holoforms explained to them."

I nodded, "Good." There was a pause of silence as I stepped into the kitchen. Before going into the room any further I stopped and turned to look at Sunstreaker who was still staring at me, "What was that? Out there? It was like you were another person completely."

"He needed to trust me, I got him to trust me." Sunstreaker replied with a shrug. He shifted his body so he was facing me completely. A smirk grew on his lips as he adjusted the sleeves of his sweater, "I know how to play nice, organic."

Sunstreaker tilted his head at me slightly before chuckling to himself and heading upstairs. I took a deep breath and went to fetch my quickly melting ice cream.

The bowl of ice cream was essentially chocolate chip soup now, but beggars can't be choosers. I grabbed a spoon from the drawer of cutlery and dug in. About four bites into my melted dessert my cell phone began to ring again. I licked the spoon clean, set it into the bowl, and pulled out my phone. Aubrey's number was flashing across the screen. I answered it quickly.

"Hey, sorry I missed your call earlier I was-"

"Aimee." Aubrey snapped making my words fall away. She sounded distressed as her voice wavered. A spike of fear shot up my spine as my eyes widened. Before I could say anything she spoke again, "Did you lie to me?"

I opened my mouth uselessly as my fear was replaced by confusion, "What?"

"You heard me."

"Lie to you? Why would I lie to you?" I questioned in panic.

"You told me Tyler fell off his bike, Aimee!" Aubrey snapped and my face paled in realization. "Yet, today I get a call from Josh reassuring me that the man who hurt my son is going to be arrested soon?"

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Frag. I had totally forgotten that I told Aubrey that Tyler had gotten his injury from falling off his bike. Did she tell Josh I had lied to her? He didn't seem to act like anything was wrong. "What did you tell him?"

"That's what you ask me?" Aubrey scoffed, " _Aimee_!"

"I'm just curious."

"And I'm curious as to why you lied to me about my son!"

"Aubs, I-"

"I asked him what all he was being charged for. We hung up soon after that." Aubrey replied quickly, "I didn't tell him that you blatantly lied to me and let a crazed man throw a flash bang at my-"

My voice hardened, "Let? _Let_? You think I _let_ Nicholas do it?"

"You _shouldn't_ have kept this from me."

"You're-" I shouted, but then glanced at the empty doorway and lowered my voice, "You're _sick_ , Aubrey. The last thing you need is added stress and what good would it do you to know-"

"I _deserve_ to know! I'm his _mother_!"

"I had it under control! Whether you knew or not wouldn't have changed a thing. There was nothing you could do."

"But I deserved to know." Aubrey said and her voice wavered again. It was at that moment I could tell she went from angry to just sad. "Someone attacked my babies, Aimee. Someone hurt my Tyler."

I sighed and leaned my back against the counter, "Aubs, I'm sorry. You're right. You deserved to know, but I just…"

"You were trying to protect me." Aubrey said softly. There was a pause over the phone where neither of us spoke. I slowly lowered myself until I was sitting on the kitchen floor with my legs outstretched in front of me. "Please don't keep secrets from me, Aimee."

"Aubrey-"

"I know I'm in no position to ask you for anything, but please…no secrets. I want to know what's happening there. I want to be in the loop." Aubrey explained, "So please?"

No secrets? I was pretty sure there were more secrets than truths between us. I wasn't really in medical school. I was still fighting. I let aliens babysit her kids when I couldn't. As much as I wished that I could tell her everything, the fact of the matter was that I couldn't. She might think she wants the truth, but the truth would only hurt her. It'd only make her worry more.

"You got it, Aubs." I lied, "No more secrets."

* * *

 

Jazz leaned against the doorway to the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chassis. The sun had set beyond the horizon line and the younglings were getting ready for bed upstairs. His optics drifted over to the staircase to see Rosie and Aj walking down.

Rosie was laughing to herself, "I'll tell you this, if I was still a drinkin' woman I'd drive straight to the bar."

"I _am_ a drinking woman and I plan to get _shit-faced_ once you leave and the kids are asleep." Aj replied with a smirk.

Rosie stopped in the middle of the staircase to turn around and whack a laughing Aj multiple times on the arm. Jazz's lips twitched in the corners as a chuckle built up in his throat. Rosie shook her head, "You're horrible."

"You love me."

"Most days." Rosie scoffed and got down to the foyer. "I'm glad the mechs are growin' though. It makes me feel comfortable knowing they're here and capable of protectin' y'all."

Aj scoffed, "You feel comfortable that we're staying with aliens that could kill us with a flick of their wrist?"

"They _won't_ hurt you." Rosie waved off her concern.

"Have you met that red eyed devil named Barricade?" Aj questioned as she crossed her arms.

Rosie rolled her eyes, "You'll be fine. Optimus Prime won't let any of you get hurt."

"Right, I'm just worrying for no reason."

"You always do." Rosie shrugged and began to pull her jacket on. She smiled, "Isn't it nice though? Now you'll have people to reach the top of the shelves for you. No more climbin' on counters like a wild animal."

Aj scoffed, "I'll have you know I don't climb the counters like an animal. I do it with grace, style, and poise."

Rosie rolled her eyes again, "I'm leavin'. I'll come over in the morning to watch Tyler and Peter while you take Taylor to the store." The older femme turned to look at him, "Good night, Jazz."

"Night, Rosie." Jazz replied with a tilt of his helm, "Careful drivin' home."

Rosie left out the front door and Aj shook her head, "I can't believe it's only 8:30."

"Long day?" Jazz asked with a smile.

Aj snorted, "It feels like this day would never end. First, Sunstreaker grows then I find out Nicholas the dickhead is still a dickhead, then holoforms make an appearance. _God_ , I need a strong drink."

"You're all out of your high-grade." Jazz smirked.

"Don't remind me." Aj mumbled. Her optics narrowed in thought, "I need to buy more, but I also need to buy more coffee. It's just my luck that you guys need tons more coffee at the same time that I can't use the card Aubrey gave me."

Jazz nodded his helm and pushed off the wall, "It's been a long day. You should head to bed. Get a good recharge."

"Yeah, I guess. Is Sunstreaker down here?" Aj glanced around, "If you see him tell him he can rest his holoform on the couch."

"Roger that. Night, sweetspark." Jazz smiled. Aj gave him a quick wave before heading back upstairs. Jazz remained where he was and watched as she disappeared from view. Technically, holoforms didn't need sleep, but they could enter a low power mode that resembled a resting human.

A human hour passed before Jazz caught sight of Sunstreaker's holoform. The mech was slowly walking down the stairs. Upstairs, the lights were out and the humans were in recharge. Optimus and Grimlock were in the office, Bluestreak and Bumblebee were with the twins, Prowl was with Peter, Ratchet and Wheeljack were in the Medbay where Aj was in recharge, and Sideswipe was in his alt mode recharging somewhere upstairs. Jazz knew where everyone was. He even knew that the Decepticons were having a late night meeting in their make shift base.

"Sunstreaker." Jazz spoke up.

"I already know." He replied and reached the foyer, "I'm on the couch."

"Not what I was gonna say." Jazz smirked, "I need ya help."

Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at him, "Why the frag would I help you?"

Jazz could tell the mech was still a bit miffed by the conversations they had today, but he knew once Sunstreaker learned what Jazz needed help with the mech would comply. The saboteur chuckled, "We're gonna go visit a friend of ours."

Ten kliks later, Sunstreaker's holoform was pounding his servo against a wooden door as Jazz sat on his shoulder. The impatient mech scoffed, "Why can't I just break this door down?"

"'Cause we leave no evidence we were ever here, Sunny."

"Don't fragging call me that." He growled and slammed his servo against the door a couple more times. Another klik passed before the door swung open with an irritated looking human standing in the doorway. His narrowed eyes widened as they landed on Jazz who only smirked in response. Sunstreaker's own features stretched out into a cold smile.

"Hey there, Nicholas." Jazz hummed, "Mind if we come in?"

"You- You- You-" Nicholas stuttered.

Sunstreaker shoved the human into the house and then stepped in himself. He slammed the door behind him shut and the human male flinched at the noise. Jazz's optics took in his surroundings and he let out a low whistle at all the familiar faces that were frozen as toys. It was downright creepy.

"Who are you?" Nicholas finally managed to get out. His optics were trained on Sunstreaker's holoform who had been sneering at a large poster of him and his brother in the gladiatorial ring.

Sunstreaker grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him into the living room where he threw him onto the couch, "I'm the mech that's going to rip your helm off if you make one wrong move."

Obviously, Sunstreaker wasn't allowed to do that. Jazz had only got permission from Optimus and Prowl to do this because he promised that neither him nor Sunstreaker would leave a mark on the human. Jazz never promised that he'd stop Sunstreaker from scaring the human for life though.

"You can't be in here!" Nicholas said quickly, "This is against human laws! I'll- I'll call the cops!"

Jazz chuckled and hopped down from Sunstreaker's shoulder to land on the arm of the couch, "Oh, but you already did, didn't ya?"

Nicholas' optics widened. He bit his lip and shook his head, "That chick- She _hurt_ me! Look at my nose!" His nasal plate area was severely bruised and Jazz would assume it had been broken badly.

"She should've done worse." Sunstreaker snapped.

"That chick is fucking insane-"

Sunstreaker let out a low growl as he grabbed the human by the shirt again. Nicholas began to bawl and plead for them not to hurt him. Sunstreaker scoffed and threw him back with a shake of his head.

"We're not gonna hurt ya." Jazz said with a smile, "We just wanna talk."

"T-Talk?"

Jazz nodded, "Yeah. Talk."

"About what?"

"'Bout how tomorrow mornin', you're gonna drive to the police station, drop all charges you tried to put on Aj, and then you're gonna ask Sheriff Joshua Thompson to arrest you for being a dirty, fragging pit spawn." Jazz replied dryly.

Nicholas shook his head, "W-What? No. I-"

"We're not asking." Sunstreaker snapped.

Nicholas paused before straightening in his seat, "What if I say no?"

"You don't listen well do you?" Sunstreaker questioned and leaned forward threatingly. "If you don't do as he says, I'll fragging end your pitiful existence."

Jazz grinned as his optics darted around the room, "Oh, and there are a few more things I'm gonna need from you, buddy."

* * *

 

"Give it to me, Grimlock." I said through gritted teeth. The dinobot just glared at me in response and held my cellphone between his sharp, metal teeth. "Grimlock, I'm expecting a call. Give me my phone." He didn't move a metal muscle. I reached forward slightly and he took a step back.

The morning light was streaming into the room from the windows behind me as I knelt down in the middle of the office facing Grimlock who stood a few feet in front of the door.

"Grimlock, please?" I said in a last ditch effort, but even the magic word didn't work on him.

A second or two later, Wheeljack walked into the room and his fins lit up at the sight of the two of us, "Oh, Grimlock, there you are. Tyler is looking for you downstairs." The dinosaur cut his eyes in the direction of the engineer briefly. Wheeljack continued, "Him and Peter are putting in a movie they want you to see. They called it ' _Jurassic Park'_."

I snorted in response. Luckily, Grimlock took the bait and spat my phone out at me. I lunged forward to grab it in fear that he'd suddenly change his mind. He huffed at me, "You human lucky this time."

Grimlock turned around and stomped out of the office. I sighed to myself and glanced at the phone before looking over at Wheeljack, "Why's he so pissy?"

"He's just upset that he hasn't upgraded yet like the twins." Wheeljack shrugged, "Plus, I believe he still misses the other dinobots. It just sets him on edge a bit."

"Yeah, well, here's to hoping his attitude turns sunshiny once he grows six or seven feet." I mumbled. "Did you happen to see if Taylor was dressed and ready?"

Wheeljack nodded, "I think so yes. She's in the kitchen with Sunstreaker and Bumblebee."

"Good. I should get dressed now-" I was cut off as my phone began to ring. My eyes glanced over at Wheeljack apologetically and he nodded in response. He began to climb up the book staircase to get to the top of the desk as I answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Bradshaw. Good morning." Josh replied.

"So did you get him yet? Did you arrest his slimy little ass and-"

"Whoa, slow down there." Josh replied, "It's only 9 and technically I just got into the office, but… Nicholas is already here."

My eyes widened, "What do you mean he's already there?"

"I showed up this morning and he was already in the middle of being booked." Josh said and I could hear the slight confusion in his voice, "My guys say he showed up around 6 in the morning demanding that all charges against you be dropped and that he should be arrested. They knew I planned on arresting him anyways so they took him in."

"He just showed up asking to be arrested?" I asked in disbelief. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Wheeljack stiffen slightly in his movements.

Josh sighed, "Yeah, listen Aimee… Did you do something to make him do this? I told you to let me handle it."

"I swear to you, Charming." I said sincerely, "I didn't do anything."

Josh paused briefly before making a 'tsk'ing noise with his mouth, "Well, regardless, he's officially taken care of now."

I chuckled slightly, "Thanks, Josh. I gotta get going. Have fun at work."

"Yeah", Josh laughed, "I'll be sure to do that. Bye."

I said one final goodbye before hanging up and turning my gaze to Wheeljack who was facing away from me. He acted like he had no idea I was staring him down, but I could see his tense shoulders. I twisted my lips, "You wanna call your boss man in here or should I?"

"Already done. Optimus is on his way." Wheeljack replied quickly. He turned around to look at me with glowing fins and sheepish eyes.

As promised, Optimus Prime came strolling through the office doors only a moment later. He stopped in his tracks to look at me nonchalantly. I couldn't help but break out in a grin, "You did something didn't you, OP?"

"I'm afraid I do not know what you mean." He replied calmly, but there was a tinge of amusement in his voice.

"I'm talking about Nicholas."

"Ah." Optimus nodded, "Have you heard word from your friend in law enforcement on his status?"

A laugh bubbled from my lips, "He is being booked as we speak. Apparently, an angel on his shoulder or something convinced him to turn himself in before they ever went to get him."

"That is interesting." Optimus nodded.

I stood up and brushed off my pajama pants. As I walked past him to head to my own room, I gave him a quick nod as thanks. The leader nodded his own head and continued toward the desk as I went my own way.

The medbay consisted of only Ratchet at the moment, and he looked up from his datapad as I entered. He let out a grunt as a greeting and returned his eyes to what was in his hands. I hummed to myself as I dug through my clothes to find something to wear. Quickly, I slipped into a pair of dark wash jeans and pulled a large, white knitted sweater over my head. The sweater itself was a bit baggy, but it was thick enough that I wouldn't need to wear a jacket over it.

"Where are you going?" Ratchet questioned.

"I'm taking Taylor to this art store downtown." I replied quickly and ran my hands through my messy hair in an attempt to calm some of the crazier locks, "Josh says she really wanted to go when they passed by it the other day."

Ratchet nodded, "Tyler and Peter will remain here?"

"Yup." I popped the 'p' as I said the word, "Granny should be here in a minute or two to help you guys keep an eye on them." I grabbed my wallet and keys off my nightstand and blew a mock kiss to Ratchet on my way out. The medic rolled his eyes in response and went back to work.

"Why of course you can. Just be safe and don't stay out too long." Granny's voice drifted up the stairs. I glanced down at the foyer in time to see the seekers ad Megatron beginning to step out.

"Wait!" I yelled and rushed down the stairs. All four of them turned around to look at me. Once I reached the foyer, I knelt down to look at them, "Don't cause any trouble out there." My eyes darted to Megatron, "When y'all get back we need to seriously talk."

"You're wasting our precious time, human." Starscream snapped.

Megatron glared at Starscream before smirking at me and taking off. The decepticon was obviously planning something and that stupid smirk made me want to bury him in the backyard before he grew too big. Granny reached out to touch my shoulder as I shut the door, "That sweater looks so cute on you, honey. It brings out your eyes."

"Did you hear about-?"

"Nicholas?" Granny asked, "Yes, I just got off the phone with Joshua."

"Are we leaving now?" Taylor's excited voice questioned. I glanced into the kitchen to see the little girl clinging to Sunstreaker's holoform's arm with Bumblebee sitting on her shoulder. Sunstreaker was wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday and an annoyed look on his features. However, he didn't try to shake off Taylor who had her arms wrapped around his own and her head leaning against him as well. She had chosen her own outfit this morning and it consisted of a long sleeve light green and aqua striped shirt, white leggings, and a skirt that resembled a poufy pink tutu with sequins and feathers to match. The only thing I had added to the ensemble was the gray jacket and pin in her hair to keep her bangs out of her eyes.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm ready to go, are you?"

Taylor nodded, "Sunstreaker is going to go with us! Right, Sunstreaker?"

"Apparently." He replied dryly. My eyebrow rose in question as my eyes darted from the somewhat bored Sunstreaker to the little yellow mech on Taylor's shoulder who was currently glaring daggers at the holoform. Of course, Bumblebee's glare didn't even phase the older mech.

"Why is he going with us?" I questioned.

"Sunstreaker knows _everything_ about art, Aj!" Taylor explained and I could basically see Sunstreaker's ego swell at the words. "He's gonna show me the best stuff. Right?"

Sunstreaker smirked at me, "Obviously Aj is incapable of such a job."

"Hardy har har." I sneered, "Fine. Both of you get to the car."

Taylor detangled herself from Sunstreaker to pull Bumblebee off her shoulder, "I'll see you later, Bee!"

"Be careful, Taylor." Bumblebee replied. The little girl pulled him to her chest and hugged him tightly before setting him down. This had appeased the mech somewhat and he was no longer glaring at Sunstreaker who was halfway to the door. Taylor skipped after the holoform and slipped her hand into his. Bumblebee walked over to the living room where the boys were watching Jurassic Park with a collection of mechs. It was strange to see Sideswipe sitting on the single seat couch with his legs propped up on the coffee table.

I turned to look at Granny, "Do me a favor and keep an eye on Peter, ok?"

"What's wrong?" Granny replied in worry.

"He's just been down in the dumps since I picked him up from school yesterday." I sighed, "I'm gonna swing by Chick-fil-a on my way home and bring them food. Pete likes their fries."

Granny nodded, "I'll keep an eye on him." She dug through her purse suddenly and pulled out a 100-dollar bill. She shoved it into my hand, "Here-"

"What? No." I tried to shove it back into her purse but she slapped the top of my hand. "Granny-"

"Don't you Granny me." She warned, "Save your money for groceries and things of that sort. You told me the card got cancelled so that means we'll be tight for the next couple weeks or so." I tried to argue again, but she shook her head, "Buy Taylor and Sunstreaker something nice."

I sighed, "Thanks."

She gave me a bright smile before ushering me out the door. Sunstreaker and Taylor were standing outside the truck. The mech turned around with a glare, "You never gave us the fragging keys."

"Sorry." I replied quickly and unlocked the car with the clicker. As they got into the vehicle I stuffed the 100-dollar bill into my wallet and then slid into the driver's seat. Sunstreaker was in the passenger seat beside me and Taylor was in the back. "We're gonna get Chick-fil-a for late breakfast, early lunch, is that ok with you, Tay?"

Taylor nodded, "Yeah, can I get a toy with my food?"

"Of course." I replied and threw the truck into drive. The moment we started driving, Taylor started asking questions. It reminded me a whole lot of the very first day I picked her up from school where she basically interviewed me. The only difference was that Sunstreaker wasn't as willing as I was to give answers. Not that that deterred the little girl at all.

"Do you like painting?"

"You know I do, youngling."

"Yeah, but what do you like painting?"

"I-..It depends. That's a stupid question."

"Do you like drawing more or painting more?"

"Painting."

"I like drawing more. How come you didn't bring your metal body?"

"I didn't need to."

"Why?"

"The holoform has a ten mile radius from my body."

"Oh. What's your favorite color?"

"What do you think?"

"Pete says he thinks your favorite color is yellow like you, but you're a painter so I bet your favorite color is something that isn't you."

I chuckled and cut in, "You doubt his vainness, Taylor."

Sunstreaker shot me a glare, but Taylor continued like I hadn't even said anything, "Do you like being human?"

"Pit no."

"What does your brother look like when he's human?"

"Like an idiot."

"What does Soundwave look like?"

"Soundwave doesn't have a holoform."

My eyes widened as I glanced over at Sunstreaker, "He doesn't have one? Why?"

"He's a con." Sunstreaker scoffed, "Holoforms are autobot technology. What? Did you think Hound and Wheeljack sent them a copy of the programming once they finished it?"

I shrugged, "I guess I just didn't think about it."

"I like Hound." Taylor chirped as I turned onto the street the store was located on.

Sunstreaker scoffed, "Hound would like you."

"What do you think-?"

"Do the questions never end?" Sunstreaker asked and turned around in his seat to glare at her. The eyes that had glared other mechs into puddles of fear only made the little girl giggle to herself. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of Sunstreaker's face softening at the giggle.

Taylor looked past the mech to see the store I had parked in front of, "We're here! Look at all the stuff, Sunstreaker!"

I got out of the truck and went around to help Taylor out, but Sunstreaker had beaten me to it. Taylor dragged him to the store's entrance. I shut the door they had come out of and followed after them. The store was clean and spacious with aisles upon aisles of art supplies that I would never know how to use.

"I'll get a basket!" Taylor called and rushed a few feet away to pull a blue shopping basket out of the stack of them.

Sunstreaker glanced around with a neutral look on his face, but his eyes narrowed slightly when they landed on my amused gaze. He scoffed, "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." I shrugged, "I just never knew you liked kids."

"I don't." He snapped defensively.

Taylor came back with a basket in hand. She shoved it into my hands and then grabbed Sunstreaker's own hand, "Let's go, Sunstreaker! Show me the painting stuff!"

The little girl began to pull him toward what looked like the painting aisles, but Sunstreaker wasn't resisting too hard. I followed behind the two of them happily with the basket in my hands. For the next thirty minutes, Sunstreaker ignored my grins and talked only to the little girl with wide eyes. He showed her different art supplies and explained to her which ones would work better and why. Apparently Cybertronian art and human art wasn't so different because he sounded like he knew what he was talking about as he showed her different paintbrushes. Taylor was only six, but she listened to everything he said with bright eyes filled with wonder. They only got more excited when they went over to the drawing aisles and he explained different things dealing with pencils and paper. I was still amazed that they had so many different kinds of pencils to draw with. Wasn't a pencil a pencil? When I voiced that thought I got a glare from Sunstreaker. Even Taylor tried to glare at me, but the pout of her lips only made me snicker.

"Granny gave me money to buy some stuff." I explained to Taylor, "So pick out some materials and remember to thank her when we get home."

Taylor looked to Sunstreaker who nodded, "Go pick out a sketchbook and pencils. Let's see how you do."

The little girl began to look through all the stuff again as we stood at the head of the aisle. I chuckled, "You know she's six, right?"

"You can never start too young." Sunstreaker replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.

I shrugged, "All I'm saying is that at six I was still using Crayola crayons."

"Maybe that's why you're so fragging bad at drawing." He said offhandedly.

There was a pause before I smirked and bumped my hip into his. He seemed startled by the motion based on his tense shoulders, but my smile seemed to make him relax some, "You had something to do with Nicholas, didn't you?"

"What gave you that idea?" He scoffed.

"Well, there are only two mechs in the house big enough to go walking down the street to Nicholas' house and only one of them can not look like a giant metal robot." I replied.

He shifted in his stance slightly, "What's your point?"

"I'm saying thank you, Sunstreaker." I said softly, "That's my point."

His eyes darted back over to me and an unrecognizable look crossed his features. At that moment, Taylor came bouncing back with supplies in hand. Sunstreaker glanced over them, approved it, and then set it into the basket. He took the basket out of my hands and began going down the aisle grabbing other things he thought the little girl could use.

Ten minutes later the basket was filled with drawing materials. I glanced at Sunstreaker, "Now what about you?"

"What about me?" He questioned.

"Pick out some stuff for you." I shrugged, "Painting materials or something."

Sunstreaker lifted the basket, "All this comes to 88 dollars and 47 cents."

"Are you _fragging_ kidding me? Art is that expensive?" I cried. Sunstreaker gave me ' _duh, you moron_ ' look and Taylor tried to copy the look with her own features. I cleared my throat, "Go grab what you need. I got cash."

"Aj-"

"It's a thank you gift." I shrugged.

He narrowed his eyes, "I don't need a thank you gift. I didn't do it for a thank you gift."

I took a step toward him and with a calm voice spoke, "Sunstreaker. Either you get over there and pick out what you want or I'll go over there and buy what I think you need."

Sunstreaker looked appalled at the thought of me picking out art materials. He sighed and glanced at Taylor, "Want to come?"

The little girl bobbed her head excitedly. She followed after him like a little puppy and I watched the two of them head to the painting aisle. While they did that, I wandered around the front of the store where they randomly sold key chains, candy, and gum. These items were probably the only things in the store that spoke to me. Another ten minutes or so had rolled by when I lifted my gaze from the chocolate bar wrapper I was reading in time to see a familiar face walk in. This was a familiar face I'd recognize in a crowd of 100. I had it memorized because it was categorized in my mind as face to avoid for infinity.

Her dirty blonde hair was longer now and it was pulled back in a messily styled French braid that hung over her shoulder. She wore black exercise leggings, brightly colored tennis shoes, and a slim sweatshirt. Her skin was still pale and she still wore that characteristic frown on her lips.

What the fuck was fragging Hannah Cox doing in a slagging art store?

While I was frozen in shock her big brown eyes drifted across the store until they landed on me. For a moment she froze in shock as well and we both just stood there staring at each other dumbly. Then her frown turned into a smirk as she fully recognized whom I was. Her mouth opened to call out to me, but I turned on my heel and basically sprinted into the painting aisle.

"Y'all done?" I blurted as Sunstreaker and Taylor both turned to look at me. The basket was filled even more so now with a layer of paints, paintbrushes, and things I didn't know the name for. Sunstreaker held a medium sized canvas in his left hand.

"Yeah." Sunstreaker replied and narrowed his eyes at me, "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I'm peachy." I forced a grin and took the canvas from his hands then passed it off to Taylor who was able to hold it with both her arms wrapped around it. I took the basket from him and slipped my arm through it. Sunstreaker was still staring at me in questioning worry. I nodded at him, "I appreciate your sacrifice, Sunstreaker."

"What?"

"Aimee Bradshaw, is that you?" I heard a voice calling. She was getting closer.

Sunstreaker glanced over my shoulder briefly before looking back at me. I sighed, "I owe you. What ever you want, buddy. I am _so_ sorry."

"Aj-" He growled, but I didn't give him the chance to finish. I rushed past him dragging Taylor with me. The two of us ran out the back end of the aisle just as Hannah stepped into the front entrance.

" _Oh_." Hannah spoke up, " _Hello_."

From her tone I could tell that I had succeeded in distracting her. Now I just had to get to the front, buy all this stuff, and then hide in my truck until Sunstreaker found a way to escape. If he survived that is.

"Who was that, Aj?" Taylor asked and readjusted her grip on the canvas.

"The devil." I answered plainly before getting in line to pay for all the stuff. It only took a couple minutes for it to be our turn and the bill went up to 250 dollars. Luckily, they were still having a bunch of grand opening sales so the price ended up getting knocked down to 187. Apparently, some of the stuff Sunstreaker picked out earned him the free easel too. I wondered if he planned it that way. The easel looked a bit on the cheaper side, it wasn't the nice wood one you see on movies and TV shows, but I'd never complain about free things.

"Thank you have a nice day." The cashier smiled. I shot her a grin and began to cart the supplies away as Taylor waved at her and trailed behind me. By time I got Taylor into the back seat, buckled up and ready, with all the materials in the seat beside her it was around 10:00.

Taylor hummed and kicked her feet, "When is Sunstreaker gonna be here?"

"Soon I'm sure." I said in an upbeat tone. It probably wouldn't do the girl any good to tell her that the mech may not come out of that store alive. What a shame. I was starting to like his company too.

At 10:10, Sunstreaker stormed out of the store and toward the truck. I sat up in my seat and put a forced, awkward smile on my lips. He pulled open the door, slid into the seat, and didn't say a word. Taylor and I stared at him. Finally, Taylor decided to break the silence by asking, "Did you talk to the devil?"

There were a lot of things I expected Sunstreaker to do or say. Beating the shit out of me was one of the things that had made said list. What hadn't made the list was what he ended up doing. A sly smirk grew on his features as he glanced over at me, "Yes, Taylor, I did, and it was an interesting conversation."

I blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.

" _What_?"

* * *

 

Unsurprisingly, Chick-fil-a was crowded at 11:00 on a Saturday morning. It seemed like every mom with toddlers had decided to eat here and let their child play on the indoor playground situated in the back of the restaurant. The drive thru was packed as well so I just decided to run in and get the food to-go. Sunstreaker said he was staying in the truck because apparently he didn't want to be so close to other younglings. He used the word sticky to describe them. Ordering didn't take long, but I had to explain to Taylor why she couldn't play in the indoor playground every minute or so, and it got to the point where I just had to keep telling her no.

Once we got the food, I dragged Taylor back to the truck and drove away. It was nearing 11:30 now and I was already tired. I'd have to do nothing for the rest of the day to make up for that. It was like Hannah Cox's mere presence drained me of all energy and desire to be productive. She was kind of like a black hole.

Speaking of the horned demon, Sunstreaker wouldn't say a single word about what they talked about the entire ride home despite me begging, pleading, and threatening him. I sounded a lot like Taylor did when she was asking to play on the playground. Sunstreaker didn't shut me down as nicely as I shut Taylor down though.

"Here, sweetie, can you carrying in the bag of food?" I turned in my seat to look at Taylor.

She shoved her door open and nodded, "I can do it!" Taylor took the food from me and carefully clamored out of the truck. I briefly watched her head to the front door where Granny was already standing. My eyes then snapped to Sunstreaker.

"Don't ask again, femme." He said firmly, but there was a slight upward tilt to his lips.

"Sunstreaker." I groaned, "Come on! You can't have a conversation with my arch enemy and then not tell me what you talked about!"

"I wouldn't have had a conversation with her if you hadn't practically thrown me at her." He shook his head and shut the passenger side door. "She's a pathetic, clingy femme who looked like she wouldn't survive in a fight against Taylor." He scoffed, "Why is she your arch enemy?"

I sighed and began to pull bags out of the back seat of the truck to carry in, "Don't turn this conversation on me! Answer my question first!"

"Maybe one day." Sunstreaker came up behind me and pushed me to the side so he could grab some of the bigger bags. I stood off to the side of him with a plastic bag in one hand and a pout drawn on my lips. He glanced over at me and his lips twitched up into amusement again, "I think I'd rather talk about the fact that you said you owe me."

I shifted in my stance and mumbled under my breath, "I _maybe_ said that."

"Oh, you most _definitely_ said that." He replied with a nod.

"That's when I thought we were pals and you weren't gonna throw me under the Hannah Cox bus." I shot back. Sunstreaker's eyes lifted to glare at the house as he brought his hand back to rub his chest slightly. He shook his head and grabbed the bags of paint.

He turned slightly and shoved them into my hands, "I've decided on what I want from you."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" I asked and used my hip to shut the truck door as soon as Sunstreaker had took a step back with the canvas under one arm and the easel in his other hand.

Sunstreaker didn't move from where he stood and instead he smirked down at me with those very human looking lips of his, "I want you to admit it."

"Admit what?"

"Admit that you find me attractive." He replied smugly.

I let out a loud laugh, "What the pit makes you think I think that?"

"You used me as a distraction for that shallow human." Sunstreaker shrugged, "You wouldn't have left me in the aisle to distract her unless you thought I was attractive enough to do it."

I pressed my lips together and tried to ignore the fact that the back of my neck was getting hot with embarrassment. Ok, so maybe I did think his holoform was really attractive, but how was that my fault? His holoform was essentially a male model. Wasn't the point of these stupid things to blend in? Because I can guarantee that Sunstreaker's holoform was far from blending into a crowd. He might not have looked like the typical type of guy I went for, but that didn't mean I didn't know how to appreciate a good-looking face and a tight set of abs. Stupid holoforms.

"I give you an open IOU that you can use for _anything_ and all you want is for me to say you're attractive?"

"I want you to _admit_ that you _always_ thought I was."

I twisted my lips and sighed, "When I say anything, I mean _anything_. I'll bury Starscream in the backyard if you ask. I'll paint Megatron pink and stuff him into one of Taylor's Barbie doll dresses. _Anything_ , Sunstreaker."

"Those sound tempting." He paused and thought to himself. It didn't last long though and soon he was smirking at me again, "I think I'll settle for your shame and humiliation though."

"You slagging asshat." I muttered.

The front door slung open again and Tyler stuck his head out, "Are you guys coming in? Granny wants to know."

"We're coming, Ty. Go eat your chicken nuggets." I called back with a small smile.

He nodded and began to pull back, but then stuck his head back out again, "Can I eat your fries, Aj?"

"Sure, Ty." I chuckled. He grinned disappeared into the house again leaving the door cracked open. I glanced back over at Sunstreaker who still wore that aggravating smirk. "Is this really happening?"

"Just admit it, organic." He shrugged, " _Admit it_."

"I'll admit I think you're a pain in the ass." I replied.

Sunstreaker let out a small chuckle and glanced away before looking back. He shook his head, "You know? That awful human gave me her cellular number. I could always call and invite her-"

"I think you're holoform is _incredibly_ good-looking, Sunstreaker." I blurted before he could even finish his statement.

His smirk widened slightly showing his straight, white teeth, "Was that so hard?"

"It was horrible." I replied dryly. Sunstreaker chuckled again before heading for the house. When he got halfway I grinned and spoke up, "I just had this thought. You could've asked me to never call you another nickname."

Sunstreaker came to a sudden halt, but he didn't turn around to look at me. I began to walk toward the house with a slight bounce in my step. As I reached where the mech was frozen I saw a look of annoyance on his features. I winked at him, "I always knew you secretly liked my nicknames. I'll be sure to come up with a lot of new ones just for you. At this rate, we can break 50."

He let out a slow irritated sigh as I continued walking toward the house, "Come on, Captain Ego."

* * *

 

Peter and Tyler were playing a board game in the living room with a couple mechs; Taylor was upstairs doing art stuff though I wasn't sure if Sunstreaker was still with her at this point. He could've moved onto his own stuff by now. Granny had left a couple hours ago with the promise to come back for dinner.

I, however, sat on the back porch across from Megatron, who was off to the right, and Optimus, who was off to left. The last thing I wanted was for the kids to hear me arguing with Megatron about not destroying us.

"What is this about?" Megatron demanded with a glare.

I crossed my arms and tuck my hands to my side to keep them warm, "What is this about? Huh, I wonder, Megsy?"

"Megatron." Optimus cut in with his deep, formal tone, "We need to discuss what is to come. With the new upgrades-"

Megatron chuckled as a dark smile crept across his features, "Ah. Our little human is worried isn't she?"

"Am I worried that you'll go on a rampage and burn my house down?" I repeated, "That's crazy. Of course not. Why would I worry about that?"

"Aj." Optimus glanced my way and I took that cue to shut up for now. The Autobot leader looked back to his enemy, "We want the truce to continue past the upgrade, Megatron, and you should too. This house is your only safe haven in this world."

Megatron didn't reply immediately, but I didn't like the look on his face. He took a step forward and shifted his shoulders so he only faced Optimus, "When the device to send us back is complete and in working order, the Decepticons will be the first to use the device."

Optimus' eyes narrowed slightly before he nodded, "Deal-"

"Also", Megatron added, "You will give us 75% of your energon reserve."

I watched as Optimus' paused with a slight look of confusion on his features. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts until I cleared my throat. Optimus then snapped out of it and nodded, "Deal, Megatron, and in return you will not wage war on anyone in this household."

Megatron mumbled something in return, gave me a quick glance, and then strolled back inside through the cracked doorway. I bit my lip and turned to Optimus, "Did that seem…too easy?"

"Something isn't right." Optimus replied slowly with a tone of wariness laced through his words.

"Because he didn't threaten to end us all once he grew?"

Optimus hummed to himself, "He only asked for three quarters of our reserve. Why not just demand it all? It doesn't make sense."

I slowly stood up and offered Optimus my hand, "I'm not sure if he ever made sense to me, OP."

* * *

 

Come Monday morning the weather was relatively warm again. On the drive home from dropping the kids off at school, I was stripping out of my leather jacket with a groan. I may not have been a fan of cold weather, but I would rather it just stay cold than flop back and forth like this. The moment I pulled the truck into the driveway I spotted an unfamiliar face on my front porch and it sent ice into my blood.

There was a man sitting on the front porch steps with his legs casually stretched out in front of him as he leaned on his elbows. From here I couldn't make his features out very well, but his dark hair was messily styled a top his head and he had a jaw line covered in dark scruff. He wore a pair of light wash jeans that were a shade lighter on the top of his thighs as if they were worn often. The slightly distressed jeans were rolled up a couple times at his ankle to show his shoes. On his upper body he wore a black button up shirt open and over a plain white t-shirt.

I quickly jumped out of the truck and he lazily glanced over at me with an amused smile. Who was this jackass? Did boss send him from New York? He definitely wasn't from around here. He pushed himself off the stairs, "Took you long enough. It's hot out here."

My quick steps faltered as I recognized his voice. Had I met him in New York before? Before I could ponder on it longer the tall guy began to roll up his button up's sleeves. When he got to left arm, my eyes widened as I recognized the familiar tattoo reaching up his arm.

"Sideswipe?" I cried in surprise.

He shot me a bright grin that lit up his face, "Who else would I be, babe?"

Quickly, I closed the space between us to look over his holoform. He was just as tall as Sunstreaker's holoform, a couple inches over 6 foot even, and his body type was even similar in the sense that Sideswipe's holoform was on the lanky side with broad shoulders. I shook my head, "You guys don't look alike?"

"Why would we?" He shrugged.

"You're twins!" I replied.

He rolled his bright blue eyes and I focused in on the dark indigo undertone that seemed to blend into his irises, "You have to remember. We aren't human twins. The term twins is just the closest English translation to what we are."

"I guess that makes sense." I mumbled and let my eyes trace over his face. He had a square shaped face like Sunstreaker, but his was a bit longer and leaner. His hair was a very dark brown that was a neatly cut on the sides and the back, but the top was messily pushed back like he had run his hand through it to keep the strands from touching his forehead which was the same shade of skin as Sunstreaker. Unlike Sunstreaker, who was rather clean cut, Sideswipe had longer scruff that went from his slight sideburns down his strong jawline and around his mouth. The scruff was clean and well-kept though. Another huge difference was that Sideswipe's holoform was wearing a bright grin that not only lit up his entire face, but also showed off slight dimples on either side of his cheeks. "When did your holoform…come?"

"While you were gone." Sideswipe shrugged. "Ratchet's losing his mind because apparently it messed up his estimated schedule on how we change."

"I'm sure." I chuckled and shook my head, still in shock.

Sideswipe noticed my daze and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. He pulled me close to his side and nodded, "I know. I'm even more handsome than Sunstreaker. It's ok to be in shock."

I let out a laugh, "The two of you are too much. Come on."

I tried to pull away from him and head inside, but he held on tight, "Don't go in."

"What, why?" My eyes widened, "What happened? Is something on-"

"Nothing is on fire." Sideswipe scoffed, "I'm just tired of the house. I've finally got my holoform. Let's go out!"

"Out?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Out. Somewhere that isn't here. Please?"

I chuckled, "But where would we go?"

"The mall?"

"Why would we go to the mall?"

"That's what the Internet says you do for fun." He argued.

"We have nothing to buy." I replied.

Sideswipe groaned and leaned his head on top of mine, "Oh come on, babe. Please, please, please, please-"

I tried to shove away from him again, "Ok, ok! Just stop!"

"Great." He pulled his head off mine, "Let's go."

Sideswipe dragged me back to the truck with a wide grin. Technically, the closest mall was only about six miles away, which meant it was still in range of his actual body. Still, that was further than the art store and I was a bit wary on testing out those limits. What if the estimate was wrong and he fizzled out or glitched? What was I supposed to do then?

Sideswipe apparently had no worries that resembled mine. He sat in the passenger seat playing with the radio until he found something that pleased him. As I pulled the truck out of the neighborhood he glanced over at me, "Do you know what a pick-up line is?"

I snorted, "Sides, I basically lived in sketchy bars back in New York. I've heard every pick-up line in existence."

"I think they're pretty clever."

"They don't actually work." I chuckled.

Sideswipe grinned and cleared his throat, "Say Aj-"

"Don't." I said firmly, but Sideswipe ignored me.

"I just googled the word ' _sexy_ ' and your name came up." He smirked at me.

I stopped the car at a red light and looked over at him with a bored look, "You'll get the same result if you Google ' _not interested'."_

Sideswipe laughed and clapped his hands, "That's good."

I couldn't help but laugh myself, "I have a comeback for every pick-up line, Sides. I've seriously heard them all."

"I'm going to find one you haven't heard before." He pointed at me.

"You can try." I shrugged and began to drive again when the light turned green. We got to the mall about five minutes later, and unsurprisingly it wasn't very crowded which was good news. Crowds were a pain in the ass and if Sideswipe's holoform did pull a disappearing act then there wouldn't be many people to see it happen.

"Wait." He blurted as I parked the car. My eyes narrowed at him as he jumped out of the car and rushed around to my side. He pulled open my door as I pulled the key out of the ignition. Sideswipe offered me his hand to take, "Are you a magician? Because abraca- _damn_ girl."

"Yeah." I nodded, ignored his outstretched hand, and then got out of the truck myself. I began to walk away, "Now watch me disappear."

Sideswipe chuckled and shut the truck door before following after me. I glanced back at the vehicle and pressed the clicker to lock the doors before focusing on the building in front of us.

"So what do humans do here again?" Sideswipe threw his arm around my shoulder again.

I tried to shrug out of his grip, but he didn't budge, "Shop and eat. You can do neither."

"I could eat." Sideswipe tilted his head.

I scoffed, "Ratchet was very clear yesterday when he talked about the things holoforms could and couldn't do." I glanced at him, "Eating was on the couldn't list and based on the look he had, I bet it got there from experience."

Sideswipe shrugged, "You humans make some interesting looking food. He only had to fix the problem two or three times back home."

"Most people learn after the first time." I smiled, "Especially when an angry medic with a very heavy wrench is the one to warn them."

"Oh, I'm not like most people." Sideswipe joked with a grin and waggle of his eyebrows. I burst into laughter as he continued to lead me into the large mall.

Summerbrooke as a town didn't really have much. It was a small, everyone knows everyone type of town, but we did have a fairly decent mall. It was one story with probably around fifty or so stores and it's where most people in town hung out. The place wasn't crowded now, but I bet by noon it'd be packed with people from Summerbrooke and the other surrounding small towns.

For the first hour or so the two of us just walked around the mall at our own pace talking about nothing really. He'd ask questions about different things he saw in the mall or things he had seen on the Internet and I'd answer to the best of my abilities. He also said another 5 pick-up lines that I easily countered without much thought. Back in New York, I spent a lot of times at different shady bars. My favorite was one that was just down the street from where I lived. The owner knew me pretty well there. Well enough that I never had to really order anything because every bartender that worked for him knew what I liked. It wasn't the cleanest or friendliest bars though which meant some real sleaze balls would swing through trying to pick up any chick they could. I wasn't exaggerating to Sideswipe when I said I've heard all the pick-up lines before.

"Oh, this is the third time we've passed this place. Can we go in?" Sideswipe grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me back to the small pet store he was point at.

I shrugged, "Sure. Why not?"

"But first", He pulled his shirt toward me some and motioned toward it, "Feel my shirt. It's boyfriend material."

I narrowed my eyes at the shirt and shook my head, "Hmmm, it looks too clingy and a bit hard to maintain for my taste."

Sideswipe chuckled, "Ok, nice. That's 8 for you and-"

"None for Sideswipe." I stuck my hands into my pockets and gave him a fake pout.

"Hey, I only need one point to win the game." He argued and dragged me into the pet store. "I have all of the Internet on my side. There has to be at least one that'll impress you."

I rolled my eyes with a grin before heading straight to the back where there was a wall made of glass and you could look through it to see the many puppies and kittens. Sideswipe followed right behind me peeked through the glass as well.

"The puppies are so cute." I admitted as I watched a little black puppy try to pick a fight with a larger puppy that was having none of it.

"The big bad Aj admits she likes small organic animals?" Sideswipe joked.

"I've always wanted a puppy of my own."

Sideswipe smiled sincerely, "Why don't you just get one?"

I turned my gaze to face him, "Puppies are a lot of work. At some points I can barely feed myself let alone a dog." My gaze drifted back to the cute creatures, "I've wanted one since high school though."

"Let's buy one now!" Sideswipe suggested. He pointed through the glass, "I like the one with the big white spot."

"We're gonna be tight on money the next few weeks. My budget won't allow the purchase of a pet." I replied with a roll of my eyes.

An older guy with an orange vest and nametag suddenly came over and adjusted his glasses before smiling at the two of us. He motioned toward the animals, "Are the two of you looking to adopt?"

"Yes." Sideswipe blurted.

I shook my head, "No. We of us can't afford it right now."

"But, babe…" Sideswipe whined, "They're adorable. You talking about it made me want one now."

"That doesn't change anything. We're still borderline broke." I argued.

The man shook his head and smiled, "We have special deals going on all the time. Anything to get these guys and gals to good homes." He motioned toward us, "Do the two of you have kids?"

I opened my mouth with wide eyes, but before I could answer the question Sideswipe beat me to it with a bob of his head, "Yes, we do."

"Sides." I muttered under my breath.

He shrugged, "What? We do." He looked back to the man, "We have three kids."

"Wow, three?" The man questioned.

Sideswipe nodded again, "Twins and one boy."

"Oh, well I'm sure they would love a pet puppy or kitten." The man encouraged.

Sideswipe nudged me in the side with his shoulder, "Taylor would freak out if we bought her a puppy. Just saying."

"Sorry, we really can't." I shook my head, hooked my arm through Sideswipe's, and began to drag him out of the store before one of them broke me down and I ended up buying a puppy. As we got out of the store, I glanced at Sideswipe with the full intention of explaining to him that when the guy asked if we had kids the answer was no, but the words wouldn't come out.

Sideswipe noticed and shrugged, "What?"

"You said we have kids?" I questioned.

"Yeah." Sideswipe nodded, "Taylor, Tyler, and Peter. Why do you keep asking me like that?"

I called the three of them my kids all the time. It fit, sort of. We were blood related so it made perfect sense when I called them my kids, but they were related to any of the mechs in any way. So to hear one of them call them their own felt strange.

"You consider them yours?" I asked curiously.

Sideswipe smiled, "Have you seen the way Prowl and Jackie talk to Peter? Or the way Bee and Blue act around Taylor and Tyler? Pit, Sunny spent a couple hours teaching art stuff to Taylor." He chuckled, "They are under our protection. I'm pretty sure we were goners the moment we ended up in your kitchen." He slung his arm out around me again, "The same goes for you, you know?"

Maybe it was silly, but the thought of the mechs taking the kids and I under their metaphorical wing was really sweet.

Sideswipe ruined the heart-warming moment by smirking at me, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"

I rolled my eyes, "I crawled my way up from hell."

" _Frag it._ "

* * *

 

The two of us hung out in the mall for longer than I expected us to, and it was actually kind of fun. Sideswipe was a funny mech and he had a lot of interesting stories to tell. Although, if someone lived for millions of years I'm sure they'd collect quite a large sum of stories.

We had decided to leave when the mall suddenly started to get more crowded and were on the way out when Sideswipe yanked me to a stop, "What's that?" He was pointing to a large clearing in the middle of the mall where a stage had been set up and people were gathering around it. The sign above the stage read 'Karaoke Competition'. He shook his head, "Karaoke?"

"It's just singing." I shrugged as the first contender climbed onto the stage. Moments later the woman began to sing a bad rendition of a popular country song.

Sideswipe frowned, "Is the point of karaoke to be bad?"

"It's not supposed to be." I chuckled. The woman continued, and the crowd was nice enough to applaud when she was finished, but not very enthusiastically. The next guy took the stage and he was infinitely better as he sung an old rock ballad.

Sideswipe nudged me with his elbow, "You should sing." Rather than reply I just laughed. He was obviously joking though it wasn't the funniest thing he had said all day. The guy finished singing and the crowd roared in favor of him. A teenage girl was the next on the stage and she sung a pop song fairly well. "I'm serious!"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Have you lost your fragging mind? I'm not gonna sing in front of all these people."

"Why not? You sing in front of us all the time."

"That's different."

"Not really."

Sideswipe pointed to a sign off to the side, "Look! There's a 300 dollar prize for the winner. You could win this no problem."

"Flattery gets you nowhere." I crossed my arms and turned away from him.

Sideswipe grabbed my by the shoulders and forced me to look at him, "I don't do flattery, babe. I give out the honest truth whether it hurts or not. You totally have a shot at this. Even Jazz loves your singing and he's heard a whole fragging bunch of different music from all over the galaxy."

"I don't sing in front of crowds, Sides." I shook my head, "I've never done that before."

"You fight in front of crowds, don't you?"

"That's different."

Sideswipe scoffed, "Barely. People just want a show. Whether it's singing, or dancing, or beating the slag out of each other. They just want to be entertained." He glanced back at the stage where a new singer was about to perform, "I'm going to go see if you need to pay money or something join. You just think about it."

I sighed and took a few steps back to sit on a nearby bench as Sideswipe jogged into the crowd. I could no longer see the performers, but I could still hear them. If only we had left ten minutes sooner then Sideswipe would've never even seen the contest beginning. The mech came back a couple minutes later with news that sign up was free. I promised him to that I'd continue to think about it as we listened to the singers, but my mind was leaning toward a big fat no.

Twenty minutes later an announcer came onto stage, "Alright, we've seen some tough competition so far! You guys want to see some more?" The crowd roared, "We have three contenders left! Grace Kang, Jayden Williams, and Aj Bradshaw get ready to perform!"

My eyes nearly fell out of my head and I almost broke my neck when I snapped my head to the side to look at a smug Sideswipe. I scoffed and shoved him hard, "You said I could think about it!"

"If I don't push you to do new things then who will?" Sideswipe asked with a smile. He grabbed my hand and began to pull me toward the stage, "Come on, you got to get ready."

"Sides, I really don't think I could do this."

Sideswipe stopped halfway to the stage to look at me, "We're going to continue walking to the stage and when we get there I want nervous Aj to go away and I want brave, 'eager to fight' Aj ready to sing. Got it?"

He didn't wait for me to reply and continued dragging me there. The entire situation was even more daunting as I stood on the stairs on the side of the stage waiting for my turn. I glared at Sideswipe who remained by my side, "What am I even supposed to sing?"

"I got that covered." He grinned.

"Sides."

He squeezed my shoulder, "This is going to be fun. You like singing."

"Not in public." I groaned, "God, I'm gonna throw up."

"Don't do that."

Five minutes later and it was my turn. This was such a bad idea. This was the worst idea in the universe. Maybe if I play possum and pretend to die right here on the stairs then I won't have to sing. Why did I even let that stupid mech talk me into this?

I glared at him one last time, ignoring his wide grin and excited eyes, before walking out onto the stage where death awaited me. The crowd was quiet as they waited for me to entertain them. They wanted a show just like the people who came to see me fight. This show just had less blood shed. The screen in front of the stage lit up for me and the music started. I immediately recognized it as a song I occasionally hummed around the house, but never outwardly sang.

 _"La da da da de. You're not breaking me._ " I began and my eyes darted over to Sideswipe who was giving me a look of encouragement, " _La de da da da da da da da, yeah_." I sucked in a quick breath, " _Somebody told me fame is a disease, you start singing the blues when you start seeing the green."_

The entire first verse wasn't my strongest singing moment, probably because I still felt like I was going to be eaten alive by the crowd, but by time I hit the chorus for the first time the nerves began to melt away.

" _La da da da de, you're not breaking me. La de da da da, ain't got time for ya, singing, la da da da de. You won't shatter me. La de da da da, got an unbreakable smile."_

These were words I already knew so I didn't have to constantly stare at the prompter. I glanced out over the crowd occasionally, but most of the time my eyes ended up landing on Sideswipe. The second verse went a hell of a lot more smoothly as I breezed over the words with a grin on my lips. The crowd was reacting well to my singing and somewhere in the middle of the chorus I realized this was actually kind of fun.

 _"But don't mistake kindness for weakness._ " I finished the last line and pulled the mike away from my mouth as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause. A laugh bubbled out of my chest as I took a half step back in shock. Sideswipe rushed onto the stage toward me and I was quick to turn and wrap my arms around him in a hug. He reacted immediately, tightening his arms around my waist, and lifting me up with a spin making me laugh even harder.

The competition ended after some mall workers ushered the two of us off the stage. I didn't win the money prize, which Sideswipe moaned and complained about all the way out to the truck, but it didn't actually matter to me that I lost. Singing up on stage like that had been fun. Was I considering a career in the music? Hell no. However, it made me realize that maybe I had more than one passion in life. The crowd hadn't booed me off the stage. They seemed to like me for the most part. Maybe that meant I had talents in areas other than making poor life decisions and punching people in the face.

* * *

 

Sideswipe pointed at me with a wide grin as the two of us got into the front of the truck, "Hey!"

"What?" I chuckled.

"Are you religious?" Sideswipe asked, "Because you're the answer to all my prayers."

It was a pick up line I had heard before, and I even had a decent come back for it, but for some reason I couldn't bear to say it out loud. Sideswipe took this as a victory and celebrated in the passenger seat while I just grinned at him.

For the past ten years, I didn't spend much time praying, but I was starting to think that these mechs that landed in Aubrey's house from another universe were the answer to the prayer I had never said out loud.


	21. Sorry

* * *

_"You can always say sorry, but the real apology is when you hear the sadness in their voice and see the look in their eyes. And you realize that they have hurt themselves just as much." –Kid Cudi_

* * *

 

"She did _so_ good!" Sideswipe yelled loudly to the three kids and four mechs who were listening intently, "The fact that she didn't win is an _outrage_."

"Why didn't they give you the prize, Aj?" Taylor whipped around on the couch to look at me. I continued to lean against the living room doorframe with an amused smile plastered on my lips.

Grimlock's head peeked up slightly, "Me Grimlock fix problem. Me Grimlock _burn down_ this mall place."

"I really don't think that would help very much, Grimlock." Bluestreak spoke up as he rubbed the back of his head. He was currently sitting on Tyler's shoulder and leaning against the young boy's head, "I mean, it'll be a while before you're even big enough to do that anyway. But I totally agree that you should have won the award, Aj. You're the best singer ever! I haven't heard a lot of human singers up close, but still."

"Thanks, guys, but it's really no big deal." I shook my head, "Sideswipe is being a baby."

Sideswipe's holoform narrowed his eyes at me, but Tyler who threw himself off the couch to try and tackle the mech to the ground immediately distracted him. Peter laughed and Taylor cheered as their brother tried to wrestle the much larger Sideswipe. Wheeljack, Bluestreak, and Bumblebee were yelling words of caution as Grimlock joined in on cheering.

I yelled out my own word of caution before turning and leaving the area. The first time I saw Tyler and Sideswipe wrestling a couple hours ago I had panicked, but after watching them I realized that Sideswipe was extremely careful as he played with Tyler. He was acting like an older brother would. It made me wonder how often Sideswipe and Sunstreaker play wrestled. Though, knowing them, I seriously doubted their brotherly play wrestle sessions were very tame.

Granny was in the kitchen talking to Prowl, Optimus, and Soundwave. I peeked in on them briefly before moving up the stairs. The seekers and Megatron were out and about in the world again flying to their spark's content. Technically they had already been out once today, but I was letting them go out as much as they wanted until they went through their own upgrades. Once they got big like the twins, it'd be way to noticeable to have them out there soaring the skies.

Once upstairs, I peeked into the office to see Sunstreaker standing behind a canvas and easel with his eyes focused intently on the canvas. His hand moved quickly and there was a smudge of soft blue paint along his jawline.

"You're back in your holoform?" I questioned and stepped into the room. About an hour after I got back from the mall with Sideswipe, Sunstreaker's holoform program finished its loop and the yellow mech was able to shut it down and return to his real form. I honestly hadn't expected to see him using his holoform again so soon.

Sunstreaker's eyes snapped up from the canvas with a signature frown on his lips, "My servos were too big."

I nodded and let out a small hum before stepping closer, "What are you painting?"

Sunstreaker took a step to the side of the canvas after setting his brush down on the night stand he had stolen from the twins' room to use as a desk for all his art supplies. His stance suggested that he didn't want me to take another step closer.

"What?"

Sunstreaker clenched his jaw slightly before glancing away and then back to me, "It isn't-… It isn't finished."

The words were forced and it almost sounded like it pained him to admit it to me, but I couldn't understand why. I nodded and casually crossed my arms over my chest. Sunstreaker's holoform was wearing dark jeans that fit him well and a plain white, loose t-shirt. The shirt and pants had smudges and flecks of paint, but his fingers were nearly caked in different colors. It was just a holoform, but it was still odd to see Sunstreaker so not put together. He was a total mess at the moment, but he didn't even seem to care.

"What are you painting?" I asked. Sunstreaker didn't reply and I gave him another small nod. "Ok. I'll let you get back to it then."

I gave him a small smile to know there were no hard feelings. This was his thing and if his thing required privacy then I understood that. I turned and began to leave when Sunstreaker spoke up and I could hear the amusement in his tone, "So I hear from my brother that you're the karaoke queen?"

"Shut up, Picasso." I fired back with a grin and one last glance before leaving the office and heading toward my own room.

Ratchet was in my room, I knew that before even getting close to it because where else would the mech be? However, I didn't expect to see Jazz in my room arguing with the medic in their own language. Ratchet barked one last thing at the tense saboteur before both of them looked over at me.

I lifted an eyebrow at them in response, "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not a thing, sweetspark." Jazz replied at the same time that Ratchet scoffed and said, "This half bit idiot wont leave me alone about the new upgrade."

Jazz's lips wilted into a tight frown and he shot the medic a glare from the corner of his visor. Though Jazz's unhappy look might make many mechs freeze in their step it didn't even faze the angry medic.

"What about the new upgrade?" I questioned.

"He wants to know when he'll go through it." Ratchet snapped then glared back at Jazz, "Even though I've told him and every other moron in this house that I have no idea what the timeline for this upgrade is!"

I let out a low whistle, "Wow. Someone is in quite the mood today."

"Don't start with me, youngling!" Ratchet barked and pointed the wrench in his hand at me.

Quickly, I lifted my hands in mock surrender, "Sorry, sir."

"' _Sorry, sir_ ' my _aft_." Ratchet mumbled to himself before moving onto mutter in his own language. He walked across the desk to an open book as Jazz remained on the edge closest to me. I offered him a hand to let him down, but he waved my offer away. I opened my mouth to speak to him, but the shrill ringing of my cellphone interrupted me.

I reached back and pulled the device out of my back pocket and my blood ran cold at the caller ID flashing up at me. It was not Aubrey like I had expected.

"Sweetspark?"

My eyes snapped up to see Jazz and Ratchet staring at me in worry as I clutched the phone in my hand. They could see my white knuckles and tense shoulders, but did they see the absolute fear I know flashed in my eyes?

"I have to- I…" I blurted in a non-eloquent manner, "I gotta take this."

With the phone still ringing in my hand, I turned on my heel and rushed down the hall to Aubrey's room. There wasn't a spot in the house where the mechs wouldn't hear if they tried, but as long as the humans in the house didn't hear me I would be fine.

I marched into Aubrey's room and used my foot to kick back and shut the door. One last deep breath, and then I answered the phone, "What do you want?"

"Aj Bradshaw, is that anyway to say hello?" The male voice answered. The voice was smooth and warm which made it only that much more conflicting to speak to him. "Try again, _pet_."

The last word was spoken in endearment, but it only left a cold sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Sorry, Boss. How are you today?"

"I'm doing well. Even better now that I hear your lovely voice. I truly have missed you dearly."

More like he missed the money I would rake in every weekend. I sunk down to the floor at the foot of Aubrey's bed and leaned my back against the wooden baseboard. I glanced over at the door to see Jazz leaning against the wall with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. What was he doing here? How did he get in? Did he follow me? That quickly?

"I'm talking to you, Bradshaw."

It was then that I realized I had missed a good chunk of what Boss had said and my face paled, "S-Sorry. I was distracted."

"By those kids, I assume?" Boss hummed, "I heard all about them. How come you never told me about your niece and nephews, pet? I would've love to have met them."

My jaw clenched and I forced myself to keep quiet. Anything I said out of anger could cause trouble. The entire first year and a half that I worked for Boss I had been my usual sarcastic asshole self and it had ended badly. I learned my lesson and I learned it well.

Sometimes it was better if I just shut the hell up.

"I suppose I still could meet them. They're not going anywhere." Boss mumbled to himself over the line. There was a pause before he spoke again, this time his words were sharp, " _Speak to me_. I didn't call you to have a conversation with myself, you stupid girl."

"I don't know what you want me to say." I replied as I buried my nails into my thigh. My other hand still clutched the phone tightly.

Boss chuckled over the line, "I want you to tell me how much you miss me. How much you miss your home here in the Big Apple. How much you miss the pit and how you can't wait to come back."

I took a shaky deep breath and ignored the stare coming from the mech only a few feet away, "I miss you. I miss New York, and I can't wait to come back."

" _And_?" Boss pressed.

"And I miss-… I miss the _pit_." The word fell from my mouth as disgust churned in my stomach. I hated this. I hated Boss and I hated the way he treated me. More than anything else though, I hated how worthless and weak I felt. I was hundreds of miles away and yet I still felt small and helpless against this man. The only thing that made any of this worse was the fact that Jazz was only a few feet away witnessing it first hand. That made my stomach churn even more.

"That's my girl." Boss cooed. I bit down on my tongue to keep from speaking. "Now then, I have a surprise for you."

I cringed, "A surprise?"

"I bought you an airplane ticket." Boss replied, "So you don't have to worry about it. Your flight leaves from Birmingham International Airport at 10:30 AM on February 1st. It's a straight shot back home where I'll personally be waiting to pick you up."

It felt like my heart had stopped beating and had fallen into my stomach. On the list of worst surprises I've ever received, this made it quite high and that's saying something because I've had a lot of crappy surprises in my life. I paused as I mentally counted the days. Today was Monday, the 26th of January. The first of February was this Sunday. There was no way in hell I could leave that soon. I didn't know when Aubrey was coming home, but I was positive it wouldn't be before then. Granny could watch the kids and mechs, but I wasn't comfortable leaving the mechs in Granny's hands since they were now growing into full sized robots.

"Bradshaw? Say something, pet."

"Boss, I _can't_ -"

"Can't believe I'm so _generous_? Please, pet, I'd do _anything_ for you." He chuckled, "Just make sure you're on that _fucking_ plane. Do you understand?"

I bit down on my lower lip and closed my eyes. All I had to do was tell him no. He was multiple states away. There was nothing he could do to me over a phone call. I felt a hand press against my leg. My eyes snapped open and focused on Jazz who was looking up at me in concern. Embarrassment flooded my systems. I didn't want anyone to see me like this. To see me as this weak, scared little girl.

"I asked you a question, Bradshaw."

"Yes. I understand." I replied quickly and mentally cursed myself. Jazz's features hardened and in seconds I knew what he was thinking of doing. I pulled the phone away from my ear, "Don't you _dare_. Don't hack this line, Jazz. It'll make _everything_ worse."

"You are _not_ going back there." Jazz said firmly with an almost dark tone lacing through his unaccented words.

I pulled the phone back to my ear and shot him an apologetic look. Boss continued without missing a beat, "Before you come home though, I need you to do me a little favor." Favors for Boss were never little and they were never optional. "I heard that the backwater town you're in has it's own little fighting ring. That's where you got your start, isn't it?"

"Yes." I sighed and prayed that he wasn't taking this where I thought he was taking this.

"Interesting." Boss hummed, "Pick up a fight. A marathon. The last thing I need is for my little Small Fry to get out of practice." He chuckled and I cringed at the name, "Win the marathon and send me all your winnings."

"Please don't make me do this." I pleaded, "I don't want the kids to… I'll pay you back, Boss. I'll fight everyday when I get back to you. Just please don't make me do this."

Boss scoffed, "You think the winnings from those fights would go to your debt? Don't be _fucking_ stupid. I'm accepting those winnings from you because that's your apology to me, pet."

"Boss-"

"Your plane ticket will be waiting for you at the airport. Send me the money before you board the plane. Good-bye, Small Fry."

The phone hung up with an audible click, but I didn't move an inch. The fear I had felt turned into a frustrated anger and without even thinking I yanked the phone away from my face and chucked it across the room. It hit the wall, leaving a dent, and then fell to the floor with my case in shattered pieces.

"Aj-"

"I _hate_ him." I said between clenched teeth without looking over at Jazz, "I _hate_ how _pathetic_ he makes me feel. How _weak_."

Jazz paused, "You're scared of him."

It was a statement, not a question, and I couldn't even deny it. Instead I bit down on my lower lip and leaned my head against the bed behind me. I wondered if anyone was coming up to check on what that noise was or if the mechs had covered for me through the comm system. The last thing I needed was Granny or the kids coming in to see me like this.

"I'm on the opposite side of the country from him, but I can still _feel_ his fucking hands on me." I mumbled to myself and buried my head into my hands. His voice alone sent uncomfortable chills down my spine and ice in my veins. I could feel his fingers trailing down my arm, up my neck to play with my hair, and at the small of my back. I could feel his lips by my ear as he muttered insults at me with his honey soft voice.

Jazz's clawed fingers began to dig into my skin. My eyes snapped up to see how tense he was and he didn't even notice how close he was to breaking my skin until I pointed it out to him. Even then, he only pulled his hand away. He didn't relax.

"Aj." He growled. His jaw was clenched, "Did he…Did he touch you? Did he-?"

Jazz couldn't finish his question, but I knew what he meant. I shook my head, "Not like that. He never… He never takes it that far. He acts like he will, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't even see me as a human being. I'm just something he _owns_. A toy he can wind up and watch fight."

Jazz unclenched his jaw, but his body was still rigid and his hands were balled up tightly against his side, "You aren't going back there, and that's final."

"I don't have any other option."

" _The frag you don't_!" Jazz yelled and it startled me. He let out a rush of air and took a few steps away. He began to pace the floor as I forced myself to get up and grab my phone. He stopped in his motions to look at me, "What do you think you're doing?"

I didn't look up at him, "I'm making a call."

"A call to who?"

"I can't get on that plane, Jazz, not yet." I replied and Jazz didn't seem happy at my choice of words. I shook my head, "Boss is going to be pissed about that. The best thing I can do is send him a bunch of money and hope it appeases him for the time being."

Jazz shook his head, "Don't you _fragging_ do it. _Don't_."

"I have to, Jazz." I sighed and flipped through my cracked screen to find the number of my old time manager. He'd be able to get me a marathon fight no problem. "I'm sorry, but I have to fight."

* * *

 

To say Jazz was furious would be a huge understatement. At this point though, his anger was a blur. He was pissed at everyone, but the highest person on that list was in another state altogether. That fragger was beyond lucky he wasn't here. Even at a fraction of his usual size, Jazz would make that human regret every single thing he ever did wrong.

"Aj, we all feel you should reconsider this." Optimus' voice drifted through the crack in the office door. His commander had been speaking to the organic femme for the past twenty Earth minutes, but it was apparently done in vain. Aj wasn't budging on her decision to go out and fight tonight and that only made Jazz even angrier.

Prowl's voice could be heard speaking next, "This decision makes _no_ logical sense. The chances of this working in your favor, the way you would like it to, are below 40%."

Jazz already knew that wouldn't push the argument in their favor. Aj wasn't the type to change her mind because of a few facts and figures. She was the stubborn kind that stuck to her decision regardless and followed it out to the end. Especially if she thought it would help the people around her. Jazz knew the kind well. There were a number of mechs that would classify him under that same category.

Rather than stand out in the hall and listen to the argument go in circles, he turned on his heel and stalked down the steps just as Ratchet began to yell at the human from behind him. If Optimus' wise words and Prowl's infallible logic didn't work, maybe Ratchet's shouts and threats would.

The younglings were in the living room playing some board game with Wheeljack, Bluestreak, Bumblebee, and Soundwave. The four mechs were just distracting them really. Rosie had left around an hour ago, Barricade was Primus knows where, and the seekers and Megatron were still out and about. It was probably for the best that they weren't here right now. Having Megatron around would only complicate the matters further.

At the moment, Jazz didn't give a slag about any of them though. His processors were focused on one thing and one thing alone. Finding the twins. Luckily, finding the twins was never a difficult task for him and they were the easiest to find these days.

"-so Ratchet could bite our fragging heads off? What's wrong with you?"

Jazz heard Sunstreaker before he saw him. The third in command turned into the kitchen to see the bright yellow warrior standing with his arms crossed in the middle of the kitchen as his brother's holoform lazily leaned against the island counter. Sideswipe's stance seemed casual at first, but Jazz could see how tense the holoform's shoulders were.

"Well, we got to do _something_ , Sunny." Sideswipe hissed back.

"We will, but tying her down and locking her in the fragging garage _isn't_ going to help in the long run." Sunstreaker snapped back. Jazz had to admit, he kind of liked that idea, but like Sunstreaker he knew it would only piss off Aj and make everything worse.

Jazz made a sound that could be compared to a human clearing their throat and both mechs snapped their attention to him with slightly startled looks on their faces. The saboteur was aware that he was one of the few mechs that could get the jump on the twins.

Sunstreaker narrowed his optics into a menacing glare. The yellow mech was obviously just as angry as Jazz felt at the moment, but unlike Jazz he didn't know, or didn't care enough, to bite it back and hide it.

"What do you want?" Sideswipe questioned in a tone that was far from his usual chipper self.

Jazz wanted a lot of things. He wanted this Boss guy to be torn apart by cyberhounds. He wanted the younglings' carrier and Aj's sister to not be sick. He wanted his organic femme friend to have a safe life that didn't involve fighting. Right now though, more than anything, he wanted to go through the next fragging upgrade and get usage of his holoform so he could do this mission himself.

Unfortunately the chance of that happening in the next couple human hours was slim to none. The humans said it best when they claimed, ' _you can't always get what you want_ '.

"I'm 'bout to tell you exactly what the two of ya are gonna do."

* * *

 

I couldn't call Granny to watch the kids. If I did, she would've come over and known exactly what I was going to do tonight. There was no hiding my fights from her anymore. After all the time I spent with her, the old woman had learned to recognize the look in my eye right before a fight. She could tell I was about to dive head first into a brawl just by looking at me. I don't know what it was she saw, but it gave me away every time.

So while I was gone, I'd have to rely on the mechs. They'd have to keep an eye on Peter, Tyler, and Taylor while I was out fighting. The chances of the Decepticons going through the update were nonexistent considering Wheeljack hadn't even grown yet. It was still a worry that lingered in the back of my mind though. I had a lot of worries lingering in my mind, and if I didn't quiet them in the next hour or so they'd get me beat up.

Sleazy Frank had set me up with a marathon fight. He was more than happy to replace the woman who was supposed to fight with me. It would rake in good money, but for me to actually get the money I'd have to win. If I wanted to win I needed a clear mind, and my mind was far from clear.

With a sigh, I pushed myself off the wooden floor and grabbed a jacket out of the closet to wear. I slipped it on over my tight black sports bra then zipped it up completely. My hair was braided as much as I could and then pinned to my head with pins and bands and I was wearing a pair of spandex shorts under my sweatpants. Needless to say, I was dressed and ready to go.

"Ya don't 'ave to do this." Jazz's voice spoke up.

I turned to see him standing in my doorway staring me down behind that visor of his. Most of the mechs had avoided me while I got ready. Ratchet had moved into the office tonight and every time I passed and caught his eyes he'd glare at me.

I nodded with a sigh, "Yeah, Jazz, I do."

"No, ya don't."

"Jazz." I pressed, "You've had to have been in a situation like this before. One where you _know_ it's a bad idea, but sitting back and doing nothing would be _worse_." He didn't reply so I continued, "You're right. All of you are right. I shouldn't do this, not with the kids being down the hall from where I sleep, but I'm doing this for them. If I don't appease Boss in some way he's gonna go for what I love most."

Jazz shook his head, "We can take care of 'im. I'd like to see that fragger try an' touch you or the younglings."

I chuckled, "Although I'd love to see the Autobots and Decepticons join together to beat the slag out of him, you and I both know it's a worse idea than my current one. We're trying to keep all of you a secret, remember?"

I grabbed my wallet, keys, and phone and moved toward the door. Jazz spoke again and this time his voice was different. It wasn't a firm command or a casual tone. Jazz was pleading when he spoke, "Don't do this, sweetspark. Jus' stay 'ere."

"Sorry, Jazz." I knelt down beside him and let my fingers brush against his shoulder, "I can't." There was a pause before I nodded, "Watch the kids for me. Make sure they're safe. I'll be back in time to take them to school."

Quickly, I moved past Jazz into the hallway and as I reached the stairs I heard him say something in Cybertronian. The foreign phrase made me briefly pause. I glanced back to look at the kids' rooms and then at Jazz who stood outside my own room. His gaze was locked onto me and I offered him a tight smile before rushing down the stairs. At the front door, I laced up my sneakers and then stepped out into the cold, dark, morning air. It was a little after 3:30 and the fight started at 4 AM way out in the middle of nowhere.

Before I could take a step toward the truck I noticed two men leaning against the side of it staring me down. My eyes narrowed in frustration as I stormed toward both Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's holoform.

"You're _not_ stopping me." I snapped in a hushed tone, "I'm going to that fight."

"We know." Sideswipe replied coolly.

Sunstreaker tilted his head slightly, "We're going with you."

My glare lessened in surprise as I took a moment to fully comprehend their words. The only reply I could manage was a confused, "What?"

"Unlock the fragging truck, organic. We're going to be late." Sunstreaker retorted with a scoff.

I shook my head, "You guys aren't coming with me. You can't. The place is ten miles out of town in the middle of nowhere. Your holoforms-"

Sideswipe slapped his hand against the side of the truck, "Our real forms are in the bed of your truck under that tarp." Sunstreaker heaved an unhappy sigh and his eyes hardened at the words, but Sideswipe continued on, "Our holoforms aren't going anywhere."

"You can't stop me from fighting." I blurted.

"Who said we're trying to?" Sunstreaker argued.

I scoffed and shook my head, "Why else would you come?"

"So you aren't alone." Sideswipe shrugged with his holoform's hands shoved into his pockets. A silence grew between all of us because I had no idea how to respond to that. Despite the tension, Sideswipe smiled and motioned toward the truck with his head, "So are we going or not?"

It would take around twenty-five minutes for me to get to the location where the fight was being held and I had planned to spend all that time mentally preparing myself. Unfortunately, twenty minutes into the drive I realized my thoughts hadn't trailed far from the two mechs in the truck with me.

Sunstreaker sat in the passenger seat beside me in a bored manner with his elbow propped up on the door and his head leaning against his fist. The center seat between us, that was usually leaning down so I could rest my elbow against it, was pushed up so Sideswipe could rest his head at the top of the small seat while sitting in the back. It was strange to see the holoforms at the same time. When they were apart the two of them seemed vastly different, but seeing them in the same area while both of them made the same solemn expression, they could most definitely be seen as brothers. Not twins, but brothers nonetheless.

I heaved a sigh and forced myself to not think about them or how weird it was that they were with me and that they were also going to see me fight a marathon. My mind finally drifted away from the twins beside me, but it went to an even worse topic. I started to think about the kids.

"Are you worried about fighting?" Sideswipe suddenly spoke up. My hands tightened around the steering wheel as I pulled into the clearing filled with dozens of trucks and cars surrounding an old factory. This was a bigger crowd than usual. Typically around 15 people showed up for a fight. Maybe twenty would show up to watch a marathon, but tonight it looked like everyone involved with the ring was here. "Aj?"

I parked the car close to the abandoned factory and stared at the light shining out from under the main front doors, "No, I'm not." Fights never worried me. Marathons never worried me. However, I was very worried about which version of me would come home to the kids. "Let's go."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker moved their alt forms to the back seat of the car before the three of us walked toward the factory. This was a new fighting location that they used because I had never been to this one before. I could hear the muted sound of people yelling and cheering and it only grew louder when we stepped inside. Powered lamps lighted up the concrete area, but nobody was in sight. Sideswipe lightly nudged me with his elbow then pointed to a staircase hidden off to the side. The stairs led down to the basement of the building and with each step we took it got louder and louder.

As we reached the bottom, my heart began to beat faster in excitement. I knew how dangerous this was, I knew what I was putting on the line, and I knew what I was risking, but a part of me couldn't help but be excited at the thought of the fights that were quickly approaching. My fingers clenched into fists and my lips twitched up slightly in the corner. This wasn't sparring with Sunstreaker or working out with a punching bag. This was an honest to God brawl.

A large man stood off to the side in front of a large door where all the noise was coming from. The three of us walked up to him, and I saw him snicker to himself at the sight of us. I glanced back at the mechs beside me and realized how out of place they would look. They were wearing the clothes they went out in public with. Most of the guys that usually showed up to these things were in beer stained shirts and torn up, muddy jeans. Sunstreaker especially would stick out like a sore thumb.

"Can I help you?" The man scoffed when we came to a stop in front of him.

"I'm Frank's girl." I replied in the calmest tone I could manage. It took everything in me not to let the excitement leak out into my voice. Despite my efforts, I could still feel the twins staring at me. The man nodded and then looked to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, "They're with me."

He paused briefly before opening the doors for us. The moment the metal doors swung open I was hit in the face by a wall of sound. The room was filled with people yelling, laughing, and cheering loudly. Large floodlights all around the room brightly lit it up, and the entire place reeked of sweat, alcohol, and smoke. By the end of the night I was sure the smell of blood would fill the small room.

The room itself was no larger than the first floor of our entire house. In the center was the fighting ring and it annoyed me to see that a silver chain link fence with two doors, one on the left and one on the right caged in the area. The one good thing that could be said about the pit back in New York was that it was an open ring. People surrounded the fenced off area ready for what was to come while others sat on metal bleachers further back where they could see the action over the heads of the people at the fence.

Eyes began to drift towards us. Some were mocking the twins appearance while others lingered on me. The twins stepped closer so I was trapped between the two of them.

"Aj, baby! You made it!" Frank's voice rose above the noise. I glanced off to the side to see the asshole rubbing his hands together and coming over, "Who are these guys?" Before I could reply his eyes widened, "Did they come to fight? We have some slots to fill!"

"No they-" Sideswipe pulled me back and both mechs looked at me, "What?"

"Let us fight." Sunstreaker blurted.

I narrowed my eyes, "You guys? That would hardly be fair for the poor idiot they set up against you."

Sideswipe shook his head, "We'll go easy on them, but if we fight then we can earn the money for you. You don't have to fight."

"Boss would find out if I didn't fight." I replied simply.

"Aj-" Sunstreaker began, but I shook my head in response.

Frank grinned, "So are they interested?"

"I came to fight, Frank, not them." I snapped, "Let's get this going."

"Alright, alright!" He chuckled and glanced at the twins one last time, "Just remember, I get 40% of your earnings." I narrowed my eyes at him in a glare and he shook his head, "Ok, ok. 20%. Just like old times. You're entering in on the left side."

Sideswipe let his hand lightly wrap around my wrist as the three of us forced our way through the crowds to the left side of the cage. I expected Sunstreaker to complain about the filthy humans surrounding him, but the mech didn't say a word. He just kept the scowl on his face.

"Ladies and gentleman", Someone began to speak over a microphone and the crowd got louder in excitement, "We have royalty in the house tonight! Queen Aj has graced us with her presence and she'll be competing in a ten fight marathon tonight!" My eyes widened in surprise. Ten fight? Shit. I had told that sleaze ball that I didn't want anything higher than a five-fight marathon. My teeth clenched together in frustration. As exciting as a ten fight marathon was, my common sense was strong enough to tell me this was a bad idea.

Sunstreaker leaned toward me until his face was only a couple inches away, "You alright?"

"Fine." I replied and took my jacket off, letting it hang over my forearm.

The announcer continued, "Will someone dethrone Queen Aj tonight or will she prove herself after all these years!?"

Sideswipe leaned in as well so now I had both twins in my personal space, but at the moment I didn't mind. He shook his head, "They call you Aj? I thought everyone here knew you as Aimee?"

"Aj was _born_ here, Sides." I replied and quickly began to tape my hands. "I didn't like being called Aimee during the fights, so I started going by Aj."

Sunstreaker took the jacket away from me so I could tape my hands better, "Why?"

"Aimee is…She didn't belong here. You hear that name and you think of sororities and pretty dresses and normal girl stuff." I sighed and finished taping my hands. I flexed my fists a few times to make sure everything was right then I stuffed the tape into my sweatpants pocket and took the sweatpants off entirely so I was left in my sports bra and spandex shorts. Someone in the crowd wolf whistled and I watched as Sunstreaker's head snapped around to glare at them. Sideswipe took the pants from me and I continued, "Aimee is soft and fluff and sweet. Aj… Aj is _bloody_ knuckles and _broken_ teeth."

The announcer cheered, "Are you ready for round one!?"

The twins glanced at each other before looking back at me. Sunstreaker shook his head, "You don't have to do this."

I rolled my eyes, "You said you wouldn't try and stop me!"

"We're not trying to stop you." Sideswipe shook his head, "We're just giving you your options one last time. If you tell us you're going to fight for sure, we'll leave it at that."

"Why?" I questioned in honest curiosity.

"If you feel like this is something you have to do, then we have no right to stop you." Sunstreaker replied, "Some battles can only be fought by certain people. If this is one of those, then we'll stand out here and support you instead."

Support? That was an odd concept. I would have support during this fight? Honestly, I didn't even know what that meant. Kyle used to cheer for me during some fights if he wasn't fighting himself. Is that what they meant? They'd cheer?

"I can do this." I nodded and tucked the ends of my laces into my shoes before checking my hair one last time. "I _need_ to do this."

The twins nodded and Sideswipe set his hand on my shoulder, "Just remember what we showed you in the garage, ok? Stay fast, but-"

"Don't pull back your punches." Sunstreaker finished.

I nodded and the announcer spoke again, "Fighters enter the ring!"

The moment I passed through that chain link door, things became clear to me. Nothing else mattered except the girl standing across from me in a bright pink tank top and black shorts. I took in all the details I needed to know. She was a bit taller than me and based off her pose she was a leftie. Brown eyes glared at me from across the small space as the crowd shook the fence in excitement.

My breaths were slow and calm. I second guessed myself in the house all the time. Was I making the right choice? Was I setting a good example for the kids? Was I worthy of the love they offered? As I stood here though, there wasn't a worry in my mind. This is where I belonged. This is where everything made sense. A slow grin spread across my features and I watched as the girl across from me narrowed her eyes and gulped in worry. She should be worried. They all should be.

" _And here we go_!" The announcer's last word was barely out of his mouth when I lunged forward with my first attack.

The first four fights took less than a total of ten minutes. I put down each opponent that came out to face me, barely breaking a sweat. The girls that entered this ring were nothing compared to the ones I faced back in New York. It was actually beginning to bore me, but that ended when the fifth girl entered the ring.

She was taller than me by at least a foot and her arms looked like she had to be on some form of steroids or something. I was vaguely aware that Sideswipe's voice echoed behind me, but I didn't register any of their words. They had said they'd be here to support me, but I didn't hear them cheering. Maybe I just couldn't hear their voices over the roar of the large, drunken crowd.

"Round five! Reigning Queen Aj versus Madeline!"

I wiped a bit of blood off my busted lip where one girl had gotten lucky and then grinned, "Madeline? That's a cute name." The woman didn't seem phased by my words. Typically, I didn't bother being a smartass during a fight, but the excitement of being in the ring after all this time was getting to me.

"And _fight_!"

Madeline let out a roar of her own as she charged at me. I ducked under one of her large arms and began to send a round of well-aimed punches to her kidneys. She flinched and stumbled forward, but quickly whipped around to launch another attack. My grin only grew at that point when I realized this was going to be a real fight.

Kick after kick, punch after punch, the two of us went after each other with the intent to maim. My attacks were beginning to slow her down, but she had managed to hit me hard enough in the face to send blood gushing from my nose and down my face. I forced her to take the defense as I threw a combination of attacks at her. It was working, and I was about to break through her slowing defense when my eyes caught sight of an eleven year old girl sitting outside the arena on the bleachers. Her long, slightly curled blonde hair was pulled out of her face and her big blue eyes watched the fight intently. My eyes narrowed in confusion. Who would bring a young girl to a fight like this? Suddenly, I pictured Taylor sitting in the bleachers staring at me rather than her. My breath caught in my throat and that hiccup in my movements gave Madeline enough of a window to shove me back. My mind snapped back to the fight just in time for my opponent to lift her leg and kick me in the chest. All the air left my chest as I hit ground in a daze.

" _Get up_!" A familiar voice roared above the insanely loud crowd. I recognized it as Sunstreaker right before I realized I was in a very bad position. Quickly, I rolled to the side as Madeline brought her foot down where my head had been. I jumped to my feet and took advantage of the awkward stance she was still in. Two well-thrown punches and she hit the ground. The crowd and I waited for her to get back up, but she stayed down with a groan hanging off her lips.

My hand went to my sore chest as I tried to suck in more air. The crowd was deafening and my head was still spinning. This wasn't right. I was ok. My eyes shot back over to the little girl to see she no longer looked like Taylor.

"Aj!" My head snapped over to see the cage door was open and Sideswipe was waving me over. I hesitated a moment before forcing myself to rush over. Before I could even open my mouth, Sideswipe wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and began to use a damp rag to wipe the blood from my face. "You're doing good. Only five fights left."

Sunstreaker grabbed my hands and began to rip the tape off. I watched in confusion as he began to check each knuckle for extensive damage before rewrapping my hands with fresh tape. "You can't afford to get distracted like that. I don't know what you saw, but if that happens again there's no guarantee you'll be able to get the upper hand back."

"I…" I began to speak when Sideswipe pulled away and threw the rag off to the side. He picked up a water bottle and a small bucket.

"Do you have blood in your mouth still?"

After a confused pause, I grabbed the bottle and poured some into my mouth. The first sip I swished around and then spat into the bucket to rid my mouth of the excess blood, and then I began to chug the rest.

"Not too fragging much." Sunstreaker scolded and finished my left hand.

Sideswipe took the bottle away from me and both mechs glanced over me one last time as if checking for any other injuries they could take care. Was this…? Was this the support they were talking about? I've never had anyone rewrap my hands or wipe the blood from my face. That was something I had to do between fights if I bothered to do it at all.

"Now it's time for our mid marathon show!" The announcer cheered as five scantily dressed women walked out into the ring as music began to play. They'd dance around for a bit and then a couple men would fight. After that the rest of the marathon would continue. Sideswipe sat down and then pulled me in his lap. The three of us sat off to the side outside the gate door. They were quiet, though I had a feeling they were speaking to each other over their bond. An hour later the dancing and men fights were over. Sunstreaker had watched the guys fight briefly, but apparently he was unimpressed and didn't watch much.

"Who's ready for round six!?" The announcer's voice came back as the three of us rose to our feet.

Sideswipe offered me a grin, "You're doing good, babe. Just keep pushing."

"Be smart out there." Sunstreaker said firmly. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out so instead I just nodded before backpedaling back into the ring where all eyes were on me again. My mind was foggy. I was thinking about the kids again, I was thinking about the two mechs supporting me.

"Queen Aj has survived five rounds so far, but can she push through round six?!"

I did push through round six, but it was only after I got my head on straight again. The fifth fight had thrown me off, but I was back in working order. My mind was clear and I was having fun again. Round seven and eight were good opponents, but by the end of it I was beginning to feel the effects of all the fights before it. It didn't help that the fighters were getting better and better. At this rate, the tenth fighter would no doubt be their best. I sucked in a sharp breath as round nine was beginning. I could feel my face throbbing from where I had gotten hit fairly hard, but it probably wouldn't leave too big of a mark.

"Queen Aj versus the Rhino!"

They obviously called this woman the rhino because of how thickly she was built. At first glance I had thought she might've been a man. The fight began and I quickly realized that my attacks barely even seemed to affect her. Rather than let that worry me I took a deep breath and slipped into defense. She was strong, but that just meant she'd get tired faster. I dodged attack after attack and kept on the balls of my toes so I could duck under her assaults and dance around her.

Then I made the worst mistake I could make. My mind had been clear and I hadn't been distracted again, but I had gotten tired and I paused in one spot for a second too long. The Rhino slammed her fist into my face and it sent me straight to the ground. Pain flooded my body, but before I could even react she was on top of me. I threw my arms up to try and block the attacks that came, but it wasn't good enough. Her fist slammed into my face over and over again. Once I managed to get my arms into place, despite the pain, to try and protect my face her attacks went lower and she began to punch me on either side of the ribcage. I let out a loud cry of pain that I couldn't hold back and the crowd erupted in cheers.

"Who's the queen now?" The woman spat in my face as she tried to bring her elbow down onto my face.

I clenched my teeth and began to rock my hips in an attempt to free myself. It wasn't working because of her heavy weight sitting on top of me. I sucked in a deep breath and moved my arms away from my face. She took this opportunity to slam her fist into my features one more time, and I used this chance to push her with my hands. It caused her to shift off balance just enough to where I could rock her off of me and onto the floor. My knee pinned down her arm at her elbow and I kicked out my foot to catch her in the teeth.

The kick dazed her long enough to give me the time to climb on top of her and begin my own assault. I wasn't heavy enough to weigh her down for very long, but at this point it didn't matter. Punch after punch I put all of my weight and energy into it. All my anger towards everyone in my life went into each attack. I wasn't just punching the Rhino. I was hitting Boss. I was hitting Nicholas. I was hitting Kyle.

I didn't stop when she begged for me to. I didn't stop when I couldn't see her features through the bright red blood. I only stopped when her body went limp and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. The crowd had grown quiet and all I could hear was her soft pained breaths and my own ragged ones.

Slowly, I rose to my feet. The tape around my hands were soaked with blood. I glared down at her, " _I'm the motherfucking queen!"_

At my words the crowd lost it in wild cheers. They shook the fence and I grinned at them with red teeth. I spat out a mouthful of blood onto the concrete as a group of men came in to pull the Rhino out. The crowd was chanting my name and every syllable buzzed in my brain. There was an ache that surrounded me, but I felt no pain. I was on cloud nine. Everything was clear and I felt alive. I let out a cheer along with them as I waited for the next opponent to come out and face me. I was unstoppable. I wanted to see who they had waiting for me as the tenth opponent. I dared the woman to come out and try and stop me right now.

"Queen Aj has only one person in her way from proving herself!" The announcer screamed into the microphone, "Send her out! Send out Kaylee! Send out the rookie!"

The words barely registered in my mind, but they hit me like a bullet when I watched the girl walk into the arena with her eyes narrowed in a glare and determination dripping rom her features. She couldn't have been older than sixteen years old. Her long brown hair was braided down her back and her green eyes stared me down as she tried to hide any and all of her fears. The crowd chanted. They wanted more blood, but I was frozen where I stood.

I shook my head, "No." My voice was hoarse and raw, "She's a kid."

"I'm _not_ a kid!" The girl barked in response. I ignored her and moved toward the fence where I saw Frank standing.

My hands griped the silver chains in support, "I'm _not_ fighting her, Frank. This is _over_."

"It's not over, Aj." Frank snapped, "I don't- I mean, _you_ don't get any money until you beat her. If you don't fight then you _lose_."

"Frank!"

"Fight, you bitch!" Frank shouted back and shook the fence.

I backpedaled away from the fence and turned back around to look at the girl and my eyes widened. Kaylee, the rookie, was no longer standing there. Now all I saw was a short teenager with messy brown hair and big blue eyes. She looked determined to fight, but the fear was evident in her eyes. She didn't belong here. She should've been at home with her older sister. I saw _me_.

"And fight!" The announcer yelled.

Young Aimee rushed forward and swung at me in controlled, but inexperience attacks. It was the fighting style you saw in a training gym not a fighting ring like this. I ducked under kicks and lunged away from punches, but I didn't dare throw one of my own.

" _Stop_ _running_!" Young Aimee screamed at me with desperate eyes. "Fight me, damn it!" I continued to dodge and the crowd began to boo at the two of us. She shook her head and stamped her foot down, "I said fight me!"

I froze where I was as her fist hit me in the side and I stumbled back. My eyes drifted back up to her. Young Aimee didn't want to be here. She thought this was her only option. She thought this was the only way to run from the pain. The only way to feel _anything_.

The thought of throwing the fight occurred to me, but before I could really accept it I thought of the three kids sleeping at home and I thought of Boss cruel smile in New York. I couldn't lose this fight.

Without thinking about my actions, I threw myself forward and slammed my fist into her face. She crumpled to the ground, not expecting the attack. A moment passed before Young Aimee shakily rose again with a busted lip and steel in her eyes. I let out a cry and hit her again sending her back to the floor, but once again she rose to her feet and lunged at me with attacks of her own. I dodged a punch and kicked her in the chest sending her flying into the fence and then falling to the ground face first. The crowd cheered and I stared at her with a horrible taste in my mouth.

Just when I thought it was all over she pushed herself back up and weakly stood. I shook my head angrily, "Stay down! Just _stay down!_ "

Young Aimee lifted her head and looked me dead in the eye, "Never."

Something in me snapped and I lunged forward with a superman punch. This time when she went down she hit the floor as someone else. Kaylee laid on the ground with a broken nose and fluttering eyelids. I stared at her with a bewildered gaze and she looked back at me with her scared green eyes before she fell unconscious. The crowd cheered happily and the announcer happily called me true royalty, but I felt numb. What had I done? What the fuck had I done? This is where things were supposed to make sense, but I had never felt this confused before. I had never felt this lost until now. The fighting ring was where I belonged, but for the first time I felt like an outcast here.

Pain washed over me suddenly and I felt my hands began to tremble. Quickly, I turned on my heel and rushed out of the cage without focusing my attention on anyone. Someone was calling my name. A lot of people were cheering my name. The announcer approached me and handed me an envelope filled with money. I was vaguely aware that he said the number 10,000, but I couldn't comprehend it. I took the envelope and rushed toward the exit.

Frank slid in front of me, "Where do you think you're going? 20% of that is mine." I reached into the envelope and pulled out a one hundred dollar bill then shoved it into his chest. He grabbed the money greedily, but glared, "Give me my entire fucking share, you bit-"

I grabbed him by the collar and said between clenched teeth, "Get out of my way you slag filled scum."

His eyes widened as I shoved him aside and continued my escape. I sprinted out of the room, up the stairs, and out of that dirty factory into the open air. It was still dark, but I had been in there for hours. I had no doubt that morning light would be here soon to shine down on my sins.

I stumbled to the truck and tried to pull the door open, but I suddenly realized I didn't have the keys. I didn't have the keys, the cold air was biting at my bare skin, and my face hurt like a bitch. A frustrated scream erupted from my throat as my shaking hands clawed at the truck door. I wanted to be as far away from here as possible. I wanted to be in bed sleeping without the memory of those scared green eyes burned into my brain.

"Aj." The voice was soft and I barely even registered it. The truck suddenly clicked unlocked and I didn't hesitate to climb into the bed of the truck. The envelope of money fell to the floor of the cabin as I sat in the driver's seat with my eyes tightly shut. My fingers dug into the seat as I tried to stop them from shaking. My hands always shook after fights, but this was worse. This was so much worse. My entire body was shaking and it felt like I was unraveling at the seams. Fighting was supposed to fix everything. It was supposed to make me feel whole, and yet here I was slipping through the cracks of my mind. A shaky gasp escaped my throat, but my eyes remained dry.

Warm hands pressed against my shoulder and my eyes snapped open in fear. Sunstreaker stared back at me, and I had nothing to say. There was nowhere I could hide. So I just stayed where I was and mentally let myself fall apart. He slowly pushed me toward the middle seat and then pulled himself into the driver's seat. Another warm hand made me glance to my right to see Sideswipe had taken a seat in the passenger side.

"Aj?" He probed carefully.

I shook my head, "I-I-I didn't want to- I can't- There's no control. I'm _sorry_."

My eyes shot back down to my violently trembling hands. Even my legs were shaking and it wasn't from the cold temperature. Apparently, support didn't stop in that horrible factory. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe reached out for my hands at the same time. Sunstreaker laced his fingers through my left hand as Sideswipe laced his own through my right hand. They gripped me tightly and pushed even closer so their bodies were pressed against me. Legs against legs, arms against arms, and finally their heads leaning against my own. They were keeping me from shaking. They were keeping me from falling apart.

Sunstreaker drove us home. I guess being able to turn into a car gave the mech at least an idea of how to drive a human car while in holoform. Honestly, I couldn't tell if he was a good driver or a bad driver because I spent all twenty five minutes of the drive home with my face buried in Sideswipe's shoulder and my eyes shut tightly. I was hurting bad now. Every injury was screaming at me, but still the thing that hurt most was that memory. I kept imagining Kaylee's terrified gaze. At this rate I was sure that every time I closed my eyes I'd picture her.

She was just like me. She was a kid who got thrown into the deep end and was just trying to keep her mouth above water long enough not to drown. She was just some desperate little girl that didn't belong there and I had hurt her. I had hit her over and over until she fell and didn't get back up. I was just as bad as the people I swore I'd never become. The thought made me feel sick to my stomach again and my hands clenched into fists against my thighs.

Sideswipe set his own hand on top of mine, and though that kept me from making the palms of my hands bleed from my nails, it didn't change anything.

"You ready to go in?" Sunstreaker asked breaking the silence. I forced my eyes to open and when they didn't open all the way I realized they had began to swell shut. The left side was worse than the right, but throbbing didn't help. The sun was peeking over the horizon and the dashboard said it was 6:30 in the morning.

I nodded, "Yeah. Can't sit out here forever."

Sideswipe looked over my head, "I'll do it."

The phrase was incomplete and I wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about until Sideswipe lightly pushed me over the seat and toward his brother. He then jumped out and opened the back door to grab the red and yellow Lamborghinis. Sunstreaker wrapped his arms around me carefully and then lifted me out of the truck. It startled me and I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck in response.

"I can walk." I replied, "My legs are fine."

"Your knees have bruising from where you fell in fight seven." He replied and headed toward the front of the house.

"That wouldn't keep me from walking."

"Just shut up, femme."

I didn't argue any further and instead let my head rest against his shoulder. Arguing took effort and right now I was running on empty. Sideswipe jogged around us to open the front door, but before he could the front door swung open and all out eyes widened in surprise.

"Aj, are you alright?" Wheeljack questioned. He had gone through his upgrade obviously and now stood tall in the doorframe. The mech looked only slightly shorter than Sideswipe and Sunstreaker when they were in their true forms. Wheeljack stepped back and ushered forward, "Get in, let's get you to Ratchet."

"Jackie, you're-" I began as Sunstreaker stepped into the house after Sideswipe.

"I am now 6'7, but we can speak about that later. You're injured." He replied as his eyes narrowed in concern. The navy blue color was only that much more noticeable at this height. Sunstreaker carried me into the kitchen and set me down in one of the chairs. As soon as he placed me down, the holoform disappeared and the yellow car that Sideswipe had set down began to transform until the real Sunstreaker stood a couple feet away. I kept my eyes on him, but at the sound of approaching feet my gaze drifted. Soundwave and Megatron stepped in, but only a few steps behind them were all the autobots.

It was dead silent as they all took in my appearance with a variety of emotions. I cleared my throat and spoke up, "Where are the seekers and Barricade?"

"That's the first thing you have to say!?" Ratchet roared as he stomped in. His heated glare made me tense up slightly.

Megatron's gaze traced over me, "You look like slag, organic. I thought you knew how to fight."

"You should see the other guy." I replied in a lighthearted manner. Without even thinking about it, my natural reaction to things was jokes and fake smiles. Fake it 'till you make it, right? Megatron chuckled at my words and Optimus shot a glare in his direction.

"You can question her later." Ratchet spoke up suddenly, "If you aren't Wheeljack, I want you out of the kitchen."

There were a few who looked like they thought about arguing, but Ratchet squashed those thoughts quickly. I stood, ignoring Ratchet who was telling me to sit back down, and took a step toward Jazz who was beginning to turn around, "Wait, Jazz."

The mech turned back around to face me and I could tell he was forcing himself to look less angry than he felt. Strangely enough, I could also tell the anger wasn't directed at me. "Yeah, sweetspark?"

"I wanted to say thank you." I shakily got down onto my knees so I was closer to his height.

Jazz shoulders tensed, "Don't thank meh. Look at you. Your injuries. Ah shouldn' be thanked."

"Sides and Sunstreaker told me that you ordered them to come with me after they cleaned me up a bit in the car." I replied, "I may look like hell, but I'd be so much worse if they hadn't been there." My voice caught in my throat and it took me a second before I could speak again, "So, thanks, Jazz. Thanks."

The visored mech's facial features softened slightly. I reached forward with a flinch and pulled him into my arms. It was a bit strange to hug someone his size, but at this point I didn't care. His hand rubbed the side of my neck, where he could reach, briefly before I set him back down.

"Are you done?" Ratchet questioned. I forced a smile and moved to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor where Ratchet could reach me. Wheeljack sat down beside me, towering over me even in this position, and Jazz walked out of the room.

* * *

 

Optimus enjoyed the company of the humans he had met in this strange alternate universe. He found that humans in general were an interesting race to be around. Even back in his own world, he had been amazed at the small, young species. They're lives were a blink of an optic compared to their own, yet they spent that single vorn they had living with such passion and emotion. Humans felt so deeply about things and in many ways the race that seemed vastly different on the outside was a lot like Cybertronians.

So it came as no surprise to Optimus when he realized orns ago that he liked his new human allies. However, the Prime found himself to be quite startled when he turned the corner into the kitchen and saw Aj injured. He had been surprised at how angry it made him.

Her entire face was puffy and discolored. Both optics were swollen with bruises under and around them, but the left optic was nearly swollen shut. The left side of her face was also a deep purple color and the edge of her hair covered eye ridge was broken and bleeding. Aj's nose wasn't broken, but it was an inflamed color between her optics and there was evidence of blood around her nostrils. Her lip was busted and stained red with blood. As if her face wasn't bad enough, Optimus could see the purple and yellow bruises that were scattered down the side of her chassis.

Optimus knew he cared very much for these humans, but he hadn't expected to care this much.

" _What happened_?" The leader demanded to know once they all left the kitchen and drifted into the living room. He spoke in his natural language.

Sunstreaker stood in the living room doorway looking toward the kitchen, but Optimus was sure that he wouldn't be able to see anything he wanted to see. The yellow mech turned to face his commander, " _She fought. She won_."

" _She doesn't look like she won_." Bumblebee replied softly.

"They made her fight a youngling at the end." Sideswipe whispered. His holoform was sitting on the couch with his alt mode resting in his lap. He couldn't speak Cybertronian like the others around him right now so he made sure to keep his voice low.

Megatron stepped forward, " _And did she? Did she fight the youngling or did she turn away_?"

" _She tried to turn away_." Sunstreaker spoke up, but the look on his face suggested he wasn't completely in the conversation at the moment, " _But they wouldn't let her. She fought_."

Optimus watched as a sly smile spread across the Decepticon leader's faceplates. Megatron glanced over at Soundwave, and Optimus could tell they were having a private conversation.

Jazz entered the room and he stopped in front of Sunstreaker who had moved in some after realizing he wouldn't be able to see the people in the kitchen. Optimus watched as Jazz glared up at the frontliner.

" _I asked ya to convince 'er not to fight. You were supposed to stop 'er!_ " The saboteur barked in Cybertronian.

Sunstreaker glared down at him, " _Stop her? She wouldn't let us. We even tried to fight instead._ "

" _She's a human femme that weighs 132 pounds an' stands at only 5'3. You're tellin' meh that both you an' your twin couldn' stop 'er_?"

" _This was something she had to do_."

" _Do ya see what she looks like_?" Jazz spat, " _Do ya see 'er face? You an' your brother wanna be her guardians so bad, how 'bout ya keep 'er from getting' the slag beat out of 'er!_?"

Sunstreaker let out a growl and Sideswipe jumped out of his seat to wrap his holoform's hands around the yellow paint that covered him. Sideswipe didn't say anything out loud, but he must have done something because Sunstreaker scoffed and took a step away from both Jazz and his own brother.

Optimus continued to watch curiously.

"Something happened in the ring tonight." Sideswipe spoke softly and in a resolute tone. Optimus almost didn't recognize the mech. "She realized something after that last fight. Something in her _changed_. We don't know what or if it'll even work in our favor, but if Sunny and I had forced her to not fight that never would've happened."

Prowl chimed in, " _Are you claiming that what happened was for the best? That the injuries she maintained were the best course of action?_ "

Sideswipe sighed, "You make it sound horrible when you say it like that, Prowl."

"Then what you, Sideswipe, trying to say?" Grimlock demanded in plain English, "Speak _simple_."

" _You have to fight your own battles_." Sunstreaker spoke up in a bitter tone, but his gaze was focused on the kitchen again, " _How else are you supposed to grow and learn_?"

Optimus had been startled this morning by how much he realized he cared for these humans, but he was even more surprised by how a few of his own soldiers had taken a liking to them. To her.

* * *

 

"It seems none of your ribs are broken, but-" Wheeljack began.

I cut him off, "But they're _bruised_. I know. I can _feel_ it."

"You can feel it?" Wheeljack questioned as he pulled his hand away from her side. Now that Wheeljack was big, he could do what was harder for Ratchet. The medic stood off to the side observing and ordering as Wheeljack bandaged the wounds that need bandaging and checked for any worse internal injuries.

I nodded, "I know what broken ribs feel like, and I know what bruised ones feel like. There are definitely a few bruised on the left side."

It was easy to tell because every time I took in a deep breath it hurt like hell. The check up continued for a few more moments before the silent treatment became unbearable. Wheeljack was talking to me in a friendly manner, but Ratchet hadn't said a word to me since the others left. He just bossed Wheeljack around.

"Come on, Ratchet. Out with it." I blurted.

"What?" Ratchet snapped, obviously in a sour mood.

I began to shake my head, but stopped when I realized I had a growing headache and that moving made everything worse, "Aren't you gonna yell at me?"

Ratchet didn't answer immediately and Wheeljack made a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat. He stood up and mumbled something about checking on the kids before leaving the kitchen. The silence carried on for another minute before Ratchet finally spoke, "In many ways, you're like the twins."

I chuckled, "If that was supposed to come across as shocking, you missed your mark."

Ratchet ignored my comment and continued, "I spend most of my time putting those two idiots back together. In fact, I could probably rebuild them from scratch with my optics closed." He paused, "Every injury they've ever had can be sorted into one of three categories." I listened intently as he began to list them off, "The first is minor battle injuries from completing missions, the second is when they're being two-bit morons, and the third is when they come back from missions that they have to face. Missions that only they can accomplish." Ratchet shook his head, "The first kind requires me to patch them up and occasionally hit them from being so careless. The second kind involves yelling and threating and more hitting."

"What about the third kind?" I asked softly.

Ratchet didn't answer immediately, but his gaze softened, "Sometimes, things are better left unsaid."

I nodded in understanding. This was the third kind. I knew how important it was for me to stand in the ring, the twins knew it, and now I knew that Ratchet understood it as well. The sun had risen entirely and that meant the kids would probably be up any minute. I had done a lot of thinking in the last couple minutes, as Wheeljack and Ratchet looked me over. I had finally made my decision.

"Are you going to tell the younglings?" Ratchet questioned.

I chuckled, "You mean tell them the real reason why their Aunt looks like she went through a blender?" Ratchet didn't respond and I nodded, "Yeah. I am."

Ratchet pressed his lips together, "I understand it would be extremely difficult to hide the truth now, but why? Why tell them the truth now?"

"I…" I paused and tried to find the right words to use, "When my dad left, he never told Aubrey or me why. Did he leave because every time he saw us he was reminded of mom and just couldn't take it? Was it because we weren't good enough? Did he want a new life?" My voice shook briefly, but I regained control, "Was it _my_ fault?" I paused and rubbed the back of my neck as my eyes fluttered slightly from exhaustion, "It hurt more not knowing than it did him being gone."

"Youngling…" Ratchet began, but I didn't let him finish.

I lifted my gaze to stay on him as I forced a tight smile, "I'm going to leave them. I know I promised that I wouldn't, but one day I _have_ to leave them. Whether it be because Aubrey comes home and realizes I'm the absolute _worst_ influence on the kids and kicks me out or my shitty past catches up with me again and threatens the kids, I don't know. _I don't know_." My voice drifted slightly. "What I _do_ know is that there is _no_ ending to this story where we all get to be one big happy family, Ratchet. So I'm going to tell them. I'm going to tell them because I _want_ them to know. So that way, when I do break my promise and disappear they don't spend _years_ of their life wondering if it was their _own damn fault_."

My voice broke at the end of my sentence and I felt my eyes begin to water in frustration. The kids were going to hate me. I had done so much to try and hide this side of me from them, and now I had to tell them it was all a lie. I wasn't in school to be a doctor. I wasn't a good person. I was a liar.

Ratchet set his hand against my knee, but I could barely focus on his comfort because I could hear the kids talking upstairs. Their excited voices drifted down the stairs as they spoke to the now large Wheeljack. Soon they'd be down here and I'd lose the people I cared about more than anything. Would they not even want to be around me anymore? Granny would let them stay with her, no doubt.

The voices grew louder and the sound of footsteps running down the stairs joined in. I nodded at Ratchet who began to walk out of the kitchen and then took one last deep breath. My side burned, but the physical pain was pushed to the back burner right now. I pushed myself up so I was sitting on my knees in the middle of the floor.

"Slow down! Wait a minute!" Wheeljack called, but the kids turned the corner and froze in the doorway. Their eyes were as wide as dinner plates as they stared at me. Taylor took a step toward me, but I lifted my hand and shook my head. Wheeljack glanced at us before backpedaling into the living room.

"A-Aj?" Tyler was the first to blurt, " _Aj, your face_!"

"What _happened_ to you?" Peter questioned.

Taylor looked like she was about to cry, "Are you ok, Aj? _Aj_?"

"Should I get Ratchet?" Tyler asked looking from me then back to his older brother.

" _No_." I forced out, "Ratchet was already here. I'm fine, but I need to talk to you guys." The kids didn't reply and they didn't move from where they stood, "I lied to you guys about me."

"About _what_?" Peter asked and I watched as his eyes narrowed in skepticism. This was the little boy who didn't want me here. The one with trust issues that stemmed from an absentee father and people always leaving him. He had put his trust in me and now here I was pulling it out from under him.

My bottom lip quivered, but I forced myself to continue, "I'm not in school. I'm not learning to be a doctor." The small twins glanced to Peter and then back to me, "I'm… Do you remember what Sideswipe and Sunstreaker used to do? How they fought in the ring for money?" The kids nodded. "That's kind of what I do."

"You're a _gladiator_?" Tyler asked with a shake of his head.

"Not exactly." I said quickly, "It's not the exact same, but I…I _fight_ people for _money_. I work for a _very bad_ man that I owe a _lot_ of money to."

Peter frowned, "You _hurt_ people?"

I didn't want to answer that because the answer to that question was something I wished they didn't have to know, "Yeah. I do. I've hurt a lot of people."

"But…but you're _hurt_ , Aj." Taylor shook her head.

"I went to a fight last night, and I won, but this was…this was what it cost." I mumbled and tugged at the jacket that I had pulled over my shoulders before the kids came in. I pulled the zipper up higher so they wouldn't see the rest of my injuries.

Peter's face twisted in confusion, "No. _No_! You're supposed to be the _good_ guy."

"I'm sorry." I said with downcast eyes.

"You're supposed to be an _Autobot_!" Peter yelled in frustration and I flinched at his words.

" _I'm sorry_." I repeated and lifted my eyes to them, "I'm _so_ sorry, but you _have_ to listen to me. You _can't_ let this ruin you. You _can't_ shut people out just because of me, and-"

Peter glared at me, "Why _should_ we listen to you? _You_ _lied_! Did-…Do you even _want_ to be here with us? Do you even really _like_ us?"

My eyes widened and I shook my head in disbelief, "I _love_ you. I love you kids, more than _anything_ , don't you _ever_ question that." I spoke firmly and watched as Taylor and Tyler grabbed each other's hands. "I'm a screw up. I make mistake after mistake, but coming here and staying with you kids was the _best_ decision I've ever made. You three mean the _world_ to me, and I don't- I don't even know how to fully explain to you how much I care about you guys."

"Aj-" Taylor said softly.

"You have _every_ right to hate me." I pushed myself up slightly so I wasn't sitting on the back of my legs, but I remained on my knees, "You can hate me for the rest of your life, but I'll _never_ stop caring. I'll _never_ stop protecting you, and I'm so _sorry_ that I lied. I'm _so, so sorry_."

There was a pause that filled the entire house and it was deafening. I didn't know what to expect. Would the kids scream at me? Rush up the stairs and lock their doors? Never speak to me again? Honestly, I deserved all that and more. My eyes darted to Taylor and Tyler and then to Peter. The twins glanced over to their brother in question as their eyes watered.

"If you want, I can call Granny. Y'all can stay with her until your mom comes back. I'd understand." I explained.

Peter's face scrunched up and his teeth clenched as he tried to bite back tears. Suddenly, he was running toward me and my first thought was that he was going to hit me. Never did I expect him to wrap his arms around my shoulders and cling to me with tears choking him up, "No, Aj. I wanna stay with _you_. Don't go. _I love you_."

Seconds later I was hit by two more smaller forms that wrapped themselves around me while yelling that they didn't want to stay with Granny. They were crying that they loved me, and suddenly I began to sob. There wasn't much that pushed me over into tears, but I couldn't hold it back. My arms wrapped around the kids as much as I could and I just sat in the middle of the kitchen floor crying and kissing the tops of their heads.

My decision had already been made, but now I was 100% sure about it.

I was done fighting in that stupid ring and I was done with Boss.

I was _never_ going back to New York.


	22. Stars

* * *

_"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." – Galileo Galilei_

* * *

 

Granny sat across the kitchen table from me and I could feel her eyes burning a hole in my skull. Wheeljack sat beside me drinking coffee out of a ceramic mug while I held a bag of frozen peas to my very sore face. The kids were upstairs getting ready for school, and they'd probably end up being a few minutes late this morning.

My eyes darted over to Wheeljack who was cheerily downing his fake energon. He always had to remove his mouth guard to do so, and it was weird seeing his chin and lips. It was even weirder now that he was huge and I could see the details. There was a scar that went from the edge of his left jawline to the middle of his chin. He caught sight of my stare and gave me a brief smile as if all was right in the world and there wasn't an old lady in the room that wanted my bruised and battered head on a plate. I returned the smile, though I was sure mine looked more like a grimace, before letting my eyes drift across the room to where Sunstreaker was leaning against the doorway staring at me. Quickly, I looked away awkwardly.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had both seen me in the ring and they hadn't exactly seen the greatest side of me. They saw me lose control, they saw me fall apart, and they saw me beat up a little girl. I was mortified and ashamed, and seeing either of them only increased those emotions tenfold.

Granny shifted in her seat and my eyes unconsciously glanced toward her, which was the worst mistake of my life. She hadn't shifted or lessened her glare so now I was stuck like a deer in the headlights. Before I could look away or play dead she spoke, "Aimee Jane Bradshaw, I _cannot_ believe you right now."

I sighed and slouched in my seat, "Granny-"

" _No_. You listen to me." She snapped, "This _has_ to end. If you keep this up you're gonna get yourself _killed_ and-"

"I'm done, Granny." I interrupted her rant with a sheepish look, "I'm done fighting."

Granny's glare softened to a look of disbelief. Wheeljack stiffened in his own seat beside me making the wooden chair creak under his weight. Even Sunstreaker, who I could see out of the corner of my eye, had shifted in his stance and narrowed his eyes in confusion. Granny shook her head, "What?"

"I'm done with the ring, with the pit, with Boss." I replied, "I'm not going back to New York. Ever." She waited patiently for a further explanation. I shifted the pack of peas on my face to cool down a different swollen area, "It hit me when I was fighting this morning, literally… so… yeah."

"Just like that?" Granny pressed.

"I only stayed because I thought that was the answer to my problems. Because I thought that's where I belonged." I replied.

The sound of the kids coming downstairs put our discussion on hold. Granny glanced over her shoulder before looking back at me with a hard gaze, "This conversation is _not_ over, and I'm still gonna whoop your butt for puttin' yourself in danger like that."

"Whoop my butt? _Really_?"

"Don't you sass me, Aimee Jane."

Tyler and Taylor were the first to come around the corner with their backpacks on and Peter was a few steps behind. All three kids had already eaten breakfast courtesy of Granny coming over with McDonald's.

"Do we have to go to school today?" Tyler whined as he sat down by the front door and began to put his tennis shoes on.

Peter added, "We're already late anyways."

"Yes, you do have to go to school." I answered and tossed the peas on the table before walking over to them. Sunstreaker followed me with his gaze, but I ignored him and bent down to tie Taylor's shoes for her.

"Will you be here when we get back?" Peter asked hesitantly as he pulled his own shoes on.

My hands froze on Taylor's laces as I lifted my eyes to look at all three kids. I could tell they were still wary about what I had told them. I didn't blame them one bit. It was a miracle in itself that they still wanted me around at all, and I planned on earning back all their trust even if it killed me in the process.

I nodded firmly, "I'll be here. I _promise_."

Granny cleared her throat, "Alright, kiddos, let's get goin' now. Say bye to your Aunt Aj."

All three kids gave me tight hugs that I returned before they rushed out to get into Granny's car that was parked in the driveway by the truck. Granny paused in the doorway and looked back at me, "Oh, right. I wanted to tell you. About the lunch date with the ladies-"

"That's today, isn't it?" I let out a fake groan, "It's a shame I can't make it on account of my face being purple and all."

Granny gave me a smug smile, "It got moved to next Tuesday. You'll be fine by then."

I sighed and watched as she closed the door behind her and left. Seconds later I heard the sound of a seeker warping and then suddenly Skywarp was standing on my shoulder, "Whoa! You look like slag, human. What the frag happened to you?"

With achy muscles, I grabbed him and tossed him down to the floor where Thundercracker and Starscream stood a few feet away. "Where have y'all been?"

"We were in recharge." Thundercracker replied as his eyes traced over the injuries on my face. "What happened to you?"

"I was in a fight. _Fights_."

Starscream chuckled, "It seems you aren't as good of a fighter as you claimed to be."

I was way too tired to deal with any of this, "I'm gonna take a shower and then I'm gonna crash. Don't burn the house down."

Without another word, I dragged myself up the stairs and toward my room to grab fresh clothes and a towel. The moment I stepped into the room, however, Ratchet was on my case, "What do you think you're doing, youngling?" I glanced over at the desk to see Ratchet, Prowl, and Jazz. The medic didn't even give me time to explain before he continued his rant, "You should be icing your injuries with the frozen vegetables."

"I was, Ratchet." I groaned and grabbed fresh undergarments from my drawer, "I iced my face, took some medicine-"

"What did you take? According to my research, human aspirin could work as a blood thinner and-"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "Work as a blood thinner which would worsen my bleeding and make my black eye worse. Yeah, I know. This isn't my first time being punched in the face, Ratchet." All three mechs glared at me after those words. I sighed, "I took ibuprofen, ok? Now I'm gonna take a super hot shower then I'm gonna sleep for like seven hours or something. Is that alright, medbot?"

"Sleep? Are you drowsy?" Ratchet stepped closer, "Any nausea or spots in your vision? Come closer so I can examine your optic for blood spots."

"I'm _fine_." I replied and grabbed some sweat pants and a loose tank top, "I'm drowsy because I went through ten fights last night. No nausea, no spotty vision, and my eyes are fine. Can I go?"

Ratchet opened his mouth, but Jazz set a hand on his shoulder, "Let the femme wash up, Ratch. I'm sure the hot water would do 'er good."

"Fine." Ratchet grumbled and I was already on my way out, "But not _too_ hot! And leave the door cracked in case we need to come in and help you!"

I crossed the hallway while shaking my head. Sideswipe stepped out of the office and gave me a grin, but I quickly stepped into the bathroom. Just to spite Ratchet, I shut the door louder than usual so he would be able to tell that I was purposely ignoring him. The medic meant well, but I was in no danger of blacking out or anything like that.

My eyes shot to the mirror so I could take in my appearance. The ice pack had already done a lot for me in the sense that the swelling under my eye had already began to disappear. The hideous purple and yellow color still remained though. My lip also looked pretty bad, but once I got rid of more of the dried blood I'm sure it'd look not so awful. During the car ride back, I had ripped all the tape off my hands. My knuckles didn't look that injured. They were mostly just bruised, but two of the knuckles on my right hand were busted and bleeding. I sighed and dug my fingers into my hair to take apart the braids and pull out the pins. I was really looking forward to this hot shower.

* * *

 

Sideswipe frowned at the closed bathroom door for only a nano klik longer before turning and heading down the stairs where he knew his brother was. He could hear Wheeljack in the kitchen talking to Soundwave and Starscream about the project that would be getting them home. Typically, the mech would accompany the famed engineer just so he would have backup while talking to the two cons, but at the moment the advantage was in Wheeljack's field. So instead, he turned left toward the living room where he could feel his brother.

The TV had been turned on and Grimlock was watching whatever movie was playing intently. Skywarp and Barricade were also watching, the seeker was sitting on top of the coffee table as Barricade sat under it, while Bumblebee and Bluestreak sat on the couch watching. Though the two autobots on the couch were in the middle of a conversation. Rather, than trying to listen in out of curiosity, Sideswipe's gaze drifted over to Sunstreaker who was sitting on the single seat couch with his optics closed and his servos resting behind his helm.

Sideswipe dropped down on the same couch Bumblebee and Bluestreak were sitting on and he kept his gaze on the screen and his faceplates neutral.

 _'She really is ignoring us.'_ Sideswipe sent the thought over his bond. It was a tad bit harder to feel everything in the bond while he was in holoform, but he had no doubt that some of his emotions conveyed over to his brother. Confusion. Irritation. Frustration. It all leaked from the essence of his spark that built up the holoform and to his brother.

_'Told you so.'_

Sideswipe's frustration only grew when he realized that Sunstreaker wasn't conveying any similar emotions over the bond. All the red mech could feel was a calm feeling. It didn't make any fragging sense. There were only a handful of times in their entire lives that Sunstreaker was the one doing the calming while Sideswipe lost it.

 _'She's_ ignoring _us, Sunny._ ' Sideswipe repeated and did his best to keep his holoform's lips from falling into a frown, ' _Did I- We do something wrong?'_

He had to have done something wrong. Didn't he always? Maybe he said something stupid or he pushed too hard? What had he done to upset her? He was in the middle of racking his processor for a memory of what he might have done when a flash of determination flared in the bond. Sideswipe glanced over at his brother to see that Sunstreaker had cracked open his optics to look at him.

 _'Not you. Not me. It's not our fault.'_ Sunstreaker spoke over the bond with a firm tone. Sideswipe's spark calmed some and he sunk in his seat slightly.

_'Still. Something happened. She's mad at us.'_

_'No, she's mad at herself.'_

Sideswipe's confusion only grew, ' _How do you know?'_

Sunstreaker sighed, ' _We saw her at her worst. Those last two fights. Think about it, Sides.'_

' _Oh_.' Sideswipe paused as it hit him. ' _It's like how we were at the end of our first Autobot battle. She's ashamed.'_ Sunstreaker didn't add anything else, but Sideswipe could feel his brother's agreement. Sideswipe sighed, ' _But I don't want her to think like that. We were getting along really well, finally, and I don't want that to stop.'_

The yellow mech was going to say something, Sideswipe could feel that, but before his brother could think a single word there was a sudden knock at the door. Everyone in the living room froze up in surprise and Sideswipe could hear the mechs in the kitchen grow silent.

Sunstreaker shifted forward and transformed in one fluid motion. His alt form drove under the coffee table as his holoform was activated. The twins shared a look before Sideswipe began to help the others slip away and find places to hide. As he moved to the back of the room he caught sight of Wheeljack, Soundwave, and Starscream slipping around the corner to head upstairs. He motioned for Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Grimlock to head toward the empty laundry room. Skywarp had warped away to Primus knows where and Barricade had changed to his own alt mode and drove into the downstairs bathroom.

Sideswipe turned as he heard his twin open the door. His brother's voice spoke up in the most charming way he could manage, "Joshua. How nice to see you again."

* * *

 

To go from tight spandex shorts to baggy sweat pants is one of the most freeing feelings in the word. I let out a relaxed sigh before slipping the tank top over my bra and bruised ribcage. The movement sent sharp pains through me making me bite my lip in response. Of course that only made the pain worse when my teeth touched the busted area. I let out a short cry of pain, which was followed by the door swinging open with Wheeljack standing in the doorway.

"Are you alright?" He questioned in a hushed tone.

I just stared at him in response for a moment, "Wha-What are you doing?"

"Ratchet told me to stay close. I heard you cry out. Is everything ok?" Wheeljack whispered again. How long had he been standing outside the door? I glanced down at myself and briefly thanked God that I had been fully dressed before Wheeljack came crashing in. I had gotten into the habit of not locking the doors because none of them had been tall enough to even use the doorknob. Still, it was kind of touching.

Another thought suddenly occurred to me as I lifted the towel to begin to dry my hair, "Why are you whispering, Jackie?"

"There is someone downstairs currently speaking to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe." Wheeljack replied like it was the simplest thing in the world. My eyes widened for a second before I rushed past Wheeljack and toward the stairs. He whispered after me, "Wait! Aj!"

I jogged down the stairs. There was no energy in me, but at this point the fear of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe talking to some random person off the street fueled me to go faster. I got to the bottom step and the only thing that kept me from whipping around the corner was the sound of three men laughing in the kitchen. If Wheeljack hadn't stopped chasing me a few steps back out of fear of being seen he would've collided into me at the abruptness of my stop.

"She's definitely _something_ , I'll admit that." Sideswipe chuckled.

Sunstreaker spoke up, "I would've _loved_ to see what she was like in high school."

"I bet." Josh's voice drifted through the air. He let out a low chuckle himself, "She's the same in a lot of ways. Sarcastic, protective of the people around her, and stubborn as all get out. She still thinks that a smile and pretending everything is alright will make her problems go away." My lips pressed together and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Something big is different though. I don't know how to explain it, but…it worries me."

"You're a good friend." Sunstreaker replied in a reassuring tone and it made me think that maybe I passed out in the shower and was hallucinating this entire thing. Sideswipe was usually an easygoing mech to talk to, but Sunstreaker? Good conversationalist is not the phrase I would use to describe him.

"Hmm." Josh hummed before clearing his throat, "So, Steve, Scott, you guys are brothers?"

The conversation took a different turn thanks to Josh and I let out a quiet sigh. I didn't want Josh to see me like this, but I really needed to talk to him. The plan was to just give him a call later on in the day. Maybe this was for the better though. My plan on telling the truth didn't end at just the kids. I wanted to tell Josh the truth too. All of the truth, including the tall robot aliens that now lived with me. The fact of the matter was, I needed more allies. If something were to happen to me at the hands of Boss then I needed people here who could take care of the kids. The mechs couldn't do anything without blowing their cover, which means I needed human allies. Granny would watch the kids as if they were her own, but having the town sheriff on your side most definitely wouldn't hurt things.

I took one more deep breath before taking the last step down and turning into the kitchen. Josh was facing away from me at the kitchen table, and he didn't hear me come in, but he saw Sunstreaker and Sideswipe lift their gazes away from him and to something just behind him. The twins narrowed their holoform eyes, but my focus stayed on Josh who turned around to figure out what was going on.

The moment his eyes landed on me they widened in shock. It took a second to process it all, but he quickly jumped to his feet and rushed over to me.

"Aimee!" He said in concern.

"Hey there, Charming." I forced a small smile.

"Oh my God." He breathed and lifted a hand to lightly brush his fingers against the outline of my face. Josh shook his head as his shock quickly turned to anger, "What the hell happened to you?"

I sighed again, "Charming, listen, I-"

"Did they do this to you?" Josh demanded. He spun around to glare at the twins and he lifted his left arm to keep me separated from them. His tense shoulders and hardened features made me think he'd be reaching for his gun at any second.

Sunstreaker leaned back in his seat casually, but wore a glare on his features as Sideswipe sat next to him with a friendly grin and his hands lifted in front of him slightly in a mock surrender sort of way. I pushed past Josh to stand in front of him again, "They didn't do anything. Pit, they probably saved me. I'd still be out in the boondocks sobbing if it wasn't for them." Josh's anger melted away slightly to full concern as he looked down on me. I shook my head again, "I'm making it sound way worse than it was. Well, ok, no I'm not. It was pretty bad, but-"

"Bradshaw, you're rambling." Josh cut in. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. I only rambled when I was nervous, and I hadn't been this nervous in a while. Even this morning with the kids I hadn't been nervous. I had been more desperate and scared and defeated than nervous. "Tell me what happened right now."

In an attempt to stall for a few seconds I mumbled, "It looked worse an hour ago."

"Aimee." Josh pressed as he let his hands rest on my arms. He didn't tear his gaze away from my face.

"You're gonna wanna sit down for this one, Charming." I replied in a resigned tone. Moments later I had Josh sitting back in the seat he had been in with me beside him. The twins hadn't budged from their own seats and now they just watched in curiosity. I brought my legs in and wrapped my arms around them so I could lean my chin against my sore knees. "So, this is kind of hard to explain-"

"It was a fight, wasn't it?" Josh's gaze was focused on the table as he spoke. My eyes widened and I couldn't help but glance over at the twins to share my surprise with them. When their eyes locked onto me though, I cowardly pulled away and looked back to Josh who was now staring at me as well.

I fumbled over my words slightly, "Well, I uh, I guess this _won't_ be too hard to explain. How do you know…?"

Josh let out a sad chuckle, "I'm the sheriff, Bradshaw. Do you really think I don't know about the underground fighting ring in these parts?"

"I'm sure you knew. I just didn't think you'd connect me to it." I mumbled out the last part as a frown decorated my features.

He shook his head, "Even in high school I knew you were mixed in with something bad. You were always coming to school bruised and injured. Maybe everyone else bought your many excuses, but I never did." He paused and rubbed his jawline, "Then once I joined the force and heard about the ring. It just sort of clicked for me. I finally figured out what you had been doing in high school, after all those years."

"Yeah." I replied softly, "That's what I was doing."

"But, why?"

I chuckled, "That's a long, _pathetic_ story, Charming." I lifted my head and let my legs fall back down so my feet touched the floor, "I was trying to fix something that's apparently never going to be fixed, but it doesn't even matter at this point I-"

"It _does_ matter." Josh snapped with narrowed eyes, "I want to know. What were you trying to fix? Bradshaw-"

" _Me_." I said simply and I watched as his face fell slightly. I heard an unhappy hum from across the table, but I ignored it. "I was trying to fix _me_. Got involved with some bad people up north too. Anyways, I say it doesn't matter because I'm done with them. I'm done with the ring, both here and there."

Josh was silent a moment before he nodded, "Good. I'm glad you've finally decided you're done, but-"

"Charming." I blurted and he seemed exasperated that I wouldn't let him finish any of his sentences. "You haven't been able to stop the ring around here right?"

"No." He shook his head, "They cover their tracks too well and anytime we do break up a fight nobody talks."

"That's going to change."

"What?"

I stood up and went to the junk drawer in the cabinets by the fridge. After digging through all the stuff, I finally pulled out a scrap of paper and a working pen. Quickly, I went back to the table and began to scribble out every detail I could manage. I put down everything. The name of the gym where they dealt with the money and location choosing, the names of all the recruiters I could think of from this town and the next two over, and I didn't leave out a single thing.

"This is everything I know." I shoved the paper into his hands and ignored his surprised gaze. "I want you to take that ring down, Charming. My old manager and recruiter, Frank Gerick, is a total sleaze ball, but he's also a coward. You arrest him and offer him even the slightest deal and he'll sing like a bird about everything. Stuff that I don't even know."

Josh took a deep breath, "Are you sure? If they find out it was you who leaked this information-"

"They'll never find out. They won't even suspect me." I replied quickly, "The higher ups in this ring know who I work for in New York." Josh nodded and before he could say anything more I added, "I need a favor in return though."

He glanced up from the paper to look at me, "What is it?"

"I need you to find someone for me. She was… She was at the fight this morning." I said, "Her name is Kaylee, but she goes by the Rookie in the ring. She's around 5'5 or so with long brown hair and green eyes. She's probably no older than 16. 17 at the most."

Josh pulled out his phone and typed something in before nodding, "I'll find her for you, Bradshaw. Can I ask why?"

"I need to talk to her." He nodded again before rising out of his seat. I could tell he was about to make his leave so I quickly stood up as well and laid my hand on his arm to keep him from leaving. "Are we… Can you forgive me? For lying to you all those years and-"

Josh gave me a warm smile and lifted his hand to carefully cup the side of my face, "Course, and to answer that first question you didn't finish… Yeah, we are still friends."

His words brought a relieved smile to my face, "Good. That's…really, really good because I have one more thing to share with you."

Josh face looked curious, but it also looked a bit wary. Not that I blamed him. After the whole fighting ring bomb I dropped he should be wary. Though after I told him this next bit of information he'd think the fighting ring stuff was nothing.

"What is it?" Josh pressed. I hesitated slightly and he took notice. "Hey, you can trust me."

I nodded slowly before turning to look at the twins. Their holoforms straightened in their seats. My eyes locked on the twin that was glaring, "Hey, Sunstreaker. You can drop the holoform."

"Sunstreaker? Is that a nickname? What's a holoform?" Josh asked, but I didn't look over at him. Sunstreaker lifted an eyebrow in question and I gave him a reassuring nod. He let out a short breath before turning the holoform off making ' _Steven_ ' disappear from sight. Josh stumbled back a few steps, "What the _hell_?!"

Sideswipe grinned and motioned to where his brother sat, "I can do that too. I'm just a bit broken at the moment."

Josh ignored him and turned to me, "What just happened, Bradshaw?!"

"So, have you ever heard of Transformers?" I asked. Sideswipe rose from his seat and mumbled to me that he was going to go get Optimus and the other officers to come down.

Josh paused in thought before his eyes narrowed in confusion even more, "What? The movie the kids are obsessed with? With the cars that turn into giant robots?"

"That'd be the one." I mumbled with a sigh. My hands clasped together in front of me, "I don't know how to do this with tact, so I'm just gonna say it. The transformers are real."

"What?"

"They're from an alternate universe, but they're here now."

"Wha-?"

"They took the form of the kids toys to begin with, but now they're growing and getting holoforms and it's honestly just a huge mess."

"Bradshaw, _what the hell_?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, "We're friends now though, so there's that."

Josh blinked a few times in shock before shaking his head, "I don't know what just happened to Steven." He glanced back over at the empty seat, "A magic trick or- or something, but we need to get you to the hospital."

"Josh-"

"You must have been hit harder than you thought." He said firmly and grabbed my arm, "Come on, let's go."

"She's not going _anywhere_ with you, _organic_."

Both our heads turned to see Sunstreaker leaning against the kitchen doorway in all his shiny, yellow glory. He was in his bipedal mode and he didn't look overly happy. Apparently, he was no longer playing the nice guy around Josh. Sunstreaker's arms were crossed over his chest and a glare was leveled at the sheriff.

Before I could offer another explanation, Josh stepped in front of me protectively and drew his weapon. The gun was aimed at the dead center of Sunstreaker's chest, but the mech didn't even seem to care. He just hardened his glare.

"Wait! Wait!" I yelled and threw myself in front of the gun. Never before had I ever had a gun pointed at me, but for some reason I had no fear standing in front of this one. Maybe it was because I knew without a doubt that Josh wouldn't ever pull the trigger on me. He wouldn't hurt me on purpose. "He's a _friend_! It's Sunstreaker. Er, I mean, it's Steven."

"My designation is _not_ fragging Steven." Sunstreaker snapped.

I whipped around to glare at him, "This is the opposite of helping, tin can."

"Hey that's a new nickname!" Sideswipe cheered as he turned the corner in his holoform. Standing in his hands was Optimus Prime and Prowl. "That officially makes 25."

"Didn't I tell you to _stop_ slagging counting?" Sunstreaker snapped at his brother.

Wheeljack turned the corner, standing only an inch or so shorter than Sunstreaker, "25? That means Bluestreak and Grimlock are out of the betting pool, correct?"

Prowl cleared his throat, "The details on the current betting pool are _hardly_ an appropriate topic to speak about now." He paused before adding, "But yes, you are correct, Wheeljack."

"Hello, Sheriff Joshua Thompson", Optimus cleared his throat, "It is an honor to finally meet you. My name is Optimus Prime."

I turned away from the mess of mechs to look at Josh who had lowered his gun slighty. However, he had probably only lowered the weapon from the absolute shock of seeing what he was seeing. The plan had been to gradually show him different mechs, but that was ruined now. At least Ratchet wasn't down here yelling, Bluestreak wasn't here asking a million questions, and Megatron wasn't here threatening. So, it could be worse. Sort of.

"This is…This is…" Josh tried to blurt out as he shook his head.

" _Crazy_?" I offered. He turned to look at me as if a second head had sprouted out of my shoulders. "Right. Crazy doesn't even begin to cover it."

Josh scoffed, "How is this even possible!? Aimee, what exactly have you gotten yourself into?"

I narrowed my eyes, "How come when someone finds out about this they automatically think that I got myself into this and it wasn't just thrown at me? Granny said the same thing-"

"Rosie knows about this?" He pressed.

I sighed, "Listen, Josh, I know this is…insane, but give it chance. Please?" I lifted my hand to set it on his, which were still griping the gun and aiming it at Sunstreaker. "Put the gun away, and let us explain. It's worth it. I promise."

Josh hesitated a moment before lowering his hands and tucking his gun back into the holster. He sighed, "I'll hear you out, but I still don't know how I'm supposed to take this, Aimee."

"That's all I'm asking for."

Over the next ten minutes or so I explained the whole story, starting from the morning I woke up to find mini aliens waging war in the kitchen to now and Optimus and Prowl answered most of his questions. We were like a tag team trying to get everything explained before the good sheriff lost his sanity. Lord knows it's too late for mine.

The two of us were sitting in the same seats as before with Optimus Prime and Prowl sitting on the table beside us. Wheeljack was leaning against the island counter a few feet away, Sideswipe was lounging in the chair on the other side of the table, and Sunstreaker remained leaning against the kitchen doorway. At some point during all this, other mechs had come in, but they usually didn't linger long. Starscream and Skywarp flew through the kitchen, and even Megatron and Soundwave had stopped by, but none of them seemed to care enough to stick around.

"Wow." Josh breathed as he rubbed his hand through his hair, "I thought stuff like that only happened in movies and sci-fi books." He let out a small scoff, "I guess that makes sense though."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm glad you sort of believe us and you're not running out of the house, but how does any of that make sense?"

"I meant, it just clears a few things up that I was wondering. Like, the kids' behavior. Tyler and Taylor were always cheerful kids, but they've just been so excited about everything lately, and Peter…well, the little guy was always distant, but now he's…happier." Josh smiled, "I always chalked that up to you, but I'm guessing their idols coming to life had something to do with it too."

I chuckled, "No doubt." With worry, I rubbed the back of my neck and added, "So, are we cool? You don't think I'm a lunatic?"

"Well, if I did then that means I'm one too considering what I'm looking at." Josh chuckled and glanced around the room. "You said Rosie knows about this too?"

I nodded, "She found out on accident."

Prowl turned his head, "I don't mean to rush this, but Ratchet is requesting you upstairs, Aj. He says you need rest, and he isn't happy."

"When is Ratchet ever really happy?" I replied.

Josh quickly stood, "I should get the info on the ring you gave me to the station. The faster we get on this the better our chances. Are you gonna be ok?"

"I'll be fine. That is if Ratchet doesn't murder me for putting off my nap for twenty minutes." Josh, who had no idea who the hell Ratchet was, suddenly looked hesitant to leave the house. I reached out and clapped him on the shoulder, "It's a joke. I'm ok."

"Right." He glanced around to all the other mechs, "It was nice to meet you guys. I guess."

"It was a pleasure to meet you as well." Optimus nodded his head as Wheeljack agreed with a wave and Prowl added a nod of his own. Sideswipe grinned in response, and Sunstreaker didn't add any input of his own.

I smiled, "You should come over for dinner. You can meet the other mechs and the kids would love to see you."

"I'd like that." Josh nodded with a faint smile.

Sideswipe's head glanced over at his brother briefly before he nodded and stood up. He scooped Optimus and Prowl into his hands like before and stood beside Josh.

"May we walk you to the door, Joshua? There's something we would like to discuss." Optimus questioned.

Josh glanced over at me, but I just shrugged in response. He gave the mechs a firm smile, "Uh, sure thing."

Sideswipe walked beside Josh to the door and all of them, mini mechs included, stepped out onto the front porch. Josh closed the door behind him. Wheeljack hummed and I glanced over at him, "You should get upstairs before Ratchet blows a fuse."

"He can wait another minute. I wanna get something in my stomach." I replied and walked over to grab a banana from the fruit basket. My stomach was empty, and I was way more tired than hungry, but if I didn't eat something now then I'd wake up in thirty minutes craving God knows what.

Wheeljack began to look around the kitchen, toying with different things, and I leaned against the island counter watching him curiously. He'd pick something up, like the coffee maker or a can opener, mumble something under his breath making his fins light up then set it back down. The engineer stopped in front of the microwave, put his hand on the handle, and pulled it open. I watched as the entire door came off into his hands. He paused in thought before looking at the door then at the microwave and back to the door.

" _Oh_." He spoke up in a casual tone, "I can see how this would be a nuisance."

I let out a short laugh between bites of banana as Wheeljack turned to give me a sheepish look. He put the door back and his eyes dimmed briefly before he excused himself and left the room. I heard him stomping up the stairs as I tossed away my banana peel.

Josh was still talking to Optimus and Prowl and I wondered what it was about. As my mind stayed on that topic, my eyes drifted over to Sunstreaker who was staring at me. Catching his gaze made all my thoughts fall away and one memory come flashing back. My bloody hands beating in the face of the rhino as I screamed to the crowd.

Quickly, I tried to make my escape, but as I passed him his hand shot out and grabbed my arm. Hesitantly, I glanced over at his face to see that he wasn't exactly glaring at me, but he didn't look too happy.

"What?" I forced myself to speak first. He didn't reply and my eyes narrowed, "Sunstreaker, what?"

"Don't do that." He said smoothly.

I shook my head, "I don't know what you're talking about. Now if you don't mind, I gotta go upstairs."

Sunstreaker let me pull my arm away and I quickly made my way upstairs. A second passed before I realized he was following me. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat, as I passed Wheeljack, Jazz, and Grimlock who were in the office, and I rushed toward the medbay. Ratchet would kick Sunstreaker out for sure so I could rest.

"Took you long enough." Ratchet snapped as I rushed through the door. I dropped down onto my bed. "I told you to-" Sunstreaker stormed into the room, glanced over his shoulder, and then shut the door behind him. Ratchet glared at him, "What the _frag_ do you think you're doing?"

"We _need_ to talk." Sunstreaker said firmly, his eyes didn't leave mine.

"I _need_ to nap. Right, Ratchet?"

Ratchet didn't stop glaring, "What the frag is this about?"

Sunstreaker turned his head toward Ratchet and spoke in his own language. They carried on a conversation that lasted only seconds before Ratchet grumbled to himself and turned back to what he had been doing before I burst in. He wasn't kicking the yellow mech out? _Traitor_.

I continued to glare at the medic, who blatantly ignored me, while Sunstreaker came over. I pulled my legs up so I was sitting crisscross on the edge of my bed. The yellow warrior came closer and suddenly knelt down in front of me on one knee. Now we were closer to eye level, but he was still about a head taller.

" _Don't_ ignore us."

"I'm not-" I began, but the glare he shot me made me stop the denial. I sighed, "Ok, so maybe I was kind of sort of ignoring you a little bit. I'm just tired and-"

"That's not it." Sunstreaker interrupted again and I was beginning to feel bad for cutting Josh off so much earlier. It's freaking annoying. "You're ashamed by what we saw you do so now you're avoiding us."

I blinked in surprise at the brutal honesty in his words, "Wow, cut right to the point don't you?"

"You know it's the truth."

"Yeah." I admitted and sighed. I glanced over at Ratchet who looked like he didn't give a damn what we were saying, but I knew he was listening in to every word. "It is, but why do you care if I ignore you?"

Sunstreaker's eyes widened and he leaned back slightly, "I don't care. I just don't want to hear Sideswipe whine about it." I chuckled and gave him a small nod. Sunstreaker let his body shift forward back to where it had been and he rolled his shoulders, "Right. So you'll stop?"

"I'll stop." I agreed and paused before continuing with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry to you and your brother. I didn't mean to upset either of you. Avoidance is just my natural reaction to almost everything. Sorry, buddy."

Sunstreaker eye's widened again and he just stared at me. I didn't mind it for the first few seconds, but then it started to get weird. I shifted in my seat and shook my head at him, "What now?"

"You don't…" He paused and narrowed his eyes, "Does this seem... _familiar_ to you?"

I blinked in confusion, " _Familiar_? Um, no. Why?"

Sunstreaker didn't answer immediately. He stared at me for a few more seconds before shaking his head, "Never mind. Recharge, organic."

A part of me wanted to press on the subject a bit more, but my eyes were already beginning to droop. Everything that had happened in the last five or so hours was finally taking its toll on me. With a sigh and a slight shrug of my shoulders, I fell back onto the bed and let my eyes close. Within minutes I was dead to the world.

* * *

 

A lot had happened in a short span of time. As amusing as all of it had been, Skywarp found himself already bored and waiting for something new to happen. His wings twitched as he craved to go out and fly. Knowing the human femme, him, his trine, and commander wouldn't be allowed to go out once they finally went through the update. It was probably why she was letting them go out so often now and for so long. The least she could've done was open the front door and let them out before she passed out upstairs. Skywarp's optics drifted to the left of him and he suddenly realized that Starscream was still talking. He thought the rant about Megatron and not taking action had ended a breem ago.

" _Are you even listening_?" Starscream suddenly snapped in Cybertronian.

Skywarp could've lied and said yes, he could've told the truth and said no, but both answers would leave him stuck here still listening to Starscream's boring one sided argument. He shrugged and replied in English, "I'll be back."

It was like second nature for him to leap into the air, transform, and then warp across the house. Soon he was only listening to Starscream curse him from a distance. He snickered to himself before zooming down the hall. There were some autoscum in their temporary base, but Skywarp flew past it, transformed midair, and then came to a sliding stop a few feet in front of the bathroom door. He was going to peek in and see if there was something he could ruin for the next time Aj went in there, but the sound of two mechs speaking caught his attention.

He traveled across the hall and stood against the wall to listen in. A boring Skywarp made for a nosy Skywarp.

" _What was that about_?" The medic's voice was easily recognized. His sharp Cybertronian cut through the air.

There was a scoff and a new voice, " _She was ignoring us. Sideswipe didn't like it_."

Skywarp recognized that voice as well. It was that slagging frontliner Sunstreaker. Primus, he had both twin frontliners' voices memorized. As many times as he had either one of them clinging to his back yelling ' _Jet Judo_ ' it was hardly surprising.

" _That's not what I'm talking about you slagging_ moron." The medic was throwing a lot more human insults into his speech these days. " _You asked her '_ Is this familiar to you?' _. What did that mean?"_

The bright yellow fragger was silent and Skywarp worried that they had taken notice of his form on the other side of the wall. Finally, the deep voice replied in smooth Cybertronian, " _It's nothing, Ratchet_."

" _Don't even._ " Ratchet snapped, " _Tell me now or I'll rewire you into a human_ microwave _. Primus knows Aj has been whining about wanting a new one."_

_"She's… Nothing about her seems familiar to you? Nothing at all?"_

_"Why would she?"_

_"Maybe we met her in our own world. Maybe she was a reporter that came to the base, or at one of the military sites we visited?"_

_"She isn't. You…you recognize her?"_

There was another bout of silence, but this entire conversation had Skywarp leaning closer to the wall.

 _"I don't know_." The frontliner whispered so quietly that Skywarp hardly heard him speak. Hearing the warrior speak this much at all was a shock. He was more used to just seeing the yellow mech ripping apart other decepticons or blowing them to the pit.

_"Does Sideswipe recognize her?"_

" _He says she's familiar, but it's not the same… She reminds me of someone, someone I can't remember, but at the same time it feels like I've met_ her _before_."

A wide grin stretched across Skywarp's faceplates. This was interesting. This was something that Megatron and the others would love to hear about. Skywarp held back another round of snickers before warping away to find his comrades and commander.

Skywarp wasn't bored anymore.

* * *

 

Two days later and the aching pain was mostly gone. Now it only hurt when I touched the injured areas directly. The color was beginning to fade leaving my face mostly an ugly yellow with slight patches of light purple here and there. My lip was better, my ribs were still bruised, and the gash on the edge of my eyebrow was healed. I was always a quick healer and I was super thankful for that now more than ever.

Josh had kept to his word and made quick on trying to get the jump on the ring. Him and his men had arrested dirt bag Frank and a few other guys which meant they'd probably get their hands on the higher ups within the week. The fights were definitely over with in this area though.

My sheriff best friend had also kept his promise to look for Kaylee. So far he had come up empty handed though. Apparently she wasn't from our little southern town so Josh was trying to get in contact with the neighboring towns to find her.

Boss had called three times since the day of my fight, and I hadn't answered my phone a single time. After the third time, I took my phone to the garage and destroyed it with a hammer. I could always go to the store and get a new phone with a new number later. The list of people I wanted to talk to on the phone was short, and they all knew to call the house phone until then.

The kids were, for the most part, back to their normal behavior and only once or twice did I see the look of caution in their eyes. Yesterday, Peter had started moping around again, but it seemed like it had something to do with school rather than me.

"This again?" I snapped and tried to push past the bright red wall to no avail.

Sideswipe snickered, "It's too hard to resist!"

The mech had gotten full control of his holoform, which meant he could switch back and forth like his brother. It also meant I had to deal with his huge bipedal mode. He had me corned in the kitchen again and wouldn't let me past him. The kids were already at school and that meant I didn't have them to come and distract the red annoyance.

"This is your _last_ warning, Sides." I said firmly.

He smirked and pressed his hands against the wall on either side of my face. He leaned his smug face closer down to mine, "Or what?"

"I warned you." I replied simply before reaching my hand up and digging my fingers into his wrist. Sideswipe let out a howl of pain as I tugged on the three or four wires I had managed to get my fingers around.

He jumped back and held his wrist with a mock look of pain on his features, "That's cold-sparked, even for _you_."

I grinned and winked at him before turning out of the kitchen and yelling up the stairs, "Come on, Jackie! Let's get going!"

"Coming!" Wheeljack yelled excitedly from upstairs. Just last night Wheeljack's holoform had activated and I had promised him I'd take him to Lowe's or some other hardware store to buy supplies.

Sideswipe strolled back over toward me, not caring about my attack anymore, and set his heavy head on top of my own casually. I let out a huff of annoyance, but the red mech didn't budge. Ever since Sunstreaker and I had that conversation before I passed out from exhaustion, Sideswipe followed me like a shadow.

A guy in his late thirties came jogging out of my room and began the descent down the stairs. Wheeljack's holoform was a bit shorter than the twins, just like their bipedal modes, and stood around 6 foot even. He had light brown hair that was cut somewhat close to his head in loose, wild curls. His face was oval in shape with a slightly narrow jawline that was covered in a light brown, short bead and matching goatee. His eyes were a soft navy color that stood out even more because of his tan skin tone and every time he smiled, which was often, the skin around his eyes would crinkle and slight dimples would show. He wore faded blue jeans, a form fitting black t-shirt, and a thick khaki jacket with a brown hood over it.

"Good morning, Sideswipe." He greeted with a wide grin as he came to a stop in front of me. Sideswipe nodded his head slightly in response making me move as well. "I'm ready, Aj! Are you?"

"Yupp." I answered and stepped forward and away from Sideswipe who frowned in response. Quickly, I brushed off my light colored skinny jeans and readjusted the leather jacket over my dark blue sweater.

"Can't I come too?" Sideswipe questioned.

"No." I replied quickly and bent down to pull my boots on. "You're gonna stay here with the others."

"But Aj", Sideswipe whined and carried out my name the same way Tyler and Taylor did when they were begging for extra dessert.

I opened the front door, "Hey! TC, Skywarp, Screamer, Megsy! Are you guys going to-" Before I could finish my question, four jets zoomed past me out into the cold air. "Fly?" I finished dumbly before shaking my head and motioning Wheeljack to come out.

He grinned and walked past me to head toward the truck. The store was only five miles or so away which meant we didn't have to take his actual body. I glanced back at a pouting Sideswipe and grinned, "Stay."

As I hopped into the truck and started it up, I glanced over at the eager Wheeljack beside me, "So, what all do you need to buy, Jackie?"

The list of things Wheeljack needed from the store was incredibly long. It started off rather simple with tools and supplies that I easily recognized, but gradually it got more and more complicated. I was 70% positive that some of the stuff he was listing near the end were just made up words. The truck pulled into a parking space in front of the town's Lowe's.

"..hmm I'd say about three of those would do the trick. Two if I can find the matching plugs." He finished with a grin.

I nodded dumbly, "Right. Uh, well, don't get your hopes too high. This is a small town Lowe's and they probably wont have some of the fancier stuff you need."

"No problem." He replied and got out of the truck. The two of us headed for the front door, "With the right materials I can make the more complicated pieces."

It wasn't terribly crowded, but there were people milling throughout the entire store. Wheeljack and I got a few steps in before he grabbed a buggy to push and looked over at me, "What is the allowed budget?"

"No budget." I shook my head, "I'll just charge it all to my own card."

"That doesn't seem too wise."

"I'll deal with the aftermath later." I shrugged, "The last thing I want is for you to be a few dollars short of going home, or worse, you buy the cheaper material and it blows all y'all sky high." I didn't mention the fact that Wheeljack could probably blow them all sky high with the expensive materials too. "Besides, what's a little more debt added to my already crazy high debt? At least this type of debt wont get me thrown into a river with a cinderblock tied to my ankles."

Wheeljack didn't seem overly amused with my joke, but he was distracted by the entire store in front of him. The moment he entered the first aisle his face lit up and he started grabbing different things. Maybe I shouldn't have said there was no budget. My wallet was already starting to hurt. I had a decent amount on my debit card. Usually I used that card to pay my bills, but since I didn't plan on ever going back to New York I didn't really care if they turned off my water and electricity. There was also plenty of room on my credit card for Wheeljack to charge.

About ten minutes into the trip, I trailed away from Wheeljack to find supplies of my own. I didn't know when Aubrey would be back home, but it had to be relatively soon. When she did show back up though, I wanted her to come home to a bullet hole free house.

"Hi, is there something I can help you with?"

I turned around to see a darkly tanned man with a bright smile, big brown eyes, and medium length brown hair. He wore the Lowe's uniform with a nametag that read 'Isaac'. Isaac's eyes widened slightly at my fading bruises, but readjusted his smile and didn't mention it.

"Um yeah." I nodded and glanced around, "I'm looking for that stuff you use to fill holes in the wall?"

He motioned for me to follow him, "How big are the holes?"

Images of the small bullet holes and few larger holes where mechs had been thrown into the wall came to mind, "It ranges from nail hole to about softball sized."

Isaac chuckled, "We definitely have the stuff for that."

He led me to an aisle a few away from where I was and for the next five minutes he pointed out which ones were best, how to use them exactly, and the best ways to get it done. Rather than let him go on with his day, I decided to ask him more questions starting with how to fix scorch marks on wooden cabinets. Isaac had the answer to that as well. According to him, since the burns I described were rather superficial, all I needed was steel wool and mineral spirits. He said I should wax it afterwards too so I grabbed some wood wax as well. I seriously doubted that Sunstreaker would let me use whatever wax it was he used.

"One more question and then I promise to leave you alone." I grinned.

He chuckled and shook his head, "It's no problem at all."

"Let's say the screws in my microwave door… _broke_ , and the door fell off completely. Do you have replacement screws for that? Is it a special type?"

Isaac shook his head in amusement, "Holes in the wall, scorch marks on the cabinets, and your microwave door isn't actually connected to the microwave anymore?"

I pressed my lips together before shaking my head, "I just- uh, I put off all my house repairs so it bunched up."

"Right, well if you know the manufacturer we can look it up and double check the screws used."

"And if I don't know the manufacturer?"

"Do you know what the microwave looks like?"

"Yes, I do."

"We'll work with that."

By the end of my little field trip with Isaac, I had materials to fix the walls, fix the cabinets, and fix the microwave. After thanking the man profusely, I began my quest to find my missing engineer. From where I stood, I could hear the faint sound of his excited chatter mixing with the background noise of Lowe's. He must have roped a Lowe's employee into listening to him. I stopped at aisle 2, which was only a couple away from the big area where they stored and sold wood. Wheeljack was speaking animatedly to a Lowe's worker who looked somewhere between confused and in shock, not that Wheeljack noticed.

"Jackie", I called out and both of them glanced over at me.

"Oh, Aj!" He replied, "You grabbed some stuff too?"

I nodded and walked over to dump it into the buggy that was filled with tools and materials, "Yeah, just some stuff to fix up the house. You almost done?"

"Nearly. I'm just checking for one last thing."

"Alright, I'll be right back." I chirped and turned to head to aisle 4 where the paint was. If I fixed the holes I'd need paint to color in the new wall too. Quickly, I grabbed color swatches that looked close to what Aubrey had on her walls.

The sound of a large buggy being pushed made me glance over to see a female worker casually pushing a large blue cart down the aisle. It had stacks of wood on it and some metal tanks I didn't recognize.

"Excuse me." She smiled in a friendly manner.

I shifted out of the way so she could pass with a small smile of my own. The cart was right beside me when the cart's wheel spun and made the cart rock. A metal canister toppled to the right and I reached out to catch it before it fell over completely.

The woman chuckled, "Thanks. Good reflexes."

"I try." I shrugged and fixed the tank so it stood tall again. She turned right toward the wood area when she reached the end of the aisle. I went back to looking over the different colors. It made no sense to me though. Why the hell did the world need so many different shades of beige? _Beige was beige_.

As I grabbed a long swatch with different shades of the same color on it, there was a loud crash followed by the loud boom of an explosion. The tall shelf rocked slightly and with wide eyes I ran out to the head of the aisle. Wheeljack had abandoned his buggy and while I ran out to find the source of what had happened, he came out and immediately turned toward my aisle and away from where the noise came from.

"Did you-?" I blurted and pointed a hand at him.

Wheeljack lifted his own hands in front of his torso in surrender and shook his head, "It wasn't me." The Lowe's guy Wheeljack had been talking to ran out of the aisle and toward the wood section. The engineer quickly closed the space and set a hand on my arm, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Jackie." I nodded quickly. "Where's the buggy?"

Wheeljack motioned toward aisle 2 with his head and the two of us jogged over to it. The mech kept one hand on my upper arm in a loose grip. He glanced down at me, "You should stay here with the supplies. I'll go see-"

"We'll both go." I interrupted him and began to push the buggy out of the aisle. Wheeljack looked like he wanted to argue, but just sighed and stuck close to my side. There were workers yelling at curious customers to back away, but Wheeljack and I could see clearly from where we stood. There were long planks of wood scattered on the floor by a blue cart and my eyes drifted over to a familiar female Lowe's worker and a shredded metal tank on the ground surrounded by other tanks.

"Hmm", Wheeljack hummed, "It looks like one of the oxygen tanks they use for welding exploded, but how? Despite popular belief, oxygen is not combustible. It's simply an accelerant."

I glanced back over at the female worker who was shaking her head and talking to some other workers. It didn't seem like anybody had been hurt luckily. Considering the metal tank exploded that meant shrapnel had shot out everywhere. Had nobody been around it when it exploded?

"That's very strange." Wheeljack thought aloud.

"I saw her." I spoke up, "She passed me in aisle four. One of the cans tipped over and I caught it. Do you think that did something?"

Wheeljack's eyes widened, "You were standing beside that cart moments ago?"

"Yeah. So?"

He shook his head, "From the looks of the scene, that tank exploded due to some malfunction in its construction. It could have gone off right beside you!"

I blinked as I slowly came to that same realization. Oh. I kind of dodged a bullet there. Shaking my head, I slipped my arm through the crook of Wheeljack's and pulled him away from the scene, "Let's pay and get going."

"Of course." He nodded and grabbed the buggy handles so I didn't have to push it. Both of us glanced back a few times before focusing our attention on finding an open cash register.

"Well, that trip went very well." Wheeljack chirped from the passenger seat as we drove home. I glanced over at him and he shrugged and shook his head, "Minus the whole oxygen tank blowing up. I didn't get everything I needed, but I did manage to buy the materials to build an energy converter. Now I just need to find a power source."

I narrowed my eyes, "What do you need that for?"

Wheeljack looked a bit sheepish and he began to rub the back of his neck, "I didn't mention it to you because I didn't want you to worry."

"I'm starting to worry now!"

"There's no need to anymore! The problem is solved." He grinned, "You see, we had enough energy to send us home back when we were small. It would drain all the electricity from your city causing a massive black out, but that would only last a few days at the most." I glanced over at him with a look of shock. He said in so nonchalantly. As if causing a major black out was not that big of a deal. "At our new sizes, however, we need much more power to send us home. If I tried it with out original plan it would black out the all the states above and to the right of Texas."

My mouth fell open and the car swerved a bit, "It would what!?"

"With the energy converter, that I'll build, though that will no longer be an issue." Wheeljack smiled with a bob of his head, "I still need to find an original power source though. Can I purchase things off the internet?"

I took a deep breath and turned onto our road, "Sure I guess. As long as it isn't radioactive." Wheeljack laughed cheerfully, but I kept a stony look. I was being serious. The last thing I needed was some radioactive shit sitting in our garage. "Do you need my card info?"

"No, I can just access your bank information online." He replied simply and I put the truck into park in the driveway. I turned completely to look at him, but he was scooping up the bags at his feet to carry, "It's a fairly easy thing to do."

"Of course it is." I muttered and grabbed two bags before following him inside.

* * *

 

That evening was fairly entertaining. Josh came over for dinner again. Surprisingly, he got along best with Thundercracker of all mechs. Well, it surprised the other mechs more than it did me. In my mind, it kind of made sense. Granny brought over Italian food from Abramo's restaurant with well wishes from Abramo himself. For two hours it seemed like the house just glowed. There was laughter, everyone was getting along, and the food was beyond delicious.

The kids, and most of the mechs, were sitting in the living room watching some cartoon version of Transformers off Netflix. Josh and Granny were in the kitchen casually talking to Optimus, Prowl, Soundwave, Thundercracker, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker. At least, the twins had been in there last I checked. Aubrey had called after we cleaned everything up and after talking to her for a good twenty minutes or so I left the kitchen to give the phone to the kids to take turns.

Rather than head back to the kitchen, where I could hear soft laughter coming from, I slipped out to the back porch to get a breath of fresh air. The back porch was smaller than the front porch. It was just a small wooden deck with a couple lawn chairs and random toys scattered here and there. I dropped down onto the closest lawn chair and leaned my head back with a relaxed sigh. The house was still glowing and there was a buzz of contentedness that filled my mind and left me at ease.

To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how long I sat in that lawn chair staring up at the night sky. The stars looked amazing. I had forgotten how pretty the night sky was. Back in New York, you could rarely see the stars at night because of how bright the city was. Memories of stargazing with Aubrey came to mind and the nostalgia began to mix with the contentedness.

Finally, the sliding glass door was pulled open and sound from inside pierced the cool night. The door shut and the sound disappeared again.

"You've been out 'ere a while, sweetspark."

My eyes widened and I quickly turned in my seat to see a very tall Jazz standing on the deck with me. He held out his arms with a grin and I let out a surprised laugh, "You went through the update? I thought Bee was next?"

"We went through it at the same time. Had Ratch throwin' a fit. It was a couple minutes after you came out 'ere." Jazz replied, "Bee's still in stasis. I just woke up."

"I bet Taylor is just beside herself." I chuckled.

Jazz nodded, "She hasn't left 'is side."

I pushed myself off the chair and walked over to the side of the house where I knew a light switch was. The light bulb connected to the fan above us came to life and I could see Jazz clearly.

"Wow." I nodded and let my eyes rake up and down his bipedal mode. Jazz was definitely the shortest of the mechs to go through the update. His bipedal mode stood no more than 6'5 or so. "Aw, it's just like the movie. You're the shortest bot, aren't you?"

Jazz let out a huff of air and put his hands on his hips. I chuckled as he puffed out his chest a bit and tilted his head up so he looked a bit taller, "You wound me, girl. I am _not_ the shortest mech." I lifted my eyebrow at him and he crossed his arms, "I'll 'ave ya know, I'm taller than Bee _an_ ' Blue. Plus, Prowler an' Cade are the same height as meh. And there's ton of mechs you don't even know that are…" His voice trailed off as he took notice of my wide, cheesy grin. Jazz scoffed, "Like I need to explain myself to someone _your_ height."

He took a step forward so his chest was touching me and he was tilted his head to look down at me. Jazz grinned and I shoved him away with a laugh, "I'm a human female. I hope I'm not as tall as you weirdos."

"So", Jazz drawled after a moment, "What are you doin' out 'ere?"

"Just looking at the stars." I shrugged and stepped out from under the fan and light to stand at the edge of the deck. Jazz came to stand beside me. "I forgot how pretty they were." He nodded and lifted his head up to the sky, "What's it like up there, Jazz?"

He let out a hum, "It's cold. Dark. Quiet." Jazz tore his gaze away from the sky to catch my gaze, "It's not my favorite place to be."

"Really?" I pressed and looked back up, "I'd love to go up to space. See everything."

"I think it's prettier down 'ere." Jazz replied and I glanced back at him to see his gaze hadn't wandered away from me. He shot me a wide smile, "Besides, you go up there and ya lose sight of it all. It's not the same when you get too close. You forget the big picture."

I smirked and nudged him with my elbow, "That's deep, Jazz."

"Hush." He nudged me back and it grew silent between us again. It was a comfortable silence though. Where the two of us just basked in the glow from the light behind us and the stars above us. A good five minutes or so had passed before Jazz spoke again, "I actually came out here to talk to you, sweetspark. I was going to come sooner, but the update happened."

I tore my gaze away from the sky and narrowed my eyes at him with worry. His lack of accent made me think this might not be the best of news, "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and forced a smile, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just…not sure how you're going to take this honestly." Jazz's words didn't exactly put my mind at ease. I crossed my arms tightly and nodded for him to continue. He let out what sounded like a sigh, "You already know that Sunny and I went to Nicholas' house and told him to turn himself in."

"I knew Sunstreaker had a hand in it. I talked to him about it." I nodded, "I had a feeling you had something to do with it too. Thank you."

Jazz shook his head, "It was nothing."

"No, really. I appreciate it." I emphasized.

He paused before continuing, "I didn't just tell him to turn himself in. I went a bit further than that." My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. He saw the look on my face and elaborated, "I sold everything in his fragging house."

I blinked in surprise and my tightly crossed arms loosened, "You what?"

"I sold it all. His furniture, his electronics, every fragging piece of his Transformer collection."

"Wha- I don't- Why?" I pressed in honest to God curiosity. Was it just to spite him? Most of the collector item stuff seemed pretty important to him. Selling it all would've crushed the guy. Personally, I would've just lit all the stuff on fire and let him watch it burn. Obviously I still held a bit of a grudge. Rightfully so in my opinion.

"I needed the money and I wanted to get it the right way for you." Jazz explained, "All that slag didn't add up to as much as I had hoped, but his truck on the other hand…"

My eyes widened and my arms fell to my side in surprise, "You sold his truck? The one that looks like your friend?"

"Yupp." Jazz nodded with a sly grin, "And that raked up quite a bit."

I shook my head, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. I still don't understand. Why do you need the money? I'm paying for the equipment you need to get home, and what do you want exactly that cost that much?"

Jazz's grin melted into a soft, sincere smile, "Because I'm starting to realize that there isn't much I wouldn't do for you." He chuckled, "Or the kids and Rosie."

"Jazz…" I blurted his name out, but had no idea what else to say.

"I paid off your debt." He nodded. "All of the money was wired into your bank account and then I sent it all to that Boss guy with your name on it. All 89,900 dollars of it."

I couldn't speak. I couldn't think. Hell, I wasn't sure if I was even breathing at this point. Jazz didn't say anything further. He just stood in front of me as I tried to wrap my head around this.

"W-When?" I stuttered out.

"I sent it all the day after your fight. Got confirmation about an hour ago."

My biggest worry about not talking to Boss after that fight was that he'd come down here and find me himself. I knew that worry would only increase when he found out I didn't plan on using his plane ticket. However, this could buy the time I needed. Sending Boss that ridiculous amount of money might just please him long enough to leave me alone while I finished up things down here. Would it keep him off my back forever? I seriously doubted it. He'd never let me just walk away even with my debt more than paid in full.

I had no debt. The words almost didn't even make sense in my mind. No debt? I was so sure that I'd be going the rest of my life owing that man something. Years ago I had just accepted the fact that I would always be stuck by Boss' side with this heavy cloud hanging over my head. Were all my problems solved by that lump sum of money? No, I wasn't naïve. Would Boss leave me in peace from now on? Of course not, for the first time in a very long time I felt free. It was one thing to have Boss looming over me with the threat of the money I owed him being used as a weapon, but now he couldn't do that to me.

"Sweetspark, you ok?" Jazz pressed.

My gaze focused on him as a laugh began to escape my grinning lips. Jazz smiled as well as I shook my head, "I don't owe him anything? Nothing?"

"You don't owe that slagger a fragging thing, sweetspark." Jazz answered with a soft smile.

Without hesitation, I jumped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. Jazz stumbled back in surprise as I hung off his neck tightly with my feet dangling inches off the deck floor. Only a second passed before he wrapped his arms carefully around me. It was loose enough that it didn't hurt, but tight enough that if I let go of his neck I wouldn't fall back. I laid my head against his shoulder and pressed my forehead against the cool metal of the side of his neck.

"Jazz I- I- I don't know- I can't even- You-" I spoke into his neck in broken sentences. All I wanted to do was thank him. To tell him how much this means to me, but my tongue wasn't cooperating with me.

Jazz's arms tightened slightly and he tilted his head so it touched mine, "I got'cha, sweetspark, I got'cha."


	23. Scars

* * *

_"My scars tell a story. They are a reminder of times when life tried to break me, but failed. They are markings of where the structure of my character was welded." – Steve Maraboli_

* * *

 

I stepped into the warm house with a bright smile and light shoulders. My gaze lingered on Jazz who shut the sliding door behind us. Ignoring the light conversations I could hear from the kitchen and living room, I spoke up, "I owe you everything, Jazz."

The mech looked down at me with a lopsided grin and draped his arm over my shoulders, "You don' owe me a single thing, sweetspark."

"Aj!"

I tore my gaze away from Jazz to look straight ahead into the foyer. A tall Bumblebee, with a grinning Taylor sitting on his shoulders, ducked under the living room archway and stepped in the main section of the foyer. Taylor was giggling happily as she rested her head on top of his. Bumblebee looked just as happy as he held her legs to make sure she didn't go toppling backwards.

"Look how big Bee got!" Taylor cried in excitement.

"I see that." I replied with a chuckle.

Jazz leaned towards me and whispered, "Told ya I was taller than Bee."

I rolled my eyes and used my elbow to nudge him in the side, "By like an inch."

"Excuse you." Jazz scoffed with a smirk, "I'm two inches taller than 'im."

"He's right." Bumblebee chirped before walking in the direction that Taylor pointed to which happened to be the kitchen. Tyler and Peter came running out of the living room a second later. Bluestreak was being held in Tyler's arms as Skywarp sat on the boy's shoulder. They all rushed into the kitchen.

I pulled away from Jazz and turned right down the hallway to come into the kitchen from the back entrance. Granny and Josh still sat at the table with Thundercracker, Optimus, and Soundwave standing on the table beside them. They were all looking over at Bumblebee who was bouncing in place as Taylor clung to him and laughed. Skywarp leaped off Tyler's shoulders and warped to the table where Thundercracker was.

"Alright, as fun as this is, it's time for bed." I called out.

"Awww." Tyler whined alongside his twin sister. Taylor added, "Do we have to?"

"Tomorrow is Friday. You guys have school so the answer is yes. You do have to." I replied with a smile. Peter, who usually liked going to school, frowned at my statement and crossed his arms.

My eyebrows scrunched up slightly in confusion, but before I could question him or pull him aside to talk, Granny rose from her seat and clapped her hands, "You heard her. Let's get you angels ready for bed."

I watched as Granny rounded up the kids and motioned for them to start heading out and up the stairs. They were out of eyesight, but I heard Taylor say, "This time you can carry me up the stairs, Bee."

"This place is kind of a madhouse, Bradshaw." Josh chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. He glanced over at the mechs on the table, "No offense."

"None taken." Optimus said as Soundwave nodded his head.

Thundercracker scoffed, "I agree with you."

"You have no idea." I laughed with a bright grin. Soundwave had climbed down off the table and was heading off through the back archway as Skywarp nudged Thundercracker repeatedly. The more levelheaded seeker rolled his eyes before transforming and flying off with Skywarp. I watched the two of them zoom out of the kitchen, but the happy look on my features didn't falter.

Josh must have noticed my glow because he stood up with a curious look on his face, "You seem pretty chipper."

I hadn't told Josh about my debt at the same time that I told him about everything else, but that was because a lot had been going on at that moment. He found out about my crippling debt later that same day during dinner though, after officially meeting the mechs of the house. My grin only grew as I rocked back onto my heels and then onto my toes, "I am now debt free."

Josh's eyes widened, "What?"

"You heard me, charming."

"Debt free? Debt free?" Josh said in disbelief. His lips stretched out into a wide grin. He took a few steps toward me and I met him halfway in a tight hug. The two of us were laughing as he tightened his hold around me and lifted my feet off the ground making me laugh harder. It felt like I was on cloud nine. "That's fantastic!" He set me down and shook his head, "How?"

"Jazz sold all of Nicholas' shit on the internet." I replied then pointed at him, "But you can't arrest him for it because technically he doesn't exist."

Josh lifted his hands in mock defeat, "I'm off duty right now and I didn't hear a thing."

He stepped past me and reached a hand out to Jazz to shake. I let my attention drift away from the two of them as I sat down at the table to grin at Optimus. The leader nodded at me, "Yes, Aj?"

"Thanks, OP." I said sincerely. The chances were high that Jazz didn't do this without permission, and even if he did the autobot leader would've still known about it. Optimus didn't reply. Instead, he just nodded his head at me once.

I offered him a hand and then helped him off the table as Jazz and Josh came back over to stand beside me. Josh dropped down into the seat beside me. I smirked, "So this is cause for a celebration."

"Definitely." Josh agreed.

"Great, so you'll stay and get knock down drunk with me?" I questioned.

Josh's eyes widened, "What?"

"Oh come on!" I pleaded, "Doesn't your shift tomorrow start at like 10?"

He crossed his arms, "Well, yeah, but-"

"Stay tonight! We'll play poker and drink cheap whiskey."

Josh laughed, "Poker? The two of us?"

Jazz grinned and leaned against the back of my chair. He chuckled, "We did stock up on high grade."

I clapped my hands, "It's official! It's a poker night!"

Josh still looked skeptical, but he wasn't getting up or running away which I took as a good sign. After telling Jazz to get the stuff ready and to tell whoever wanted to play to make their way into the kitchen, I left and headed upstairs to say goodnight to the kids.

Granny was in the twins' room reading them a story. The sight was a funny one in itself. She sat on the end of Tyler's bed facing the top of the bed with the pictures of the book shown to her audience. Her audience now consisted of Bumblebee sitting cross-legged, or as cross-legged as he could get, where Tyler's pillow was. In his lap were Taylor and Tyler and sitting on Tyler's shoulder with his back leaning against Bumblebee was Bluestreak. I chuckled to myself before pulling away and heading toward Peter's room.

The light was still on so I peeked in the see Peter digging through his book bag by his dresser. I leaned against the doorframe, "You ready for bed, buddy?"

"Almost." Peter replied, "I just have to brush my teeth."

I nodded, "So…is everything ok?"

Peter paused and looked up in my direction, "I guess, yeah."

"That doesn't sound to convincing." I twisted my lips in worry. Peter sighed and moved so he was sitting on the edge of his bed. He had already removed his glasses and was in his pajamas. I came over and sat beside him, "You can tell me anything, you know that right, Pete?"

Peter hesitated before nodding, "Yeah."

"Is everything alright at school?" I questioned. Oh God, was he getting bullied? I dared anyone to try and mess with my kids. Of course, I couldn't punch out any ten year old messing with my ten year old, but I was best friends with the town's sheriff. That had to count for something, right? I'd get Josh to go down to the school and scare the shit of the kid. "Peter?"

"It's stupid." Peter mumbled and an embarrassed look crossed his features.

I shifted slightly so I was facing him entirely, "Hey, don't say that. If something is bothering you just let me know and I'll help you work through it."

Peter paused again before standing up and going back to his book bag. He rooted around in the thing before pulling out a thin packet of papers stapled together. He held it out to me, "I have to be in a play."

"Wait, what?"

He motioned for me to take the papers and I did. My eyes drifted down to the front page that read in big, bold letters, ' _Meet the Greeks_ '. I flipped through the pages quickly and noticed one name was highlighted throughout the entire thing.

"Mrs. Hill", Peter began and I recognized the name of his teacher, "Asked if I would take the part of Zeus because he has the most lines and she thinks I'd be able to memorize them all in time."

I smiled softly, "You're a smart kid, I bet you could."

"I can memorize it, but I don't know how to act. Plus, I'd have to get on stage in front of everyone!" Peter cried, "What if I mess up? What if I let everyone down?"

"Hey." I set my hand on top of his head, "I wish you would've told me about this earlier. I know you're scared and worried, but you don't have to be. You have me, Granny, Josh, and the twins who would be more than happy to help you practice. You also have an entire house filled with mechs from a different universe that would be more than happy to help."

Peter's lips twitched up slightly, "Really?"

"Of course, kid. That's what we're here for." I nodded my head, "Listen, Pete, you don't ever have to be afraid to ask for help or to reach out. If something is bothering you, don't hesitate to ask for help. There are so many people who love you and want to help you succeed. Don't shut them out."

"Thanks, Aj." Peter leaned forward and hugged me. I returned the hug with a content smile. It was good to know that I hadn't screwed up our relationship enough that he wouldn't take any advice I gave. This was something I wanted him to take to heart. I wish someone had told me years ago to reach out more often. That would've solved a hell of a lot of problems. I have people saying that to me now, but it's too late for my stubborn ass. "I start rehearsing next week."

"Then so do we." I replied and looked back down at the play, "I mean, look. One of the characters is Narcissus. I have the perfect mech to play that role." Peter laughed which meant he understood that I was poking fun at Sunstreaker. My eyes widened slightly, "Hey, that'd be a good nickname. I gotta remember that one."

Prowl came through the door at that moment and I stood up, "Hey, Prowl."

"Aj." He greeted then glanced over at Peter, "Are you about to recharge?"

Peter nodded, "Yeah, but first let me brush my teeth. Night Aj!"

"Night, kid." I replied as he headed toward the bathroom. Quickly, I gave Prowl one last greeting before heading over to the twins' room to actually say goodnight. I leaned against their doorway waiting for the story to be over. Briefly, I thought about inviting Granny to stay and play poker with us, but then I remembered tomorrow was Friday and she had to be up early to volunteer at the local hospital. She couldn't spend the night drinking like the rest of us sinners. A small smile lit my features. I might be a sinner, but I was a debt free one and that was the best feeling in the world.

* * *

 

She was laughing again. Her features were twisted in delight and glee. Her nose was scrunched up, optics shut so tightly that they were beginning to leak in the corners, and she covered her mouth as she poorly attempted to reign in her giggles. Aj's cheeks were a rosy red shade and she was most definitely the drunkest at the table.

"Shhh." Josh tried to quiet her pathetically as he laughed himself. He shook his head and leaned against the table. The human's high-grade was a lot stronger this time, and Sideswipe was pretty sure she hadn't won a single round yet in the past hour they've been playing.

 _'She won once._ ' Sunstreaker commented. ' _But only because Jazz's bluff fell through and his pair of fours was worse than her pair of sevens.'_

 _'That doesn't count. I'm 90% sure he lost on purpose to her.'_ Sideswipe commented back before drawing his attention back to the human sitting only a seat away from him. There were a total of eight people at the table. They had started off with a bit more, but gradually some began to drift away. Currently, it was him, his brother, Jazz, Josh, Aj, Wheeljack, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.

"You lose." Aj giggled, "Now take that shot like a champ, TC."

"You lost too." Thundercracker replied.

"Oh yeah." Aj replied and reached for the bottle to fill up her next shot. Sideswipe watched in amusement as she struggled to get it poured. Josh helped, but the buzzed male was having more fun watching her struggle as well.

Wheeljack holoform hummed to himself, "Ratchet is going to murder all of us for letting her get that overcharged."

There was a murmur of agreement around the table. Sideswipe knew without a doubt that Ratchet would throw a hissy fit if he saw Aj like this. However, the mech was distracted upstairs trying to figure out the exact pattern of upgrades considering it kept changing.

"This is so great an' it's so much fun." Aj took the mediocre shot she managed to pour out. Her face scrunched up again and Sideswipe found himself smiling at the sight of it. "Drinkin' with y'all is just…just the greatest an' I love y'all so much."

Josh chuckled and rubbed his face, "I forgot she was a happy drunk."

"Well at least someone can enjoy their high-grade." Skywarp scoffed and sneered at the plastic cup in front of him filled with their makeshift high-grade. It was a different kind than the one they used last time, and this one didn't have much of a kick. Sideswipe and his twin didn't even feel a buzz. Pit, the only person who did was Wheeljack and that was because even normal energon would seem like a light high-grade to the holoform.

"Maybe we should call it a night, hmm?" Jazz suggested and set the cards down.

"Good call." Josh nodded and stood up only to stumble back some. Wheeljack who had been sitting beside him reached out and caught the human by the arm. Aj began to laugh at this and Josh was quick to join in.

Aj's laughter died down and she leaned against the table, resting her helm on her servo, "I think someone had a bit too much to drink, Charmin'."

"I agree." Jazz replied while keeping his gaze on Aj.

She noticed this and her smile widened. Her movements were slow and sloppy as she lifted her free servo to point at Jazz. Her digit touched the end of his nose, "Hey. I could keep drinkin' an' be totally fine, mister."

Jazz lifted his own servo and let it wrap around her much smaller one to pull it away. Sideswipe was very aware at the fact that Jazz didn't pull his servo away and instead kept it around her own. His smile faltered.

"Where did Aj say Josh could sleep? Should I help him to the couch?" Wheeljack questioned.

"She said he could recharge in the medbay in her berth." Thundercracker spoke up as he walked across the table and collected the cards to put away, "She's going to her sister's berth and you're still in the living room."

Wheeljack smiled, "Oh, right. Thank you, Thundercracker."

The holoform began to help the intoxicated human male out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Skywarp, who had complained about the high-grade all night, filled his cup to the top and then warped out of the room. Sideswipe reached out and took the cards that Thundercracker had stacked together with a nod. The seeker glanced at the red mech before looking over at the giggling female one more time.

"Night, TC. See you in the mornin'." Aj reached out to him and grabbed his leg before he could leave, "I love you. You're such a good decepta..decepa… _yeah_."

Thundercracker peeled his leg away with a slight nod of his head, "Good night, Aj."

The seeker transformed and flew out before Aj could do anything else. Sideswipe stuck the cards into the thin box and let his optics dart around the room. Sunstreaker was leaning back in his seat with his golden arms crossed over his chassis and his gaze focused on the human, Aj had set her head down on the table with a silly smile and drooping optics, and Jazz was still sitting next to her with his fragging servo on hers.

"Guess ah should get 'er to 'er berth." Jazz commented and stood up.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both rose at the same time. Sunstreaker's optics were leveled in a glare, but Sideswipe forced a smile, "No worries, mech. I can take care of that for you."

Jazz shifted slightly so he was facing the two of them, "Nah, I got it."

"No, seriously, Jazz." Sideswipe set the pack of cards down on the table, "I'll do it."

There was a pause where the only sound that could be heard were Aj's soft breaths, and it definitely sounded like she had fallen asleep at the table. Jazz broke the silence with a chuckle as he pulled his servo away from Aj and rubbed his jawline.

"So this is how it's gonna be?"

A feeling of determination flashed across the bond. Sideswipe's optics snapped over to his brother a nano-klik before he began to speak, "Sides, take her upstairs."

"Listen, mech-" Jazz began.

"We need to talk." Sunstreaker interrupted him. It was tense and for the briefest moment, Sideswipe thought about questioning what Sunstreaker was going to say to Jazz, their superior officer and long time friend, but it didn't last long. His grin returned as he shoved past the saboteur and easily scooped the recharging femme into his arms. Sideswipe could hear the sound of Cybertronian behind him as he left the kitchen, but his sole attention was on the human in his arms.

"Hmm?" She mumbled as her optics fluttered open, "Wha? I wasn' sleepin'."

Sideswipe knew a lot of different languages both from Earth and from the rest of the universe. He knew even more dialects for each language too. It amused him to no end though to hear this overcharged femme speak. Her slurred words had a distinct southern twang that only came out when she wasn't conscious enough to bite it back. Sideswipe didn't like the way the accent sounded on Ironhide back home, but he sure as pit liked the way it sounded in her voice.

"Oh you most _definitely_ were." Sideswipe replied quietly as he slowly walked up the stairs.

Aj shifted in his arms and leaned her face against his chassis, "You're so warm."

"I think you mean hot. I'm so _hot_." Sideswipe joked.

She snickered and pressed her face even harder against his chassis to stifle her laughs. He turned to the left once he got up the stairs and pushed the cracked door open. The room was dark all except for the dim light coming in from the window in the corner. Sideswipe carried Aj across the room and set her on the berth carefully. It took him a klik or two to peel back the blankets and get Aj underneath them.

"'Ey Sides?" Aj questioned in a tired voice.

"Yeah?" He replied. She motioned for him to come closer so he knelt down by the berth. Aj reached up and set her small servos on either side of his face. Sideswipe tensed and waited for her to speak. His optics cast a dim glow on her face and the color made her optics look that much brighter. In fact, he got lost in them and lost track of time for a moment until he suddenly realized she hadn't said a word and was still staring up at him. He lifted his own servo and set it on top of her right one. They were so warm and soft, no wonder Jazz hadn't wanted to let go. "What is it, babe?"

Aj blinked and sighed, "Sides, I jus' wanted to say that I think I had too much to drink tonight."

Sideswipe's lips stretched out into a wide smile, "Yeah, I think you might be right. That's ok though."

"Why?"

"Because you're cute when you're overcharged." He answered and turned his helm so he could press his lips against the inside of her servo in a casual manner. "Now recharge, babe."

Aj nodded and pulled her hands away. She shifted slightly before falling back into recharge. Sideswipe stayed where he was for a nano-klik more before shaking his helm and leaving the room. This was so strange. Everything about this. He rubbed his servo against his chassis absentmindedly as he used his other servo to shut the door behind him quietly. His optics caught sight of Josh who stepped out of the bathroom rubbing his face.

Without hesitation, Sideswipe quickly made his way down the hall. It took no time at all with his long legs. Josh glanced over at him with tired optics, "Sideswipe?"

"Do you love her?" He blurted with no tact whatsoever. Sideswipe wasn't in the mood to beat around the bush or to slyly retrieve the answer like a mech from special ops. He just wanted it now.

"What?" Josh replied in confusion, "Do I love her? Who's her?"

" _Grimlock_." Sideswipe scoffed quietly before shaking his head, "Who do you think I'm talking about, human?"

Josh paused and Sideswipe could actually see the realization form on his features. The male was fairly smart in the middle of the day, but at the moment he was obviously running slow.

"Aimee? Do I love _Aimee_?"

Sideswipe resisted the urge to groan in frustration. He'd come to love this pathetically inept species, but Primus they were stupid sometimes. Well, most of the time if he was being honest. It didn't help that this particular human was only a few shots away from being too overcharged to function.

"Yes, Joshua." Sideswipe spoke slowly, "Do you fragging love Aimee fragging Bradshaw?"

Josh didn't seem to pick up on his frustrated tone. He casually lifted his hand and rubbed the side of his face as his eyes narrowed in hard thought. It was silent in the hall and Sideswipe couldn't hear Sunstreaker or Jazz anymore. A quick look over his bond told him the two of them were speaking over comm link now.

"You know…" Josh spoke suddenly and it made the red frontliner's attention snap back to him abruptly. "The first time we met, Aimee and I, we had to do this…school project thing. It was for our history class. I remember because I was doin' really bad in that class." The human chuckled to himself before continuing, "The two of us got along immediately. We bantered, we mocked each other, she started calling me Charming… At the end of that first meeting, it lasted maybe an hour and a half or so, I made her promise me that she'd tutor me in history so I could get at least a B, and you know what her reply was?"

Sideswipe shrugged, "What?"

"She said she'd do it on one condition." Josh lifted a hand to hold up one digit, "She made me promise her that I wouldn't fall in love with her." He began to laugh to himself and Sideswipe nervously glanced at the doors in the hall. He didn't want the younglings or Aj to wake up, and he didn't want Prowl or some bot coming out to yell at him. "I bet she doesn't even remember it anymore. She was completely joking, and the two of us just laughed it up, but…" Josh's laughter faded away, but a small smile lingered on his face as he thought about the past, "I'm proud to say that that's the _only_ promise I ever broke to her. _Ever_."

Sideswipe's posture went rigid at his words and an uncomfortable feeling that he couldn't explain filled his chassis. He frowned, "So you do love her?"

"She was my first love." Josh shrugged, "But a lot has happened. A lot. I fell in love with someone else and though it didn't end well for me…I still loved Hannah." Sideswipe recognized the human name from something Sunstreaker had told him about when he came back from the art store. Josh continued, "Then there's the whole situation where she disappeared for years."

Josh sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. His mood had grown a bit somber at the mention of the Hannah female, but a small smile returned to his face as a soft chuckle escaped his lips.

"What?" Sideswipe questioned.

"I may not be in love with her anymore, but I still care about her." He shook his head, "She essentially ignored me for eight years, but then one day she strolls back into my life and I can't help but want to be her friend and show her I care."

Sideswipe narrowed his optics in confusion. That was one thing he never really understood entirely about Josh. A human year was nothing to Sideswipe, but it was a long time for a human and this guy went eight of them without hearing from Aj and was ok with that? Sideswipe crossed his arms, "Why? Why would you still want to be her friend after that?"

"The thing about Aimee is…she just…" Josh struggled to find the words to say, "She's the type of person you can't forget. Even if you tried, and God knows I did. If anyone else had left and not spoken to me for eight years I wouldn't consider them an acquaintance let alone a friend, but not her." He sighed contentedly, "Aimee is special. She might not think so, but she is. There's just something about her."

Sideswipe sighed and stepped forward, "I know that. I already know that, but I can't figure out what it is!" His voice was still quiet, but was now tinged with frustration, "What's so special about her? What makes her so different from every other human on this mess of a planet?"

Josh paused before he unhelpfully shrugged, "I don't really know. Not for sure at least." Sideswipe rolled his optics. "Let me know if you ever figure it out though."

Without waiting for a reply, the human turned around and headed back toward the medbay where he would spend the night. Instead of immediately heading back downstairs, Sideswipe lets his optics dart back to the closed door where Aj was in recharge. His brother, who was reaching over the bond for him, overshadowed any thought that began to form in his mind.

 _'What happened, Sunny?'_ Sideswipe questioned curiously. He let his own mind drift to try and pick up what his twin was feeling on the subject matter. The two of them had argued briefly, but unsurprisingly it went nowhere. ' _Did he tell you why he's so stuck on her?'_

 _'He says he doesn't know._ ' The yellow twin answered. ' _That he's still trying to figure that out himself_.'

Sideswipe couldn't help bit chuckle, ' _Oh, so he's still in the same situation as us then?'_

Sunstreaker scoffed, ' _At least he doesn't have to deal with a glitching processor that keeps comparing her to some random femme we never met.'_

_'True that, true that.'_

' _He said something else too._ ' Sunstreaker added, _'Jazz said he has a plan. Something that'll fix all her problems_.'

_'What plan?'_

_'You really fragging think he'd tell me?_ ' Sunstreaker replied sharply. Sideswipe watched as Jazz crossed the foyer and walked into the living room. The mech didn't give Sideswipe, who stood out in the open at the top of the stairs, a second glance. ' _What did you talk to that slagging human about?'_

Sideswipe hummed to himself in thought before answering with a slight chuckle, ' _What do you think?'_

* * *

 

"How do you feel?"

I slowly lifted my head off the kitchen table to glare at Josh who was leaning against the counter across the room with a cup of coffee in his hand and a slight smirk on his lips.

"About as bad as I look." I grumbled in distaste.

Josh lifted his eyebrows and shook his head, "That bad, huh?"

Rather than offering him a reply, I set my head back down on the table and flipped him off with my left hand. I heard him let out a laugh, but ignored him past that point. Josh had woken up a bit tired and worn down, but still his usual chipper self. I, on the other hand, woke up feeling like someone had hit me over the head with a tack hammer and filled my stomach with lead.

Hangovers were a bitch.

I was lucky Granny wasn't here to rag on me though. It was enough hearing the ' _you shouldn't have drank so much, you idiot'_ speech from Ratchet. Josh came over to the table and I lifted my head again to see he had brought me over a large glass of water.

"You need to eat something." Josh added, "I'll"-

"Already on it, Sheriff." Sideswipe's holoform came marching into the kitchen with a grin. His voice was too loud for me and I flinched at the noise, "Ratchet told me to make her eggs."

Josh nodded, "Eggs'll be good for her, but can you _make_ her the eggs, Sideswipe?"

" _Pfft_ ", Sideswipe waved him off and opened the fridge, "It doesn't look too hard. The internet explained it to me."

Josh rubbed the back of his neck before shrugging, "Let me get you some Motrin."

He headed over to the first aid cabinet and paused to help Sideswipe grab the right frying pan to use. I could faintly hear the kids upstairs getting ready for school. The mechs had woken them up and gotten them going because I had been pretty useless when I woke up considering I spent the first ten minutes of consciousness puking into the toilet. Hell, I was still useless. Josh was going to have to drive the kids to school this morning. Luckily, the kids seemed excited by this fact.

"How do you like your eggs, Aj?" Sideswipe asked. Josh walked over and put two white pills into my hand. "You can pick any style."

"Fried well. I don't like runny eggs." I answered before quickly taking the pills and then chugging half the glass of water.

Josh sat down beside me as Sideswipe worked at the stove, "Did the kids eat enough? All they had was cereal."

"They usually don't eat too much on school mornings." I sighed and leaned my head against my hand. Last night had been fun, at least the parts I could remember had been, but I hadn't meant to get so drunk. Usually I held my drinks better than that, but apparently I had overestimated my abilities.

"Alright." Josh nodded and finished the last of his coffee, "I'm gonna head upstairs and make sure they're still getting ready."

"Okie dokie, charming." I mumbled in response and watched him leave the kitchen in the same clothes he had worn yesterday. When he left my sight, I turned my attention to Sideswipe who was super focused on what was happening in front of him. I could hear the egg sizzling against the black frying pan, and I didn't smell anything burning, which meant he was doing good so far.

A few minutes later, Sideswipe set the egg on a plate he found in the cupboard and brought it back over to me with a wide grin. My eyes darted down to the plate and then back up to the holoform who had dropped down into the seat beside me. He leaned against the table and stared me down, obviously waiting for me to take a bite.

"Looks good." I said while holding back a chuckle, "Let me just get a fork-"

I began to rise up from my chair, but Sideswipe jumped up and forced me back down, "I forgot you humans need those weird metal things to eat! Let me get it."

He rushed back to the kitchen and I watched in amusement as he dug through multiple drawers trying to find the utensils. Eventually, he guessed right and pulled a fork out of the drawer by the fridge. Sideswipe brought it back over and sat back down like he had been.

"What is this all about?" I questioned.

"Can't I do something nice for my special friend?" Sideswipe replied with a cheesy grin. I let out a small scoff before digging in. Bad eggs or good eggs, the protein would help regardless. Luckily, I discovered after the first bite that Sideswipe had done fairly well. With a mouth full of egg, I nodded my head and gave him a thumbs up. "Hah! And Ratchet said I couldn't do it."

I swallowed the eggs and narrowed my eyes at him, "I thought he told you to make me eggs."

"He told me to tell Josh to make you eggs." Sideswipe replied and shrugged, "To be even more specific, he told me to stay the frag away from the stove. Showed him though, huh?"

The look on his face could only be described as smug. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself and shake my head. If there was one thing that Sideswipe could do, it was make me laugh. The mech just had a knack for humor.

I went back to eating and ignored the fact that Sideswipe was content with sitting there and staring at me. It was really weird, but my lingering hangover drained me of all energy I could use to care. About halfway through my meal I heard the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs. I glanced over my shoulder to see Tyler standing by the front door with his book bag on.

"Aj!" He called, "Can I open the door for the seekers and Megatron?"

Seconds later, Skywarp warped right above Tyler's head and then dropped down to land on the young boy's should making him laugh.

"Sure thing." I replied and watched as the others came around the corner to stand by Tyler, "Don't cause trouble!"

Tyler opened the door and the flying cons ignored me completely. The kid watched them for a moment before shutting the door and running back upstairs. My eyes darted to the clock on the microwave to see that it was nearly time for them to go. I shoved the last bite into my mouth before standing up to go check on them and out of the corner of my eye I saw Sideswipe reach across the table toward me. I paused and looked over at him and the moment my eyes landed on him he yanked his hand back to scratch the back of his neck. He had been silent, thinking to himself, while I ate, but now there was a slight awkward air hanging between us that I couldn't grasp.

"Sides?" I questioned.

"Mhmm?"

The holoform's bright eyes snapped to mine and I shook my head at him, "Did I do something weird last night? I didn't try and make-out with you or something right?"

Sideswipe's eyes widened and he leaned forward, "Make-out? Wait, is that something you do when you're overcharged?"

"I've been told that I'm a _very_ happy, loving drunk." I admitted with a shrug. "So what happened?"

"Well you sure as frag didn't kiss me." Sideswipe replied with a sigh and a confused look on his face. He was no longer looking at me and was now thinking to himself again. I quickly thanked him for the egg then turned to leave the kitchen. My head was still hurting, though the meds were starting to kick in, and trying to figure out the red mech wasn't doing my mind any favors.

I stepped into the foyer and came to a halt when I saw Barricade standing between the staircase and the wall on the right. He was closer to the back sliding doors than he was to the front door. The mech was standing still with one hand on top of his chest and a perplexed glare on his features.

"Hey Barricade, you alright?" I asked. His head snapped up to look at me and he pulled his hand away quickly. The mech didn't answer me and instead transformed into his alt mode and drove out of sight. Barricade ignoring me wasn't abnormal and neither was that glare, but the fact that I caught him out in the open was. The decepticon scout was extremely good at staying out of sight. Sometimes I could go days without seeing him and that was crazy considering this house wasn't all that big. I shook off the entire scenario and continued on my mission to check on the kids.

"You guys ready yet?" I called out as I reached the top of the stairs. Josh was leaning against the officer doorway. He glanced back at me with a small grin and wave then moved his attention back to Soundwave and Prowl who were speaking to him from inside the room. Tyler and Peter ran out of Peter's room and paused when they saw me. I pointed at them, "Are you guys ready to go? You're gonna be late. Where's Taylor?"

"She's in mom's room." Peter answered.

"We're ready, but I gotta talk to Ratchet!" Tyler added and rushed by me. Peter followed after him and I didn't bother chasing either of them down.

As I started toward Aubrey's room, I made a mental list of where everyone was. Barricade was somewhere downstairs, the flying cons were outside, and Soundwave was in the office. That was all the decepticons. Prowl was in the office and I think I saw Grimlock in there too. Sideswipe was downstairs, Ratchet was in the medbay, and I was pretty sure Bumblebee and Jazz were both in the medbay with him. As for all the others, I really had no idea.

I stopped just outside the door to hear Taylor talking in an excited manner. Her voice went up and down as she got more and more carried away with what she was talking about.

"How did you do this part? It all looks so real I love it!"

"I thought I told you not to touch it."

"Can you paint something with me?"

At least now I knew where Sunstreaker was. Rather than stand outside the door and be nosy, I stepped into the room to see Taylor sitting on the bed with a sketchbook in her hands. Sunstreaker was using his holoform in the corner and based off the random splotches of color on his shirt and hands, he had been painting.

"Aj!" Taylor greeted happily and set the book down on the bed.

"What're you up to, kiddo?"

Taylor grinned over at an exasperated Sunstreaker, "Just talking to Sunstreaker. He was showing me some of his stuff."

The mech mumbled something under his breath, but I didn't catch what he said. I chuckled and motioned for her to get off the bed, "Well, it's time for school."

"Is Sheriff Thompson still taking us?"

"Yupp."

Taylor cheered, gave me a quick hug, yelled a goodbye to Sunstreaker then ran out of the room. A few seconds later Josh peeked his head in, "Bradshaw- Oh, hey Sunstreaker." The mech completely ignored him and I rolled my eyes. Josh lifted is eyebrows slightly before looking back over to me, "I'm leaving with the kids. Are you picking them up?"

"Nah, I think Granny said she wanted to." I replied. "Bye, charming. Thanks so much."

"My pleasure." He replied with a smile before ducking out of the room. I turned my attention back over to Sunstreaker who had finally looked up from his painting. His bored gaze landed on me.

"So", I began and sat down on the bed, "Is there a reason why you're so mean to Josh?"

"I don't like him."

"Why?" I asked and he shrugged in response. "You seemed to like him fine when you first met him."

Sunstreaker scoffed, "I was only trying to gain his trust remember? I could care less about him."

"Well then." I mumbled to myself and pulled my legs toward me so I could sit criss cross on top of the bed sheets. I couldn't say I was necessarily surprised that Sunstreaker was giving Josh the cold shoulder, but I thought he'd be at least a little more civil. "What's wrong with your brother?"

"What isn't wrong with the slagger?" Another answer that I probably should've expected from the mech. I let my eyes linger on him for a second more before I slowly reached forward to grab his sketchbook. My hand was on top of the cover when suddenly another hand slammed on top of mine.

I jumped in surprise and looked up to see Sunstreaker by the bed with his hand on top of mine while glaring at me, "How the frag did you move that fast?"

"Did I say you could touch that?"

"No." I replied, "But you let Taylor look through it."

Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes at me, "Have you ever tried saying no to her?"

It was amusing to know that Taylor wasn't just persistently cute with me when trying to get things. She used her tricks on everyone in the house and apparently even stony Sunstreaker wasn't immune.

I pouted, "Please? It'll make me feel better?"

"It's not my fault you decided to get fragging overcharged last night." He shot back and went to pick up the sketchbook. I grabbed it with my other hand too and he narrowed his eyes at me even more.

"Come on, Narcissus." I joked as the nickname I thought of last night came to mind, "I won't tell a soul you let me see."

Sunstreaker scoffed, "Do you really think using one of those stupid nicknames is going to help your case?"

"Yes?" I grinned.

"No." Sunstreaker smirked and snatched the sketchbook away from me. I pouted as he moved across the room and set it down on the small table where his paintbrushes and paints were.

I leaned forward, "Why are you painting in here anyways?"

"Base is crowded." Sunstreaker mumbled his answer as his eyes traced the canvas in front of him. It was then that I noticed he was no longer really painting anymore. Instead, he was studying whatever it was he had painted with a look of frustration. With the way he stood, the large canvas was hiding most of his upper body, but the window to his left, that had the blinds drawn up, was letting in a ton of sunlight that made his hair seem a few shades lighter, nearly blond, and his eyes glow. It seemed that whenever sunlight hit his holoform's blue eyes, that's when the slight shade of indigo became easiest to see. Suddenly, his eyes shot up from the canvas and landed on me. I froze in embarrassment at being caught staring at him, but he didn't seem to care or even notice. "Do you want to see this painting?"

For a moment I thought I had heard him wrong. I blinked in surprise, "Wait, really?"

"Do you want to see it or not, organic?"

My answer was me scrambling off the bed and nearly falling on my face from my lack of balance and slightly aching head. I came over to the canvas, but paused on the other side of it just in case he wasn't being serious and didn't want me to see it. Sunstreaker noticed my hesitance and took a step closer to the window and motioning toward the painting with his head.

I grinned and came around to take a look. Every inch of the canvas was covered in layers of paint. My eyes widened at the well-portrayed details that made up the painting. At first glance I noticed it was some Cybertronian standing in front of some large area with their back facing the viewer, but my entire focus went to the background image. The landscape was one filled with tall crystals in a variety of shapes and colors. They were taller than the Cybertronian painted on the canvas and somehow Sunstreaker was able to show how each crystal threw off light in soft hues of dancing colors.

"This is amazing, Sunstreaker." I breathed and resisted the urge to touch the canvas. "What is that place?"

"Helix Gardens." Sunstreaker replied and I glanced over at him to see he was sitting slightly against the window ledge with his hands resting on the tops of his knees and his eyes on me.

I nodded and looked back to the painting, "I've heard of that place. Jazz mentioned it. It's in…uh… Praxus, right?"

"It was."

My eyes darted back to Sunstreaker at the tone of his voice, "Oh. Right. He mentioned that it got destroyed. I'm sorry. Did you go there often?"

"I've only seen it in person twice."

"Was this one of the times?" I asked and pointed to the canvas. He didn't answer and I continued, "The details are just so intricate and… _real_. It just looks more like a memory than something you painted on a whim."

Sunstreaker nodded, "It does, doesn't it?" His words confused me slightly and my eyebrows furrowed in thought. He didn't give me much time to linger on it though because he pushed off the window sill and motioned toward the Cybertronian, "Do you recognize her?"

"Her?" I questioned and looked back. Now that he mentioned it, and now that I was actually looking at the figure, I could tell this Cybertronian was built different from all the mechs here. She was slimmer around the abdomen area with slightly wider hips and slender arms. She had door wings like some of the mechs here, but her door wings were a bit smaller and she had four, two on one side and two on the other making it look like butterfly wings. Her frame was mostly a soft shade of light gray with bright accents of burnt orange, white, and turquoise here and there. "Am I supposed to recognize her? Was she in one of the movies or shows?" Sunstreaker didn't seem to like this answer. His frown deepened and he turned to stare at the female Cybertronian with the same look he had earlier. I didn't speak for a minute before finally asking, "Who is she, Sunstreaker?"

"I don't know." He admitted softly. That simple sentence made me pause in surprise. Not because of the words, though those were troubling too, but rather the tone he carried. Never before had I ever heard Sunstreaker sound so sad or broken. The frown on his face wasn't one of distaste or annoyance. This one was filled with only grief. Immediately, my mind started to try and find a way to fix the problem at hand. I could try and comfort him, but comforting people wasn't exactly my strong suite. Since comforting wasn't going to get me anywhere, I'd have to rely on a skill I was much better at. Pure distraction.

I cleared my throat, "So, you remember Nicholas, right?" Sunstreaker tore his gaze away from the painting to stare at me with a dead pan look. His gaze screamed that he thought I had said one of the stupidest things ever. I smiled, "Of course you do. Right. Anyways, he said some stuff about you and your brother the first time I went over to his house to get my mail." I shrugged, "I don't want to get too into the details, I mean a lot happened-"

"Is there a point or a question in all of this babbling?" Sunstreaker interrupted.

I was worried I had made the situation worse, by pissing him off, but the slightly amused look in his eyes gave me all the encouragement I needed to continue, "How do you see the world?"

"What?" Sunstreaker's face morphed to one of confusion.

"It's just… your past isn't the prettiest. In fact, it's pretty scarred. So I was wondering if that's how you saw the world now? Words like sociopath and anti-social get tossed around when talking about you and it made me wonder if you saw the world the way most people think you do. I wouldn't blame you if you did."

Sunstreaker replied to my question with one of his own, "An orn ago, you were afraid to ask Sideswipe and I anything remotely like that. What changed?"

"You watched me lose my mind in the ring. Hell, you saw me scream to a crowd of drunken, bloodthirsty idiots that I was the motherfucking queen." I admitted sheepishly, "Needless to say, a lot has changed. Besides, from what it looks like, either I'm joking around and asking you personal questions or I'm ignoring your presence entirely. There's no in-between for us. At least this is the more friendly of the two choices."

There was another pause and I watched as Sunstreaker crossed his arms, "What do you think I see?" I didn't know how exactly to answer so I shifted my weight slightly and shrugged, "This mech I know back in our universe, says he hates Earth because it's a disgusting, dirty mud ball planet filled with filthy humans that live messy lives."

"The world is an ugly place." I mumbled. It wasn't like I could argue against those points. My mess of a life was filled with filthy humans back in New York that were rotten to their core. "Do you hate Earth too?"

"Yeah." Sunstreaker admitted without hesitation, "But not for the same reasons. Come here." My eyes widened slightly when he grabbed my arm and pulled him over to the window. He nodded toward the outside scene, "What do you see?"

I looked away from him and glanced outside. From Aubrey's room you could see the front lawn, the driveway, and everything across the street, "I see the truck, it could probably use another wash, the grass is growing kind of long so that needs to be cut, uhhh… I see the house across the street. The lamppost. The mailbox. That stupid white chemical box that the city won't get rid of. Am I doing this right?"

Sunstreaker leaned forward and I tensed when I realized how close he was to me, but his eyes were glued outside, "Right now the sky is three different shades of blue and the grass in your lawn is two shades of green and three shades of brown. The sun is bouncing light off the windows across the street making their entire lawn seem brighter. The sharp, definite lines of the truck are casting a soft shadow onto the other side of the lawn."

I blinked in surprise and looked back outside, "You see all of that?"

"I see shades of colors. I see contours and contrast, and light and lines." Sunstreaker shrugged, "Life does get pretty ugly, but I know how to see past that. I hate Earth, but even I'll admit that your world is beautiful. You have colors here that I usually only saw once every few vorns."

"Then what makes you hate Earth?"

Sunstreaker's gaze outside softened a bit, "It isn't Cybertron."

For a moment, all I could do was stand there and roll his words over and over again in my mind. There was plenty to consider, but my thoughts kept going back to one thing. Sunstreaker was talking to me. Sure, he talked to me a hell of a lot more than he did the kids, or Granny, or Josh, but this was more than just mocking words or sneers. This was real talking. This was, dare I say it, out of character talking for him, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me how we were having this conversation.

"Thanks." I said suddenly making his gaze snap over to me. I didn't know why Sunstreaker chose to open up to me or actually talk to me like he would someone he really considered a friend or whatever, but I appreciated it. Talking to Sunstreaker was always an interesting thing. It was interesting because it always left me feeling…better. "I'm glad we had this talk." Sunstreaker cracked a small smile, one I hadn't seen before on his face, and it made me grin, "You're a real pal, butterscotch."

The smile fell at the nickname and Sunstreaker rolled his eyes in exasperation. I chuckled to myself and began to backpedal out of my room. A hot shower would be nice right now and I should probably change out of my clothes considering these were the same things I wore yesterday.

"You're going to run out of those stupid nicknames eventually."

"You wish." I replied and paused in the doorframe.

Sunstreaker shrugged, "Think what you want to. I have no issues with you remaining in this delusional state, queen."

My eyes widened at the sudden nickname. It took a moment before I grasped it and grinned in response, "Queen?"

"I think it suites you." Sunstreaker crossed his arms.

"Aw", I cooed, "You think I'm royal, Sunstreaker?"

He smirked, "Royally full of it."

A loud laugh slipped from my lips, and here I thought Sideswipe was the only twin with a sense of humor.

* * *

 

It had only been a few human days ago that Skywarp came to Megatron with the report of a conversation held between one golden frontliner and one wrench happy medic. Megatron could hardly call it a report because the seeker had broadcasted it across the Decepticon comm channels on repeat in a loud, unprofessional manner, but that wasn't something new when it came to Skywarp.

The homicidal Autobot thought he recognized the delusional femme. How interesting. Apparently the twins were rather torn up over this issue too.

Megatron banked to the left and let the breeze carry him through the sky. The seekers weren't far behind him, but they were much higher up than he was at the moment.

The other cons had taken the news from Skywarp in stride. They found it a bit curious and they were pleased with the fact that it was causing the autobot frontliners such misery, but the fact itself didn't matter to them. They didn't recognize the femme at all.

It meant more to Megatron because he understood it. He had that same nagging feeling pulling at the back of his processors. It hadn't come right away, but gradually the Decepticon warlord began to sense a slight familiarity from Aj. Megatron had paid no mind to it and let it slip from his mind, because to him it was hardly worth anything.

However, knowing that the twins recognized her as well changed everything.

Megatron dropped even further in descent until he could see the human dwelling he was forced to stay in. His sights focused on a window on the second story. The covering had been pulled away so the mech could see straight into the familiar room. Standing in the corner was Aj and Sunstreaker. It was as if they had been summoned by his thoughts. The two of them were standing side by side, Aj was staring up at the mech's holoform with a gaze of worry and care while the mech stared at the painting in front of him. Megatron could only see half the holoform's face, but confusion was evident in the features he did see.

Finally, Megatron let his gaze drift to the painting itself. There was a slight moment of shock that stalled his processors for a nano-klik, but the shock shifted to satisfaction. Optimus Prime was a fool if he thought he and his Autobots had an upper hand in this universe because Megatron had, as the humans would say, an ace up his sleeve.

Megatron knew exactly who the femme in the painting was.

Simply, because, he remembered offlining her.

* * *

 

Only half an hour had passed since the kids left for school and already my hangover was nearly gone. I was beyond pleased that I no longer had a nagging headache or a flipping stomach, but I was used to my hangovers lasting a lot longer. However, I wasn't the type to look a gift horse in the mouth so my mind drifted away from those thoughts.

I pushed my damp hair away from my eyes and continued putting away the clean, dry dishes that were sitting in the rack by the sink. Luckily, there weren't many chores for me to get done today. After these dishes I had a load of laundry that needed washing, but I'd be free to do nothing after that. Quickly, I grabbed the last dish and moved to put it away in one of the upper cabinets when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.

My head snapped to look over at who had come in and the sight of a random person made me jump in surprise and sent the plate in my hand flying up. The stranger rushed forward and stretched out an arm to catch the plate before it crashed against the tile floor.

"Sorry, Aj." He set the plate on the counter and rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't mean to scare you."

My eyes widened and I pointed at him, "Bee?"

The guy nodded with a friendly smile, "Yeah! How do I look?"

Bumblebee's holoform was only about five or so inches taller than I was and looked like he was only twenty years old. He wore a button up, pale yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up and dark jeans. His skin was a shade or so lighter than my tan and he crossed his arms over his chest, pulled his shoulders back, and grinned as I took in all his details. A chuckle slipped my lips as my eyes darted to his face. I could see his eyes were not as bright as his cyan eyes, but still managed to stand out and pop on this human face. He had a huge smile that made his face light up and made crinkles around his eyes like he was squinting. His jawline was more narrow than the twins' and he had a slight blond peach fuzz growing along it. His hair was a dirty blond that was a bit longer than Sunstreaker's and it was styled up and to the side as if it had been blown up by the wind.

"Aw, Bee." I cooed stepped toward him, "You're adorable!"

Bumblebee chuckled and shook his head, "Thanks, but I don't know if adorable was the word I was aiming for."

"Did you just get your holoform?" I questioned, "What about Jazz and Wheeljack?"

"Jazz still doesn't have his." Bumblebee replied, "And Wheeljack's holoform turned off while you were in the shower. He's working in the garage right now with Blue, Prowl, Soundwave, and Grimlock."

I nodded and moved to put away the plate that Bumblebee had caught for me, "Well, I like your holoform, Bee. You're _super_ cute."

Bumblebee opened his mouth to speak, but it was a different voice that filled the air with noise, "Wait a minute!" There was a pause where the two of us just stared at each other before looking over to the doorframe where Sideswipe suddenly stopped into sight, "You think he's cute?"

"Did I stutter?" I smirked and hooked a finger through my necklace out of recent habit.

Sideswipe scoffed and threw his bright red arms up, "I'm ten times cuter, babe!"

In response I let go of my necklace and wrapped my arms around Bumblebee's torso. He looked a bit startled, but after a moment he happily set his arm around my shoulders and smiled at the red mech. "Debatable."

Sideswipe suddenly transformed in front of us and the moment his alt mode's tires touched the tile floor his holoform materialized. He took a step forward and motioned toward himself, "Come on, Aj, I'm definitely the cutest." As if to prove his words, Sideswipe pasted a charming smile onto his features.

"Meh", I shrugged, "I suppose you're decent enough."

Sideswipe's smile turned into a pout making both Bumblebee and I laugh. Quickly, I gave Bumblebee a friendly pat on the stomach before slipping out from under his arm and leaving the kitchen. Sideswipe called after me, but I ignored him and continued up the steps. Bumblebee and Jazz had changed at almost identical times, which meant Jazz had to be getting his holoform within the next few minutes. Right?

"-will you fragging stay put?!" Ratchet's voice carried out of the medbay and into the hall. "I'm not done running a scan and-"

"I'll be right back, Hatchet." Jazz interrupted and I paused in the middle of the hall, "I jus' wanna go see-"

A very human Jazz stepped out into the hall and his words came to a halt when his attention was drawn to me. I had always been amazed at how the holoforms turned out, and I was starting to notice how well each holoform seemed to match the mech it was made for. Jazz fit the bill just like the twins, Bumblebee, and Wheeljack did.

The holoform was a few inches taller than Bumblebee's had been with dark skin and a slim figure. He wore a tight, long sleeve dark green shirt over a pair of dark gray jeans with a black bomber style jacket over it. Jazz's holoform had a slightly rectangle face shape that still had a rounded edge. His hair was black and neatly shaved and he also had black scruff above his upper lip and on his chin that made his wide smile seem that much brighter. The holoform also had a pair of black wayfarer styled sunglasses over his eyes that made me clap my hands and laugh in amusement.

"What's so funny, sweetspark?" Jazz called out and came over to close the space.

"And here I thought I'd finally get a chance to see your eyes." I crossed my arms and didn't move an inch.

Jazz grinned, showing a slight dimple in his left cheek. He leaned forward and motioned toward himself, "Well, go on then."

"Really?" I asked in excitement. Jazz nodded encouragingly and I reached up to grab his glasses. My movements were quick, just in case he decided to change his mind, but when the glasses were pulled off I realized his eyes were closed. "Oh come on!"

Jazz chuckled and slowly opened his eyes, but I was shocked to see two warm, brown eyes staring down at me. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Wait, brown? You said they couldn't be brown."

"They can't." Jazz replied with a smirk and took the glasses from my hands, "I had Jackie change the programming and make 'em brown when we first got the things."

"No fair." I lightly shoved him away from me and he only laughed more, "I thought you were serious!"

Jazz let his chuckles die down as he slid the glasses over his eyes again, "One day, sweetspark, one day. Jus' gotta be patient."

"Do I seem like the patient kind, Jazz?"

"Will you fragging get back in here!?" Ratchet's voice yelled from down the hall. "You found the pain in the aft femme!"

Jazz and I shared an amused glance before he slipped his arm around my shoulders and began to drag me down the hall to the medbay. Ratchet was unhappily standing on the desk with his eyes glued to a datapad in his hands. Beside him was none other than Optimus Prime. My eyes widened, "Oh, hey, OP. I didn't know you were in here."

"I was asked to come." He replied then took a step toward the edge, "However, if you're busy Ratchet, perhaps I could come later-"

"Oh, shut up." Ratchet snapped without looking up, "You're getting a fragging checkup. Don't be a sparkling. Jazz step to the side."

Optimus crossed his arms and I chuckled to myself as Jazz stepped into the middle of the room ready to be scanned by the annoyed medic. I let my eyes linger on Jazz and he quickly took notice of my gaze. Jazz lifted his sunglasses slightly and winked at me with a grin. I let out a laugh and shook my head as Ratchet yelled at him for moving around.

"These holoforms aren't that well thought out." I suddenly said making eyes turn to me.

Jazz shook his head, "Don't let Jackie hear ya say that."

"No, I mean, they're _amazing_ , but the whole purpose of them is for you guys to blend in right?"

Optimus nodded, "Yes. Why?"

"I can't say this for the ones who haven't been through the update yet, but the ones who have are basically _super_ attractive." I shrugged, "And in case you didn't notice, super attractive people attract attention. They don't blend in, usually."

Jazz crossed his arms and grinned at me, "So I'm super attractive, huh?"

I rolled my eyes, "You get my point."

"Humans, for the most part, are shallow creatures." Ratchet spoke up.

My eyebrows rose and my lips pressed together as Jazz snickered to himself. I nodded quickly, "Well, thanks Ratchet."

The medic ignored me and continued, "Most of you had out your trust more easily to someone you find attractive rather than someone of average or below average physical traits."

"I can't argue with that." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, "How does that work for y'all back in your universe?"

"Our relations with the humans in our universe, specifically the United States Government, are very good." Optimus replied.

I chuckled, "I bet. Have you seen how adorable Bee is? All you gotta do is send him to the Secretary of Defense and tell him to smile. At that rate, you'll end up owning the world."

The mechs chuckled at my statement and I turned to leave. Jazz spoke up and made me pause in the doorway, "Hey, where ya goin'?"

"There's a bunch of holes in the walls downstairs that are calling my name." I replied. I had bought the stuff to fix everything, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. Some of the bigger ones I was probably gonna ask Josh to fix, but I could handle the smaller bullet holes.

"Lemme help ya." Jazz stepped toward me, but Ratchet began to yell at him in Cybertronian. I shot him a smile before trying to leave again when the medic's attention snapped to me.

"Youngling." Ratchet began and I let my eyes drift down to him. Was he going to yell at me? I didn't even do anything this time. At least, I think I didn't. "Go downstairs and tell Bluestreak to come here."

I shrugged, "Ok, but why?"

"I'm picking up readings in this house that an upgrade should be occurring relatively soon, and he's next on the list."

I accepted that as the answer and turned to leave. Bluestreak was still in the garage with Wheeljack, Prowl, Grimlock, and Soundwave. What they were doing in the garage was still a bit unclear to me. The other mechs had just told me they were working. I assumed that meant working on getting home? I didn't understand why they were doing it in the garage though.

The moment I turned the corner and pulled the garage door open though I got my answer. In the middle of the concrete floor was a metal structure that was about seven feet tall and four feet wide. Wheeljack was in his bipedal mode screwing something to the top as Soundwave stood on his shoulder speaking in Cybertronian. Prowl and Bluestreak were a few feet away speaking to each other while watching the Autobot engineer and Decepticon communication officer work. Grimlock on the other hand was walking along the wall of the garage digging through whatever he could find.

"What is this?" I questioned and stepped into the cool garage. All I had on was a t-shirt and Nike shorts and I resisted the urge to shiver as the cold air brushed against my bare skin.

Wheeljack glanced over and his fins lit up, "Oh! Aj! Good morning. How do you feel?"

"I feel fine." I shrugged, "But this is…?"

"Right." He nodded and set Soundwave down to the ground and handed him the screwdriver he had been holding. He said something to the mech in Cybertronian, and Soundwave replied, before the much smaller mech moved to the side and began to toy with something on the bottom of the structure. Wheeljack came over, "This is the beginning of the device that will send us home. It's essentially a spacebridge portal with some major modifications. This is just the frame work for the actual machine, of course."

"Aj!" Bluestreak jogged over to greet me and I knelt down to talk to him, "It looks pretty neat, doesn't it? I love seeing this stuff built, but usually I'm not allowed to watch Jackie work. Prowl says the chances of this exploding today thought are only 23% so I decided to come down."

"23%?" Wheeljack questioned and then turned to Prowl. The two began to talk back and forth to each other in Cybertronian.

"It's something alright." I nodded, "Ratchet needs you inside though, Blue. He says he thinks you'll be going through the upgrade soon and wants you close."

Bluestreak's face brightened, "That's great! I'll go up and see him right now. Thanks a ton for coming to tell me, Aj. I really appreciate it!"

"My pleasure, buddy." I patted the top of his head before watching him run inside. Quickly, I stood back up and crossed my arms, "So it looks like you still have a lot of work to do."

Wheeljack tore his attention away from the argument he was having with Prowl and nodded, "A bit. However, once Starscream comes back from his flight we'll have an extra set of servos to work with. We'll make the deadline for sure!"

"The deadline?"

He nodded again with bright blue fins, "The two month deadline of course. It's Thursday, the 5th of February."

My eyes widened slightly, "That's next week."

"Yes, it is."

"You guys will be ready to leave next Thursday?" I asked for clarification.

Wheeljack nodded, "Exactly! I have to say this was such an interesting project to work on with rather surprising allies. Perceptor is going to love the schematics I'm taking back with me."

Wheeljack continued to ramble to himself about the details of this project and the mech named Perceptor, but my mind was stuck on his previous information. The mechs would be leaving next week? It felt like they had just got here. It felt like I had just got here, but now two months was coming to an end. Did that mean Aubrey would be home relatively soon too? We were going to have to say bye to all the Autobots and Decepticons, and I knew already that the kids were not going to take this well. Another thought came to mind. I was determined that I would never go back to New York, but that didn't mean I was welcome to stay here. Sure, the kids would probably want me to stay. Josh and Granny would want me to stay. Aubrey would probably be happy with me staying close and she'd probably let me stay in the house too. That wasn't a solution though. I couldn't just give Boss a metaphorical 'fuck you' and then stick around here. Boss would follow me to the ends of the Earth and he would come here first. I had to leave. I couldn't stay here. An even darker thought sprung up after that one. Boss knew where this house was. He knew where my sister and her kids lived. They couldn't stay here either. What if Boss tried to use them as leverage? What if he hurt them? They'd have to move away, where Boss couldn't find them, and they had to stay away from me so he never would get ahold of them. Not only are the kids going to have to say bye to the mechs and me, but they were also going to have to say bye to their homes, their friends at school, and their lives here.

"Aj?" Prowl said.

The mech's level voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I suddenly realized everyone in the garage, including Grimlock, was now staring at me. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, "Yeah, Prowl?"

"Are you alright?" He questioned.

I nodded with a shrug, "Course. This is good news. I'm glad everything is on track, Jackie."

The mechs shared a few glances, but I didn't pay them any mind. I shot them a quick smile and left the garage quickly. What I needed right now was a mind numbing activity and something to keep my hands busy. You couldn't get anymore mind numbing than fixing walls, I supposed.

* * *

 

Fixing holes in the wall wasn't very hard, but it was time consuming. After throwing a load of clothes into the washer I came out into the hall to start my home project. In this back hall, by the laundry room and sliding glass doors, were three holes. Two of them were rather small and looked like someone's gun had formed them. The third, however, looked like someone had gotten thrown into the wall and formed a medium sized dent. It took me thirty minutes to do the first two small holes, and it probably only took me that long because I was still figuring out how to do this. Prowl stopped by and talked to me for a moment, but left to talk to someone upstairs. Sideswipe had kept me company as well, but he quickly left me when Sunstreaker, who I assumed was still in Aubrey's room, had called for him.

I kept my eye on the front door, waiting for the seekers and Megatron to get back. They should be here in the next half hour or so. They could only fly so long before having to come back and fill up on coffee or recharging.

After my test run of filling in the first two holes, I moved down by the sliding glass doors and began to work on the larger one. This one only took me ten minutes or so because I actually knew what I was doing. When the hole was successfully filled, I took a step back to admire it. The spot was filled in nicely. I just had to wait until it dried and then paint over it with the same wall color. My eyes darted down to my silver bracelet, which now had spots of the wet wall stuff I had been working with. With a frown, I used my shirt to wipe it off. This was an older shirt anyways. Luckily, none of the stuff had gotten into the edges that formed the Autobot face. That would've been a pain to clean.

A sudden pained moan made my eyes snap over to the left. Barricade was standing just outside of the kitchen doorway clutching his chest.

"Barricade?" I asked in worry and quickly rushed over to check on him, "Hey, are you alright?"

The moment the words left my mouth he collapsed in a heap onto the wooden floor. Panic flooded through my system and I knelt down to pick him up. The moment he was in my hands his body began to twitch and I set him back down quickly. There was a warning bell ringing at the back of my mind and I took a hurried step back and watched as Barricade began to grow. Just like it was hard to describe the exact process they went through to go from alt mode to bi pedal mode, it was hard to describe the upgrade. It seemed like Barricade seemed to grow in incremental portions until the entire length of his body was finished. His head was pressed against the wall by the laundry room door, and his legs and part of his torso were lying in the kitchen. It was hard to judge from here, but he looked about the same height as Jazz's alt mode.

A sigh of relief slipped from my lips. Barricade wasn't hurt, he was just upgraded. Though, he was supposed to be the second Decepticon to change and there were still a number of Autobots who hadn't changed yet. The order of it all didn't really matter to me, but I knew Ratchet was gonna lose it when he caught sight of this. My eyes drifted over Barricade's own dark eyes and I unconsciously moved toward him. The thought occurred to me that I should call out to Ratchet upstairs to come and check on him, but before the thought had even fully formed Barricade's dark eyes turned bright red. My mind as screaming at me to move, thoughts of how Sunstreaker woke up with me next to him played in repeat, but my body was frozen. In a panicked frenzy, Barricade lunged up and forward. A scream erupted from my lips as I scrambled back to avoid his swinging metal arms.

From the time I screamed to the moment someone got to me was only six seconds, but six seconds could seem like a lifetime when you're being attacked by a huge metal alien. Barricade was on his feet now, storming toward me, and I scrambled to get to my own feet so he wouldn't just stomp me into the wooden floor. His arm swung out at me and I ducked in time.

"Barricade! You're not in danger!" I yelled in hopes to get him to calm down. He swung again and the twins' lessons came to mind. I lunged forward, tackling his torso, and dug my hand into the left side of his hip where I saw the familiar silver and gold wires. My hand wrapped around a bunch and I yanked back as hard as I could. In response, he yelled out in pain and threw me forward making me hit the ground hard.

My eyes snapped up to see he had paused in his movements, as if he was realizing where he was, but that was when the garage door was flung open so hard that it crashed into the wall. Barricade snapped around just in time for Wheeljack to tackle him to the floor. I dove toward the foyer so the two mechs didn't crush me.

" _Wheeljack_!" I yelled as the two wrestled on the ground. The red, white, and green mech moved slightly to keep Barricade's gun from firing in my direction, but the gun went off too close to Wheeljack for comfort. It missed his head by inches and put a hole in the ceiling the size of a softball. The blast put Wheeljack in a daze and the infuriated Barricade took this chance to attack. He grabbed Wheeljack by the back of his armor and threw him in my direction. I scrambled back a bit and knelt down beside Wheeljack who was trying to get up, but was missing a back portion of his armor as he bled on the floor. Barricade stood up and began to come toward the two of us when something fell from the second floor and landed behind me. Two somethings, I should say.

My head whipped around in time to see Sunstreaker and Sideswipe land in the foyer. Their feet had dented and cracked the wooden floor beneath them. My eyes shot to their own eyes to see that instead of the pretty shade of blue and indigo, their eyes were now a dark red and indigo. Before I could even ponder on that a second longer they lunged forward. The two of them crashed into Barricade and all three mechs went flying through the sliding glass door and onto the back porch with a crash.

"Aj." Wheeljack groaned and tried to shove me away, "You have to move. Don't touch the-" His words were interrupted by a groan of pain.

I ignored him and tried to find the spot that was bleeding. It was a portion of protoform on his lower shoulder that had what looked like a deep gash. I pressed my hands down on the wound as hard as I could and ignored the purplish liquid that seeped through my fingers.

"Ratchet!" I screamed loudly. " _Ratchet_!"

Arms wrapped around my torso and suddenly ripped me back and away from Wheeljack. I struggled against them and watched as Bumblebee's holoform ran around me and knelt down by Wheeljack to check the wound.

"Let me go!" I yelled.

"Aj! Stop!" Jazz barked as his grip tightened around me, "Wheeljack is fine! If you press down on his wound it won't bind itself!"

My eyes lifted up from Wheeljack at the sound of a yell. Just outside, in the backyard, the twins were fighting Barricade and Barricade was not doing well. They had him pinned down and they didn't look they were going to stop anytime soon.

"They're gonna kill him." I said and began to struggle again. "Jazz, let me go!"

"If you get too close they'll hurt you!" He yelled back.

Without warning, I used my heel to kick at Jazz's knee. He let out a cry of pain and his arms loosened in surprise. I turned and elbowed him right in the face making him stumble back. Bumblebee cried out to me, but I ignored him and jumped over Wheeljack. I sprinted over the broken glass and twisted metal bits from the doorframe and out into the backyard. I knew I was being followed, but I didn't stop.

"Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! _Stop_!" I screamed. They continued to land blow after blow on Barricade who was now still. His eyes were dark. Was he in stasis? Was he dead? Was I too late? "I said _stop_!"

I ran forward and threw myself onto the closet twin. My arms and legs wrapped around Sunstreaker's back and I shoved my hands into his face to try and distract him. He stepped back and grabbed my arms then flipped me over his shoulder. I hit the ground beside Barricade with a gasp and struggled to turn myself around so I could look up at him.

"Aj!" Jazz roared and ran off the porch, but my gaze stayed on Sunstreaker who stood frozen above me. His eyes were still that ugly, dark color and it sounded like he was breathing hard. As if his systems were venting more than usual. His body was tense and tight as if he was prepared to reach down and kill me, but I watched as his eyes slowly began to grow lighter until the red was completely gone. Sideswipe suddenly collapsed behind him and landed on top of Barricade.

"It's ok. You're ok, Sunstreaker." I said as calm as I could. My heart was racing a million miles per hour and my hands clenched the grass. Jazz sprinted out in front of me and held an arm out toward Sunstreaker. The defensive stance wasn't needed though because Sunstreaker's eyes dimmed and he began to fall forward.

"Move." Jazz barked and ripped me off the ground. He pulled me toward him just in time for the two of us to watch the golden mech hit the ground where I had been lying. The two of us just laid there in the grass trying to let out minds catch up to our bodies. My eyes drifted from the pile of still mechs to the hole in the house where the sliding glass doors used to be. All of that had happened in less than a couple minutes. I took a shaky breath and as I began to calm down I began to notice that I was in pain. "Aj."

My teeth clenched together as I realized how much my feet hurt. There were small shards of glass stuck in the bottom of my feet from where I had run through the broken doors and cuts along my arms and legs from the pieces of glass and metal that were sticking out at odd angles. My hands and shirt were coated in the purplish liquid that had been spewing from Wheeljack's wounds and I noticed that in certain spots it was beginning to sting.

Jazz jumped up and picked me up off the ground, "We gotta get you to Ratchet."

"Jazz, the others. Barricade, Sunstreaker, Sides, and Jackie." I breathed.

"They'll be fine. You got energon on your skin." Jazz said in a rushed voice as he carried me inside, "We gotta get it off you."

Grimlock was by Wheeljack's head, pacing unhappily, as Optimus, Prowl, and Bluestreak stood by. Ratchet was standing in the foyer by Bumblebee looking over Wheeljack when he noticed me. A string of curses left his mouth as he leaped off of Wheeljack, "Get her to the downstairs bathroom! Put her in the tub!"

"What?" I cried. Ratchet began to yell in Cybertronian and I watched Soundwave jogged outside along with Prowl and Bluestreak. Bumblebee stood up and said something about the seekers being back before sprinting outside.

Jazz ran to the bathroom through the open door and dropped me in the tub rather hard. I let out a hiss of pain, but Jazz didn't even notice. He turned the tub faucet on, grabbed my arms, and forced them under the flow of lukewarm water.

"What is going on?" I yelled at Ratchet again. Ratchet ignored me and began to yell in Cybertronian. He climbed onto the edge of the tub and began to point at me.

Jazz dropped my hands, "You gotta take your shirt off."

"What?" I questioned, but Jazz's hands were already on my neckline. Rather than pulling the shirt off me, he grabbed the top with two hands and ripped the shirt in half so my torso could be seen. That answered any questions I had about the strength of these holoforms. As he pulled it off me entirely I noticed the splotches of purple on my stomach as well. Jazz grabbed the showerhead and turned it on before spraying me down. Any other questions I had died on my tongue, as I realized, despite the tons of water they were basically drowning me in, the spots where Wheeljack's blood had touched me had gone from stinging to burning. "Ow it- _ow_! It _burns_! Ratchet, what the hell!?"

The words energon poisoning drifted toward me, but I was too preoccupied to fully grasp it. Another strangled cry slipped from my lips.

* * *

 

The aftermath was going to be a mess. I hadn't left the downstairs bathroom yet, but I knew that dealing with the outcome of what had happened was going to be a pain in the ass. The energon had been scrubbed from my skin leaving splotches of faint, red marks around my wrists, on the palms of my hand, and along my stomach. They still hadn't given me much of an explanation. All I knew was the burns themselves weren't that bad, but the sick feeling in my stomach made me throw up three times and left me still feeling nauseous. Ratchet had pulled all the shards of glass off my feet and then left Jazz with me to bandage up my feet.

"You can't keep me in here forever." I spoke up from the side of the tub I was sitting on. My shirt was obviously beyond repair so I had the bathroom towel wrapped around my shoulders and torso. Jazz was sitting on the ground in front of me with my feet in his lap. The left foot was wrapped tightly, but he was still working on the right. The door was shut and he hadn't said a word to me yet. "I'm talking to you, Jazz. I want to go see the others. I wanna make sure they-"

"How do you feel?" He asked without looking up from his hands that were still moving.

"Like I'm gonna throw up." I shrugged and tightened the towel around me. Jazz finally glanced up at me. He still had his sunglasses on, but my gaze was focused on the nose holding the sunglasses up. It was crooked to the left and very obviously broken. My eyes widened, "Holy shit, Jazz! Your nose!"

He nodded and lifted a hand to gently touch it, but ended up flinching and pulling away, "Yeah, you got me pretty good earlier."

I suddenly remembered throwing my elbow back as hard as I could. Guilt filled my upset stomach, "I am so sorry. Oh my God, I didn't mean to break your nose. Are you ok? I didn't even know holoforms could get hurt."

"We can get hurt all right." Jazz nodded, "Just can't die. If the holoform gets stressed too much it'll just shut down."

"So you can feel it too?" I asked and reached forward. Jazz didn't pull away, but his face did scrunch up slightly in hesitance. "Even though it isn't your real body?"

Jazz shook his head, "This is really me, Aj. The spark residue built up to form these bodies is still connected to us. I feel everything. Good or bad."

I let those words roll around in my head briefly before nodding, "I can fix your nose. Want me to? It'll hurt for a second."

"I trust you." He replied and took moved his sunglasses from his eyes to the neckline of his shirt. I shifted forward on the edge of the tub and Jazz leaned toward me as well. I set both hands on the side of his face and briefly looked over the crooked nose. Over the years, I had fixed a number of broken noses. Personally, I had only had mine broken once, but it seemed like I had been resetting Kyle's nose every other week. I moved my hands to put the heel of each hand on either side of the nose and with quick movements I forced it back into place. Jazz cursed, "Frag." The mech leaned back out of my hands and shook his head.

"Sometimes you can get lightheaded after resetting it. You ok?"

"I'm good." He nodded.

"I don't see any bruises on your face."

Jazz shook his head, "I can't bruise. The holoform has no blood. It's just our energy."

About mid-way through his sentence a wave of nausea hit me hard and made me think I was about to go bending over the toilet bowl again. Luckily, it passed after I closed my eyes and remained as still as I could. I sucked in a deep breath, "What is wrong with me?"

"Energon poisoning."

"Ratchet said that." I replied dryly, "It doesn't actually answer anything though."

"We drink energon to live. The raw energon we drink is dangerous to humans. It can leave your skin with third degree burns depending on the concentration." Jazz explained in an accent less tone, "That energon is converted to an alternate form of energon when it enters our body. It becomes more…radiated, in a sense. It becomes our blood more or less. It also becomes infinitely more dangerous to your species."

"How so?"

Jazz paused, "Rather than just leaving you with burns, it'll soak into your skin. It gets into your own system and wreaks havoc. You got exposed to a lot. If these were our true bodies, if we weren't living off coffee right now, you'd probably be dying a slow, painful death."

I pressed my lips together awkwardly, "That's comforting."

"Primus, I'm glad you're ok." Jazz said in relief and I noticed it was mostly to himself. "Barricade could've _killed_ you, Aj."

I shrugged, "He didn't."

Jazz shifted slightly so my feet were pushed to the side and he was on his knees, eye level with me, "Don't you get it? If you had slipped up, if you hadn't ducked in time or moved fast enough, Barricade could've taken your _helm_ off. Then you go running after Sunstreaker and nearly get yourself offlined again-"

"Sunstreaker wouldn't hurt me." I said firmly.

Jazz looked like he wanted to argue, but bit back his words. He leaned back slightly sighed, "I heard you scream and I just…My spark fragging stopped, Aj."

"I'm ok, Jazz." I reached forward and set my hand against his arm. Suddenly there was a knock at the bathroom door before it was cracked open. Bumblebee stuck his head in. "Hey, Bee."

He forced a smile, "Hey, Aj. Ratchet wants you upstairs."

"I'll take 'er. Thanks, Bee." Jazz stood up quickly. Bumblebee nodded and ducked away. Jazz came over and picked me up without another word and he ignored my complaints about being able to walk on my own. When he got to the foyer I forced him to stop. We stood in front of the front door, me in his arms, and looked over the destruction. There were four footprints smashed into the wooden floor a few feet away and purple energon painted the walls and floors. The entire sliding glass door had been taken out and some of the wall had been taken out with it. My eyes darted to the left side of what used to be the sliding glass door to see the area I had fixed earlier was entirely untouched. A sigh slipped my lips. "They grabbed the chunks of Jack's armor, but we still need to get this all cleaned up 'fore the younglings get home."

"Where is everybody?" I questioned.

Jazz headed up the stairs, "I'm pretty sure Screamer, Megsy, and Skywarp are in the garage with Prowl, Grimlock, and Optimus. Everyone else is upstairs somewhere."

"What are they doing in the garage?"

"Beats me." Jazz replied, but something in my gut told me he knew more than he was saying. The holoform carried me over to the medbay, which was beyond crowded. They had moved all the boxes that had been in the room aside and now Barricade was lying where those had been. Soundwave and Thundercracker were standing beside his head and based on their dim eyes it seemed like they were either speaking to each other over the comms or someone else. Barricade was still in stasis, and Ratchet was standing on his chest working on something. The twins were in stasis and both were lying in my bed. Sideswipe was facing me with his back turned to the wall and his brother was the exact opposite. My eyes didn't linger on those three mechs though, because Wheeljack was sitting by the wall awake.

" _Wheeljack_!" I cried and struggled to get out of Jazz's arms. Jazz sighed and walked over to set me down beside the engineer. Wheeljack's facemask was open and he offered me a weak smile. His navy eyes weren't as bright as they usually were and that worried me, "Are you ok?"

"Completely fine." He answered in tired voice, "But you… There was so much energon. Are you alright?"

I nodded and Ratchet hopped off Barricade and came strolling over, "Why is Wheeljack like this?"

"I told you, I'm fine." Wheeljack shook his head.

Ratchet scoffed, "He lost too much energon. It's just drained him. I have Bumblebee fetching the pseudo-energon now."

"I tried to stop the bleeding." I replied, "There was so much."

Ratchet sighed, "I know. That was technically the problem." My eyes narrowed in confusion and he continued, "Our protoforms heal at an incredible rate. When it is cut or penetrated, we have nanites that immediately begin to seal the wound. The only time it doesn't begin this process is if there is a foreign object in the wound such as a blade, or shard of metal, or-"

" _My hands_." I said softly.

He nodded, "There aren't many wounds that require pressure for a Cybertronian."

I shook my head and turned to look at Wheeljack, "I am _so_ sorry, Jackie. I was trying to help, and God, I nearly _killed_ you."

"You had no way of knowin'." Jazz spoke up in a reassuring voice.

Wheeljack bobbed his head and lifted his hand to set it on top of my head, "You tried. I appreciate that."

Jazz turned his attention to Ratchet, "So what's the deal with big, bad, and ugly?"

"Barricade will be fine." Ratchet let out another sigh, but this one was filled with irritation, "The fragger had a small virus in his chassis that was corroding some of the wiring. That's why he came out of stasis more panicked than usual. I fixed the wiring and corrected some programming so he should be fine on that side of things. All his other injuries were from fighting Wheeljack and the twins. I also put him in a lockdown so when he does wake up from stasis, he won't go on another rampage."

I shook my head, "Did you figure out why he went through the upgrade so soon?"

"Frag no!" Ratchet snapped. "It makes no slagging sense."

"What about the twins?" I asked. Honestly, I could care less why Barricade had grown out of order. He did so, and now it was done with. I was more concerned with making sure every mech was all right. "How are they?"

Ratchet glanced over at them, "They'll be fine too. I removed their back plating and had Wheeljack and Bumblebee lay them down back to back so they won't wake up so roughly. It's always the worst after…"

His voice trialed away, but I wasn't about to let that go, "Worse after what? What exactly happened down there? They're eyes were dark red and they weren't themselves."

Jazz shifted in his stance and didn't look like he was going to speak up anytime soon. Wheeljack leaned his head against the wall and avoided my gaze. I snapped my eyes back to Ratchet to focus on him. He shook his head before speaking, "They went into their berserker modes. Some call it a gladiatorial mode because so many gladiators end up with this coding. It's a string of code in their processors that activates when one or both of them are under a large amount of stress, are in danger, or if they lose control of their emotions."

"How did they get this code? Nobody else has it?"

"No. Just them." He replied, "I can't find the source of the code. I've never been able to and neither of them remembers. They were either born with it or got in in the gladiatorial pits."

"What exactly does it do?" I questioned, "What's the purpose?"

"It gives 'em an edge in a fight." Jazz spoke up, "They're faster, stronger, more alert, and damn near unstoppable."

Ratchet crossed his arms, "It's been quite a while since they fell into the mode. The last time was definitely on Cybertron."

Bumblebee came into the room with a mug in one hand and Bluestreak sitting on his shoulder. He glanced around before coming over to Wheeljack, "Sorry it took so long."

"There was none in the fridge so we had to make a new batch and we couldn't find the bag that you usually use, Aj." Bluestreak explained, "We had to open a new bag. Sorry."

I shrugged, "It's fine."

Wheeljack took the mug from Bumblebee and thanked him warmly. The four mechs in front of me began to talk to one another about how the clean up downstairs was going to go, but I was too tired to really listen. The energon had not only left me feeling sick, but it really drained me of energy too. Hangover in the morning and energon poisoning in the afternoon. At least my life was exciting.

I turned my head as Wheeljack drank from his mug. Wheeljack's back was still missing his plate of armor, but his protoform had been wiped clean of any purple liquid.

His protoform was a few shades lighter than the twins'. It was a light, soft shade of gray with an almost silver shine to it. I unintentionally leaned forward when I took notice of something. The twins' had spark spatter everywhere, but Wheeljack had scars. There was the very obvious new one that was a puckered jagged line of dark gray that stood out from the light gray. It looked almost like a weld would. However, all around it were random shapes and lines of smooth metal that stood out from the textured protoform. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had mentioned that the protoform could scar, but I hadn't actually seen any.

"Most are from battles, but admittedly there are a few there from me being careless."

I startled at the sound of Wheeljack's voice. He was staring back at me with a half empty mug. After a moment of hesitation, I asked, "How did you get so many though? If you don't mind me asking."

Wheeljack shrugged, "Most I got from when I was still part of the Wreckers. Only a few have come from the time I spent serving under Optimus."

"This is going to be really weird." I admitted, "But can I touch one?"

Wheeljack chuckled, "Go ahead. I know what it's like to want to satisfy curiosity."

I gave him a small grin before reaching forward. His protoform seemed a lot hotter than Sunstreaker's had been, and I wondered if that had anything to do with their healing process, but felt the same texture wise. I let a few fingers trace over one of the larger patches of smooth metal. The differences between the two spots were like night and day.

"So the nanites that bind your wounds, do they also create the scar tissue?" I questioned and pulled my hand away.

Wheeljack nodded, "Exactly." I could tell he had a bit more life in his voice and his eyes were growing brighter by the minute, "Protoform heals very well, and when a large portion grows back, say an arm or a leg, it grows back the way it was when the mech or femme first formed protoform. So any scars on the arms and legs are often lost over time because once you lose your arm it'll grow back how it used to be. The chassis, however, doesn't have the ability to grow back entirely. If one was to lose over half of their chassis, it wouldn't grow back. They'd offline. However, if they lose bits and pieces, chunks here and there, or just get cut or shot. It'll grow back the best it can which is the scar tissue you see."

"That's amazing." I breathed.

"Here, hold this." Wheeljack handed me the mug and I cradled it in my hands. The mech shifted slightly and began to unclasp a portion of his front chest armor. He pulled it back slightly to let me see the upper portion of his chest. There was a large, rugged circle made of the smooth, scar protoform. It was probably the size of a bowling ball.

My eyes widened, "What the hell happened there?"

"Got shot by a plasma cannon. It was during my last battle as a Wrecker." Wheeljack chuckled and began to close his chest armor, "I thought for sure I was a goner, but luckily Ratchet was there that day. That's actually how we officially met. He saved my life."

"Yeah, and I haven't gotten rid of you since." Ratchet halted his own conversation to add his input to ours.

Wheeljack ignored the jab and I handed him back his coffee, "I was stuck in his medbay for quite a while and got to know him, some others, and Prime of course. I transferred over to Prime's team the moment I was allowed to walk free again."

I chuckled to myself and glanced over to see that Ratchet had begun to talk to Soundwave in Cybertronian as they moved over to stand by Barricade. Thundercracker had disappeared and before I could question his absence further the sound of a doorbell filled the air. Everything went quiet until the sound of a fist banging against the front door followed.

Without thinking, I tried to get up, but Jazz held his hand out to me and kept me down, "Stay 'ere. I'll take care of it."

"Jazz." I pressed, but Jazz was already leaving the room with Bumblebee following after him. Bluestreak, who had been set down earlier, came over to me and I scooped him up into my lap with a sigh.

My eyes glanced over the towel around me and then over to the closet, "Can somebody at least hand me a shirt?"

* * *

 

Jazz hurried down the stairs just as another round of banging filled the air. Bumblebee was only a step or two behind him. Quickly, Jazz began to try and think of a way to get the door open without letting whoever was on the porch see the mess that was the foyer.

"Aimee! If you don't open the door I'm breaking it down!"

A bit of relief filled Jazz and he let out a very human sigh. Bumblebee blinked in surprise, "That's Josh, isn't it?"

"Yeah, mech." Jazz replied and walked over to the door. He pulled it open and yanked Josh inside just in case anyone passing by were to try and look in. Josh was startled at first as he stared at Jazz and Bumblebee's holoform with a look of confusion, but his attention was quickly grabbed by the destruction around him.

"The hell happened here?" Josh shouted, "Aimee!?"

"She's fine, Josh." Jazz reassured and recognition flooded the human's features. "That's right. It's me, Jazz, an' Bee."

Jazz motioned behind himself to the shorter holoform when he mentioned his name, and Bumblebee waved his hand in response. Josh shook his head, "What is going on?"

"Barricade went through the upgrade. He was sick so when he woke up he lashed out." Bumblebee explained sheepishly.

"And Aimee's alright?" Josh pressed again in panic.

Jazz paused before answering, "She's a bit beat up, but she's goin' to be fine."

"Are you kidding me?" Josh shook his head in disbelief. "A 911 call gets patched through to us at the station, and I find out it's the neighbors calling because they hear screaming, fighting, and possibly a gunshot from this house!" He put his hands on top of his head as he looked over the foyer again, "I mean, look at this! God, it's a good thing I had to go into work early today."

"Josh-" Jazz began.

"No." He shook his head and looked back to Jazz's holoform, "I like you guys. I really do, but that very first day when I spoke to Optimus, and Prowl, and Sideswipe… You guys promised me that this wouldn't happen." Josh scoffed in anger. This was the first time Jazz had seen the human as anything other than happy, amused, or buzzed, "Look at this! What if the kids had been home for crying out loud?"

"We know that." Jazz replied firmly as he tried to keep his own temper from lashing out. The human had every right to be angry, but he had no idea how close Jazz was to completely losing it. "Aj is upstairs. Why don' ya go talk to 'er?"

Josh pressed his lips together and shook his head one more time before jogging up the stairs two at a time. Bumblebee glanced over at his superior officer one more time before following after the male at his own pace. Rather than head back to the medbay with Josh and Bumblebee, he turned and stepped into the empty kitchen. Jazz walked over to the island counters and leaned against them. He tore off the sunglasses over his optics and threw them onto the counter. He pressed one servo against his face and tried to calm down.

It felt like everything had been moving at the speed of light since the moment he heard Aj scream. Primus, what he'd give to get that sound out of his processors. He had been in the medbay with most of the others when Ratchet suddenly picked up a spike in energy that usually went servo in servo with the upgrade. However, Bluestreak was still the same size he was before. They had probably only discussed what had happened for a few nano-kliks when Aj's panicked scream had suddenly filled the house. It only took them Earth seconds to get down there with her, but still it hadn't been fast enough to prevent the damage it did.

Jazz rubbed his face one more time and reminded himself that things had ended better than they could've. Aj was safe. She was a bit banged up, felt like she had a virus, but she was alive and she was safe.

For now, at least.

That bothered Jazz even more. She was safe, for now. What about a few days from now when more Decepticons went through the upgrade? What about months from now when he wouldn't be here and Boss came knocking on her door? The fact of the matter was, she wouldn't always be safe and he wouldn't always be here to help her. That left a knot in his tanks.

"Jazz?"

Jazz pushed himself off the counter to look down where Prowl was standing only a foot away. How distracted had he been that someone could sneak up on him? He didn't bother forcing a grin and acting as if nothing had been bothering him because this was Prowl of all mechs.

"Hey Prowler." He greeted and knelt down, "How's the meetin' goin' in there?"

"About as well as we thought it would." Prowl replied dryly. He paused before continuing, "How are you holding up?"

Jazz chuckled, "Ya know… I've had better days."

There had been a few good things to come out of this day. He got usage of his holoform which would make it easier to play with the kids, talk to Rosie and Josh, and hang out with Aj. More than that though, it made him realize that the plan he mentioned he was working on to Sunstreaker wasn't in vain. It was a good idea and it needed to go into effect.

He nodded at Prowl, "Things are gonna work out, Prowler."

"Would you like to hear the probabilities of your current plan?"

Jazz froze in surprise at the suddenness of Prowl's statement, but he kept his holoform's face as neutral as possible, "Plan? What plan?"

"I am fully aware of what you're thinking of trying, Jazz." Prowl replied. Jazz couldn't say he was entirely shocked. If anyone could keep up with him it'd be Prowl. After all these years, he definitely had the experience. "The chances of it working in the way you'd like it to are exactly 37.689%."

Jazz smirked, "Well, I guess it's a good thing I work best against bad probabilities. Huh, Prowler?"

"There is one thing I haven't accounted for that could change the numbers."

"That is?" Jazz pressed. He'd love to know what information was needed to up his chances of success.

Prowl narrowed his eyes in confusion, "I like Aj. She's a brave human and deserves more than she has, but why are you so determined to help her?"

Jazz paused in thought as he tried to grasp an answer. There was something nagging at the back of his processors. Something that could possibly be an answer, but Jazz didn't think it was worth chasing down quite yet which left this question a mystery. He shook his head, "I honestly don't know."

"That worsens your probabilities, Jazz."

"Thanks, Prowler."

* * *

 

_Things were moving too fast. Too fast. If he wasn't so stressed right now, so panicked, he would've chuckled to himself. Never before had he ever been frustrated about things going too fast. His entire life was just one thing happening after another. In the gladiatorial ring all there was was fast. Slow equaled dead. Typically, he worked best in a fast paced environment. That's why fights and brawls were second nature to him, but this fight? This brawl? Sunstreaker had never felt so out of his element._

_Heat from the flames surrounded him, screams echoed all around, and the smoke and smell of burning metal suffocated him. Worse than that, his spark was dying. He could feel it aching, moaning, slowly slipping away and he didn't know what to do about it. No matter how loudly he screamed over the bond for Sideswipe to answer him, all he got was silence and excruciating pain._

_Sunstreaker raced forward, through the crowds of mechs and femmes toward the center of the battle. Sideswipe had to be there and where he was she would be. That was the last thing she had said over the comm link._

_'_ I found Sides _.'_

_That had been it. No other words and now she wouldn't comm his back. She was as silent as his twin, but the worst part of it all was that at least Sunstreaker knew that Sideswipe was alive. His twin was hanging on waiting for Sunstreaker to come get him. The golden warrior had no idea if she was alive and that filled his already pained spark with pure dread and fear._

_He pushed forward through the crowd, through the mechs that tried to stop him, through the mechs that tried to kill him, he kept moving. Nothing short of Unicron himself could slow him, and Sunstreaker was fairly certain even he wouldn't be able to completely stop him. As he put down enemy after enemy, he yelled their names. They had to be here. They had to be here._

_Then he spotted him. The moment his optics grazed over the broken red form of his twin he felt a pang in his spark. Shock forced him to a grinding halt, but it was short lived as a dark, ugly mech came over and pointed the barrel of his weapon at his twin's head._

_Sunstreaker saw red. It filled his vision, filled his processor, filled his energon lines, and filled his spark. He had already been so close to edge that it wasn't surprising. In fact, for the first time in a very long time, Sunstreaker welcomed the programming that would essentially turn him into an energon thirty monster. He surged forward and the doomed mech didn't even have time to look up before Sunstreaker ripped him away from the fallen Sideswipe. The mech screamed, but the ex-gladiator didn't pause in his assault. He ripped away armor until he got down to the protoform, and he refused to stop there. Sunstreaker was swimming in energon, but the rage kept him from stopping._

_"_ Sunstreaker _!"_

_Was that his name? The voice was familiar, but before he could grasp any concept of it his processors moved on to the goal of crushing the mech's spark in his hands. Suddenly something hit him in the side and sent him sprawling to the ground. His movements were controlled and swift as he grabbed his tackler, twisted so they were forced onto the ground, and then pinned them down. One servo was pressed against their neck and the other was ready to rip apart the Cybertronian under him._

_"Wait, no! It's ok! Stay there!" They screamed and Sunstreaker's red vision dimmed as his movements hesitated. Wide, blue optics were torn away from someone else and focused on him. "Sunstreaker it's_ me _! It's_ me _. I brought Ratchet, Sides is going to be alright!"_

_There was a mech behind him yelling about his berserker mode and how she was in danger. She was in danger. His spark began to rattle in his chassis as the coding in his processor begged to be in control again. His servo applied more pressure against the neck they were wrapped around. Two familiar gray servos with orange and blue accents reached up and gently grabbed his faceplates._

_"Sunstreaker wouldn't hurt me." The soft voice was ringing through his processors, "Right, Sunstreaker?"_

_In that brief moment, the red in his vision was gone. He could see her clearly and he tore his servo away from her neck as if he had been burned. She smiled up at him and for that brief nano-klik it soothed his screaming spark._

_"I brought Ratchet, he's going to fix Sides. Sunstreaker, I need you to-"_

Sunstreaker's optics snapped open and the only thing that kept him from pulling his weapon from his subspace was his twin's voice over the bond.

 _'We're ok, Sunny. We're ok._ ' Sideswipe spoke in a tired voice. Sunstreaker's spark hummed in his chassis. He could feel Sideswipe's protoform against his own, and from the contact he could feel the rhythm of their spark beat echoing through their bodies. ' _You were dreaming._ '

Sunstreaker heard the question that Sideswipe didn't voice, ' _It was the docks_.'

Sideswipe didn't need a further answer than that. He knew how that day haunted Sunstreaker, how it left a scar on his spark, and he had seen it over and over through his brother's memories. Sideswipe personally couldn't recall a thing from that day, but that was because it had been the day that he nearly offlined. It was also the same day they met Ratchet and the same orn that they joined the Autobots.

 _'What happened?'_ Sunstreaker grumbled as he tried to grasp his bearings. He knew they had slipped into their other mode, but everything before that was a bit blurry.

' _Aj_.' Sideswipe replied and his memories snapped back into place. Sunstreaker remembered her screaming. The quick message of ' _Barricade grew_ ' being shot over all the comm links. Before he could question more, Sideswipe continued, _'He didn't get to Optimus or any of the other non-upgraded Autobots. Wheeljack got hurt, but I think he's ok.'_

_'And Aj?'_

_'Look for yourself.'_

Sunstreaker was hesitant to pull his protoform away from his brother's, but he forced himself to slowly sit up. Sideswipe shifted so he was sitting up as well. The yellow mech turned where he sat to look around the room. Barricade was in stasis in the right corner, but in the left corner of the room was Wheeljack and Aj. Wheeljack was in recharge, leaning against the wall with an empty mug of coffee by his stretched out pede, and beside him Aj was fast asleep leaning against the mech's arm. Sunstreaker's rigid shoulders relaxed some as he rubbed the side of his helm tiredly.

" _I saw her_." Sunstreaker said aloud in Cybertronian. " _The mystery femme._ "

Sideswipe glanced over at him, " _What_?"

 _"She was at the docks that day._ " He said slowly and in disbelief, " _I never remembered her until now, but she was at the docks that day and I…"_

Sideswipe didn't need to hear his twin say the rest of the sentence because the feeling was shared over the bond. He shook his head, " _I know why I might not remember her that day, but how could you forget?"_

 _"I don't know._ " Sunstreaker shook his head. Now they both knew that this mysterious femme was real. There were still plenty of unanswered things though. Like why didn't either of them remember her until now, who the frag was she, and the biggest, where was she now?

"Guys?" Both mechs turned to see Aj was looking over at them with drowsy optics. She shifted slightly and lifted a slightly discolored servo to rub her face. "Are you…" Her words paused so she could yawn, "Ok? Do I need to get Ratchet?"

Sideswipe shook his head and reached his arm out toward her. Aj picked up on the physical motion and slowly tore herself away from the still recharging Wheeljack. She crossed the room slowly and stopped in front of the seated Sideswipe. Sunstreaker watched as his brother pulled her toward him for a hug. The size difference was a bit comical. Aj stood between his legs while the red mech wrapped his arms around her small waist. The low berth made it so Sideswipe's face was pressed against her abdomen. Aj's optics widened slightly, but she slowly set her hands on top of Sideswipe's helm.

"Sides, you ok?" She questioned.

"We're sorry." Sideswipe replied without moving his helm from her body, "We weren't there fast enough. We're sorry."

She looked even more surprised for a moment before she forced a smile, "It's ok. You don't have to be sorry."

Sunstreaker shoved Sideswipe over the bond and the red mech vented out a sigh before pulling away from Aj. The yellow mech didn't hesitate to grab her servo and pull her toward him. He let his optics glance over her slightly irritated servos, "What happened?"

"Jackie's energon." She replied with a shrug, "Apparently it's a bit unhealthy for humans."

Sunstreaker continued to glance over her form. The moment he noticed the bandages wrapped around her pedes he shifted and pulled her onto the bed so she was sitting between him and his brother. Aj let out a sigh of relief as if she had been holding it back. He paused and tried to figure out what to say. The dream itself was disconcerting, but the more he sat here and looked at her the more he began to remember exactly what happened when the two of them had snapped into their other mode. Maybe she hadn't noticed it, but he could quite plainly see the dried human blood on parts of his servo where he had grabbed the wounds on her arms and thrown her to the ground.

"Are you ok?" He forced out gruffly.

"I'm fine." She shrugged, "Just tired and a bit nauseous."

Sunstreaker pressed his lips together, "I hurt you. I-…"

Aj let out a small chuckle and leaned her helm against his arm. She shifted even more so her legs were lying in Sideswipe's lap. Her optics closed and she opened her mouth before shutting it again, obviously trying to think of what to say. Sunstreaker didn't want to hear her say that it was ok or that she was fine or that it didn't matter. It _wasn't_ ok, it _wasn't_ fine, and it _did_ matter. He had _hurt_ her. The other side of him had lashed out and hurt her. He could've killed her.

"I forgive you." Aj finally blurted out. It wasn't what he expected her to say, but unlike the long list of things he did expect, that simple sentence did make him feel better. It didn't make the situation alright in any sense or form, but it eased his aching spark. She peeked out of her optics briefly and shot him a small smile and for that brief nano-klik, his spark was calm.

' _Sunny_?'

_'I know, Sides. I know.'_


	24. Kiss

* * *

_"Appreciate the moment of a first kiss, it may be the last time you own your heart." – R.M. Drake_

* * *

 

I strolled into the kitchen with my arms stretched over my head and a yawn hanging from my lips. The moment I stepped under the doorframe, my arms fell to my side and both my eyebrows and lips curved up into an amused look. Sitting at the kitchen table was none other than a 7'2" Optimus Prime. His left ankle was resting on his right knee casually and his eyes were focused on the datapad in his left hand. In his right hand, was a large mug of hot coffee with the words ' _World's Best Mom_ ' written on the side in bright red letters with pink hearts drawn around it. The sight was comical, bizarre, and outlandish, but I expected no less out of a house like this. After a moment he tore his gaze away from the datapad, looked over at me, and smiled warmly, "Good morning, Aj. I hope you rested well?"

"Yeah, OP." I replied with a chuckle, "I slept like a baby."

Three days had passed since Barricade shot up like a weed, and the house had mostly recovered. When I say house, I mean the people in the house. Obviously, I still had a gaping hole in the wall downstairs and chunks of wood missing from the floor. Josh and Thundercracker had taken some plastic sheeting and covered the hole best they could so the cold air wasn't blowing in, but a permanent solution was still needed. What had completely recovered though were Barricade, Wheeljack, and I. Both mechs were doing well and any wounds they had received were either healed completely or just a faint scar. My energon poisoning was all but a memory. Even the red splotches on my hands, wrists, and stomach had disappeared by last night.

Since then, all the Autobots, minus a very annoyed Grimlock, had gone through the upgrade. All of them except Optimus, who had upgraded last night, had their holoforms at this point too. Prowl was the only one of them who still had no control over the holoform and had to stay in that mode constantly. Not that it really mattered. Now that the upgrades were happening faster and the house was filling with big ass metal aliens, there was less and less room for anything and anyone. The house was crowded to say the least. So now most of the mechs stayed in their holoforms just so there'd be a little bit more room and only one mech was allowed to use his bipedal form at a time. Of course there were a few mechs who didn't like this new rule. One of the biggest protesters to this rule was Sunstreaker obviously. The other biggest protester, less obviously, was Barricade.

According to the conversation I had with Sunstreaker, what felt like forever ago during the car drive to the art store, the Decepticons didn't have holoforms. It was Autobot technology made by the Autobots for the Autobots, yet 6 hours after Barricade went through the upgrade his holoform appeared. Apparently, the humans were the only ones taken by surprise when that happened though. When Barricade first upgraded, Ratchet had scanned the mech and found traces of the holoform coding and the device buried under some more important features in his chassis. That's what the meeting in the garage had been about while I was stuck upstairs. Somehow, back when they were in their own universe, the Cons had gotten their big metal hands on the tech.

The story behind it was that some mech named Ravage, which Peter explained to me was one of Soundwave's cassettes back home, was able to slip by Autobot defenses and get ahold of the holoform technology. This reminded the Autobots about the time a holoform generator had gotten misplaced. They believed it had gotten destroyed in one of Wheeljack's untimely lab explosions despite their paranoid Security Officer ranting that the Decepticons had probably stolen it through a crack in their security that was formed from the explosion. Sideswipe had groaned upon hearing this and mentioned that none of them were ever going to hear the end of this from Red Alert.

I finished my journey into the kitchen and stopped in front of the pantry. The kids had the day off from school because it was a teacher's workday or something. So I figured I'd make a bigger breakfast this morning. Maybe pancakes? They never said no to pancakes.

"Aj!" I heard Taylor call and it sounded like she was getting closer to the kitchen. My eyes darted over to the microwave clock to see it was only 7:16. I shouldn't really be surprised. The kids had absolutely no trouble getting up in the morning when there was no school. There was another second or two before Bumblebee's holoform walked into the kitchen with Taylor on his back. Honestly, it seemed like she was always having Bumblebee hold her. At this rate, she'd forget how to walk. I told Bumblebee that he could say no, but, like most people, he couldn't say no to Taylor. Besides, he said it was no trouble for him. He liked making her happy. I think a large part of it had to do with the fact that the mechs knew they were leaving really, really soon. As in leaving within a 72 hour time frame.

Not that the kids knew that.

I didn't have the heart to tell them quite yet.

"Hey, Tay. Morning, Bee." I greeted.

Bumblebee grinned at me in greeting and shifted so he had a better grip on Taylor. The little girl leaned her head against his with a bright smile, "Morning, Aj! Morning, Optimus Prime!" Optimus returned her greeting and she continued on, "Can we have bacon? Tyler says he wants bacon."

"Where is Tyler?" I asked curiously and pulled out the box of pancake mix.

"He's upstairs playing his DS with Blue." She replied quickly and them whispered something in Bumblebee's ear. The holoform laughed and whispered back to her jokingly as the two walked back out of the kitchen.

On Saturday, we had got a package from Aubrey. Inside the package were three of those handheld gaming things. I was beyond surprised and I called her to ask how she bought the things only to find out that she hadn't bought the gaming devices. Wes did. That motherfucker wasn't around, but he bought the kids these expensive toys? Did he think that could make up for being an asshole, absentee father? It pissed me off, but I couldn't take the stupid things out and crush them with my bat like I wanted to. The kids loved them too much and I was happy to see them excited. Granny had taken them out to the game store in the mall to buy each of them a game. Taylor had picked out some game named Animal Crossing, Peter had picked out a Pokemon game, and Tyler had picked a game called 'Transformers: War for Cybertron' the Decepticon version. I couldn't say I was surprised.

Prowl's holoform suddenly came in without an announcement of any kind and his eyes glanced around the kitchen. He wore a plain white button up shirt, tucked into his black slacks, with a matching black tie. So far, he was the most formal looking holoform and that made sense to me. I had a feeling Optimus' holoform was gonna end up a bit on the formal side too considering he was the leader and most of the situations he probably used the tech for was meetings with government officials. Prowl's holoform was the same height as Jazz's holoform was. He had broad shoulders and a slim waist. Overall, Prowl's holoform looked Asian in descent with his tan skin and high cheekbones. He had a rectangular shaped face with a well defined, strong jawline. His black hair was shorter on the sides and longer on the top, but the longer hair was neatly combed back and to the side. Most of their eye color had translated over fairly well, but Prowl's eyes weren't his usual light shade of blueish gray. They were a bit darker for some reason.

"Hey, Prowl, come here." I nodded toward the island counter. He came over curiously and I handed him the box of pancakes, "Do me a favor and get this measured and into a bowl. I'll be right back."

"Aj-" Prowl began to argue, but I just grinned at him and backpedaled out of the kitchen. Optimus looked back up from his data pad and chuckled something out in Cybertronian. The last thing I saw was Prowl glaring at his leader before I jogged up the steps. The medbay was filled with most of the alt modes not being used right now and it was quiet, but that was only because Ratchet was downstairs in the garage with many of the other mechs. It was an all-capable hands on deck situation down there. Everyone with the ability to help was working on the machine home.

I could hear Grimlock talking in Peter's room, but I took a turn and headed for the twins' room instead. When I stepped in I found myself almost as amused as I had been this morning walking into the kitchen. Sideswipe's holoform was sitting in the middle of the floor with the DS in his hands. Tyler sat in his lap, right in front of the DS, so he could see what the frontliner was doing. Kneeling behind Sideswipe was Bluestreak's holoform watching the DS as well. Funnily enough, Bluestreak, who was also a Praxian like Prowl, looked Asian in descent as well, but he seemed much younger. He looked only about 23 or so. He wore a plain, pale red button up shirt with khaki pants. He had the same high cheekbones as Prowl, but his face was much more round and his eyes were a dark teal. Bluestreak's black hair was about the same length all around in a cute, boyish cut. It actually reminded me a bit of Tyler's hair with the lazy way it was styled.

Standing on Sideswipe's shoulder was Skywarp and, shockingly enough, Starscream stood on Tyler's shoulder. I figured the scientist turned solider would be downstairs helping.

"Aj!" Tyler glanced up briefly from the game, but all the others ignored me, "Sides beat the level Blue and I couldn't beat!"

"Oh yeah?" I asked with a smirk and leaned against the doorframe.

"Come on! Play as me!" Skywarp ranted.

Bluestreak spoke up, but his eyes didn't move from the game, "Sides is playing as Starscream right now and he's trying to- _No_! Wait! Go back! You gotta get those things!"

"Those things?" Sideswipe questioned.

"No, _those_ things!" Tyler continued and pointed at the screen.

An intense moment passed before Sideswipe pouted and Tyler and Bluestreak groaned. Starscream scoffed, "Can you stop getting me killed!"

"You died again!" Skywarp cackled, "Screamer, you got blown into pieces!"

Starscream began to shout back at Skywarp in Cybertronian. Skywarp retaliated and the argument continued for a few more seconds before Skywarp transformed and zoomed out of the room laughing. Starscream was quick to follow and he was yelling the entire time.

"Well, ok." I replied and focused my attention back on Tyler, "I'm making breakfast though, so it'll be ready soon enough."

"I want-"

"Bacon." I interrupted him and he looked up at me with a grin, "I got it, Ty."

With one last chuckle, I left the room. Peter's room was quiet now so I figured either Grimlock left or both the dinobot and the boy went downstairs. About halfway down the stairs, I heard the TV playing and when I peeked into the living room I saw Peter on the couch with his DS. Grimlock was beside him watching the movie Peter must have put in for the bot, which was Jurassic Park, again. If that was the only movie that made Grimlock happy and kept his mind off not going though the upgrade though, I'd keep that disc on repeat. Lastly, Taylor was sitting on the floor next to Bumblebee. She giggled and talked away as she scribble in her sketchpad that was resting on the coffee table. I smiled before heading back to the kitchen.

Prowl was sitting at the table reading a datapad and Optimus was standing at the island counter with a bowl full of pancake powder. He held the small measuring cup in one large hand and the box of instructions in the other. I grinned at the leader, "Want me to get you an apron, OP?"

"I am fine, thank you."

"Are you sure?" I pressed and came closer, "I think Aubrey has one that matches the mug you were drinking out of."

Optimus' eyes caught mine with a deadpan look and I let out a laugh. I worked side by side with Optimus who continued to help me make breakfast. I did the smaller detailed work that required normal sized hands, and he did the bigger stuff like get the plates and flip the pancakes.

Tyler suddenly bounced into the room about midway through making all the food, "Aj?"

"Yeah, little man?" I questioned while frying up the bacon in one pan as Optimus flipped pancakes beside me. The only way we made this work was I stood half in front of him and he just reached forward with his long arms.

"Where are the other mechs?"

Prowl looked up from the data pad while both Optimus and I looked over to the boy. I cleared my throat, "They're…in a meeting."

"Oh." He shrugged and moved on. I hadn't expected that to be so simple, "Is Josh coming over?"

"Not until later, he's working today, sweetie." I replied and went back to frying the bacon.

Tyler continued, "What about Granny?"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh she'll be here alright. It's Tuesday, and nothing short of a SWAT team could keep her out of the house today." My eyes darted over to the microwave clock again, "She'll probably be here in twenty minutes or so, Tyler." The kid cheered briefly before running back out. When I was sure he was out of ear shot, I whispered, "So how's everything going in there? Get any updates?"

"It's going well." Optimus replied, "Everything is going according to schedule."

"Great." I mumbled.

"Is everything alright?"

I shrugged, "Yeah, peachy. I just don't know how I'm gonna tell the kids y'all are leaving."

The tall leader didn't have a reply for me and I had nothing more to say on the matter. Ten minutes later or so as we finished up with the food, right before I was going to call the kids in, I heard a faint pop coming from the kitchen. It was the kind of pop that made me think Wheeljack got his hands on something he shouldn't have. Before I could move, Prowl nodded at me and headed to check on what was going on.

"Kids!" I yelled, "Time to eat!"

"Coming!" I distantly heard Tyler yell from upstairs. He must have gone back up to play with Sideswipe and Bluestreak. Taylor and Peter though both ran in from the living room and grabbed their usual seats at the table.

"So this breakfast was brought to you by the leader of the Autobots." I joked and carried over the large plate of pancakes. Optimus grabbed the plate of bacon and followed after me.

Peter's eyes widened, "Really? You made breakfast?"

"I simply helped." Optimus replied. He had slid his facemask back over his mouth ages ago so I couldn't see him smile, but I could hear it in his voice. As I carried over plates, forks, and napkins over to them I heard something fall in the garage. The kids glanced around curiously, but the sound of the front door opening distracted them more.

"Granny!" Taylor yelled and ran from the table to greet the older woman. I quickly asked Peter to get some glasses of milk for everyone before peeling away from the kitchen. Someone in the garage was going to get punched by yours truly.

The moment I ripped open the garage door everyone who had been talking grew quiet and snapped their attention to me. I shut the door behind me and they relaxed some. The machine I had seen Wheeljack and Soundwave working on Friday could no longer be seen. The framework had covered by the rest of the machine and I could see now that it was a tall, wide arc of sorts that someone could walk through.

Wheeljack was the only mech in the garage using his bipedal form currently and his hands were buried into the side of the machine in a huge mess of wires. Soundwave was on his shoulder again, but Starscream was now in here and he stood at the top with his arms buried in a portion of the machine as well.

Sunstreaker's holoform was leaning against the back wall with his eyes narrowed at the entire scene before him. I was like 90% that the only reason he was in here was because he had been ordered to play a guard of sorts.

Ratchet's holoform was standing on the opposite side of the machine from Wheeljack with his arms crossed over his chest and a glare leveled across the room. If there was one thing Ratchet's holoform was good at portraying it was his annoyed glare and look of disapproval. Though I had expected Ratchet's holoform to wear something more official, he wore a black pullover with the zipper at the neck pulled down to reveal a plain white shirt. Over the pullover was an olive green utility jacket and he wore dark jeans to go with it all. His square face was tan and his short to medium length hair was a bit messy and looked like he just ran his hand through it to keep his front hair from falling and touching his forehead. His eyes were a more subtle shade of the seafoam green I was used to and they were currently burning a hole in Barricade's holoform across the garage.

For some reason, I expected the Decepticon's holoform to have some form of red eyes. When I questioned why they weren't red Starscream insulted me and then Soundwave explained that red didn't blend in well. I kinda deserved to be insulted by the seeker at that point. Barricade was standing across the room with Prowl beside him. The two of them were tense and I assumed they had probably been arguing or fighting. Barricade wore a black, form-fitting sweater with black jeans. He was a little taller than Prowl's holoform and though they both had broad shoulders, Barricade seemed to be built a little more than the slimmer Prowl. He had an oval shaped face with dark brown hair, nearly black, short and messily pushed back on the top of his head. What really took me for a loop was the dark beard that covered his lower jawline and wrapped around his mouth. Barricade's eyes were a very dark brown, but in the right light I know I had seen a reddish undertone.

Jazz's holoform crossed the room toward me, "Everythin' is ok, sweetspark."

"Doesn't sound like it." I replied.

Megatron scoffed from where he sat on top of a tool box opposite of the room from me, "Go back inside, fleshing. This doesn't concern you."

"My house, my concern." I snapped, "And the last thing I need is for y'all to brawl in the garage. My foyer looks bad enough."

"Come on." Jazz chirped and stepped even closer. He put his hand on my lower back and began to herd me out of the room. I shot one last look at all of them before letting him push me back inside. He shut the door behind us, and I let my mind focus on the sound of Granny talking in the kitchen.

The two of us entered the kitchen. The kids were eating at the table with Bluestreak and Bumblebee sitting with them. Optimus was standing at the kitchen counter by Granny. The older woman grinned at me, "Oh, there you! Come here, darlin'." I sighed, ignored Jazz's cheesy grin, and went over to her. She grabbed my hands and began to examine them, "Look at that. No sign of that horrible energon rash you had. You should take this bracelet off when you get ready for lunch."

I pulled my hand back, "Maybe I want to wear it."

"Oh don't be like that." Granny rolled her eyes, "I brought some dresses for you to pick from."

Taylor sat up in her seat with wide eyes and a mouth full of pancakes, "Aj gon' wea' dresses?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Taylor." Granny scolded, "And yes she is."

"The last time you brought me dresses they all made me look like a 50's housewife." I replied and walked over to look over the few dresses she had brought, "Where did you even get these?"

Granny sat down in the open seat beside Bumblebee, "I mentioned it to the girl's at the hospital where I volunteer and they all gave me dresses for you to borrow."

I tried to ignore the fact that now all the nurses and women at the hospital knew Granny was trying to hook me up with some random guy. I bit back a sigh and continued to look through them. Bluestreak leaned across the table to get a closer look, "What about that one? It's the same color as your eyes. Oh! Wait, look at that one! It's green."

Taylor, who was next to Bluestreak, grinned, "I like the green one too!"

"This green doesn't look good on me." I said nonchalantly and went back over all my options. None of the seven dressed here really stood out to me.

Jazz crossed his arms and winked at me, "I think you'd look good in _any_ of 'em, sweetspark."

I rolled my eyes at him and Taylor bounced in her seat at the exchange. Granny raised her eyebrows at me, expecting me to tell her which I planned to wear. I sighed, "The kids are home today. I should probably stay and watch them."

Shockingly enough, Optimus was the one to speak up, "We will watch the younglings for you, Aj."

"Oh _will_ you?" I asked with a scrunched up nose, "You're just a _saint_ , OP."

The look of amusement in his eyes told me he knew exactly that he was shooting down my only excuse. I snatched a plain white dress from the stack and Granny clapped her hands happily. She reminded me to be at the City Hall's ballroom by 11 AM sharp which was only a little under three hours. Then after kissing all the kids she rushed out of the house to run errands and get ready herself. I glanced at the kids who had gone back to eating and the mechs who were grinning at me. I let out a huff and began to leave the room with my new dress, "You're all traitors."

I could hear chuckles behind me, but I kept going upstairs to put the dress aside for later. About halfway up, I realized Jazz had followed me out and was only a few steps behind me, "Yeah?"

"Hmm?" He hummed.

I smirked, "Can I help you?"

Jazz stopped and leaned against the staircase wall casually. I had one foot on the second floor as the rest of me stood on the stair below. He grinned, "Sunstreaker wants me to get 'is brother."

"He couldn't get him himself or ask him to come over their bond?"

"Mech can't leave 'is post an' 'is brother won't come." Jazz grinned, "Sunstreaker says Sideswipe said somethin' 'bout destroyin' all Autobots and takin' over the universe."

I rolled my eyes. Was he still in Tyler's room playing the DS? Actually, I don't know why I was shocked by that. Jazz walked by me and I took a few more steps so I was in the hallway, "Well, make sure you're ready. We're leaving the house at 10:45 and Granny will murder us if we're late."

"We?" Jazz questioned.

"Can't go alone, can I?"

Jazz pressed his lips together, "Aj-"

I smirked and gave him a shrug, "Either you come with me or I drag some other poor mech along. Sideswipe gets bored easily, I'm sure he wouldn't mind-"

"I'll go." Jazz interrupted. My grin widened and he shook his head with a sigh, "Granny is gonna kill ya, girl."

"Probably." I shrugged nonchalantly.

* * *

 

Quickly, I readjusted the towel wrapped around my wet hair and the robe around my body. Then with a sigh I let my hands fall to my hips. I was standing in Aubrey's room with the white dress stretched across the bed in front of me. It was a cute dress, but it just wasn't me. The thing was, I really enjoyed getting dressed up. Maybe it clashed with my 'punch first, ask questions later' personality, but something about getting all dolled up was fun to me. Granted, I rarely ever had a chance to do so, but I took advantage of the ones I did get. The only reason I was dreading this lunch party was because I didn't want to meet whoever it was Granny planned to introduce me to.

My cellphone began to ring and I jumped across the room to grab it, "Hello?"

"Aimee? Did you call me?" Aubrey replied.

"Yeah." I nodded and rubbed the back of my neck, "I wanted to ask if I could use your make-up."

"My make-up?"

"Yeah, just the simple stuff." I continued.

Aubrey chuckled, "Of course you can! You don't have to ask."

I lifted my eyebrows, "I didn't plan on asking, but the fact is, I can't find any of your stuff."

"Oh right." Aubrey paused, "I usually hide it because Taylor likes to get into it." A smile lit my face at the thought of Taylor playing in her mom's make-up, "It's in the very back of the cabinet in a purple box."

"Thanks, Aubs." I said and planned to end the phone call there when she spoke up again.

"What's the occasion?"

"Granny is taking me to one of those lunch things she does." I sighed, "She wants to-" I paused and rethought my sentence, "She wants to show off me and Jace."

Aubrey cooed over the phone like an older sister would. She thought I was still dating Jace, which meant I couldn't tell her that Granny was actually trying to hook me up.

"Do you have a dress to wear?"

"Sort of." I looked back over at the white dress, "Granny borrowed this thing from the hospital-"

Aubrey interrupted me, "I have something for you."

"What?"

She spoke quickly as if she was afraid if she slowed down that I would interrupt and scold her, "I bought it a long time ago, but you're still about the same size." My eyebrows furrowed together, "It was your graduation gift, but then you left for New York and…well, I didn't know how to get in touch with you."

Her words filled me with a bit of guilt. She continued and told me to check the back of her closet. I planned to keep her on the phone as I did so, but her next words were that she had to go. We shared a quick goodbye and I tossed the phone onto the bed. She had said I was the same size, which meant it was a clothing article. I wasn't too worried because Aubrey had a good taste in fashion and most of the stuff she liked I liked as well. The only difference was she could wear the stuff and look absolutely grand and elegant while I looked like some kid trying to wear her mom's classy stuff.

I walked into her rather large closet and began to dig through the top shelves where she said the box would be. I found it buried under a bunch of put away spring clothes. It was a long, plain white box with my name written on an envelope taped to it. I ripped the envelope off and walked back out to the bed.

Before opening the envelope, I set the box down on the bed. The sticky back of the envelope had grown dry over the many years and was already open. I pulled out the small white card with 'Congrats' written on the front of it. The envelope itself fell from my hands as I opened the card to read what it said.

_'Sorry I couldn't make it, Aimee. I'm so proud of you, little sister. I love you tons. Sincerely, Aubrey.'_

The words made my heart ache and for a moment I just stood there and stared at the card. It was a good thing she hadn't sent this to me after graduation. I probably would've crumpled the card up without reading and shredded whatever clothes were inside the box. The grudge I held was maintained full force for quite a few years before it finally started to simmer down to just pure bitterness.

I let the card fall to the bed and moved to uncover the box. My eyes widened at the sight of the dress in the box. Slowly, I lifted it up so I could look over the entire thing. It was a cocktail dress that would probably stop a few inches above my knees. It was a dark red with a soft, dark purple lace design draped over the red portion. The sleeves were three quarters, the neckline was high, and the lace stopped near the bottom edge of the dress that left a dark red border.

It was a gorgeous dress and obviously was on the more expensive side of things. I absolutely loved it. It was a length I liked, the material would keep me warm today, and the color would look good on my skin and make my light eyes pop. A smile lit my features as I set it down on top of the white dress and moved to get ready.

Since this was just an afternoon lunch party, I decided to keep things mostly simple. I used a light blush to define my cheeks and give them a bit of color and a nude colored lip-gloss that would give them shine, but not rub off on everything. For my eyes, I used a bronze eye shadow that kept it natural looking, but added a bit of shine around my eyes. Then I used eyeliner and mascara to make my eyes stand out even more. I was finishing up on the last touches when I heard Aubrey's door open. A second later, Taylor skipped into the bathroom with bright eyes.

"Aj! You look so pretty!" She gushed, "Your eyes!"

"Thanks, kiddo." I replied and winked at her making her giggle. "Now I just gotta do my hair and get dressed." I leaned past her to look at the clock by Aubrey's bedside. It was a few minutes past 10.

"Is that the dress you're gonna wear?" She pointed to the bed, "I love it!" Taylor suddenly stuck her lower lip out in a pout, "I wish I could get dressed up."

I ruffled her hair, "How about when Jazz and I get home I give you a makeover?"

"Really? Yeah!" She cheered and paused as the rest of the words clicked in her mind, "Jazz?"

"Yeah, he's going with me."

"Like a date?" Taylor giggled.

I shook my head with an amused sigh, "Sure. Like a date." Taylor's giggles increased and I shooed the girl out of the room so I could finish getting ready without any distractions.

* * *

 

Jazz was watching Tyler and Peter argue about the next movie to put on as they sat by Soundwave, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Grimlock when something wrapped around his holoform's servo. He grinned and glanced down at Taylor who was now tugging on his arm.

"What's up, little lady?" Jazz greeted.

"You're gonna go on a date with Aj." Taylor said with a cute, wide grin.

Jazz chuckled and nodded his head, "That I am."

The competition between him, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe on gaining Aj's attention was still going on, but it had died down a bit over the last few days. Jazz was sure this was only because all of them were still trying to figure out why they were so drawn to the human femme. He had that reason to thank right now because neither twin was trying to steal his spot as Aj's forced date today.

"Aren't you gonna get ready?" Taylor questioned. Jazz smirked and initiated the programming in his processors to change the outfit his holoform wore. Now he was wearing the clothes he usually did when he had to go to a meeting with any human officials. It was a simple, black suit he had found online and liked. He casually stuck his servos in his pockets to show off the new clothes, but Taylor seemed unimpressed. "That's what you're gonna wear?"

"What's wrong with this?" Jazz questioned and looked down at himself.

Taylor tilted her head before pointing to the suit blazer, "Take that part off." He made the jacket disappear. "It's warm outside today so roll up your sleeves like they do on TV."

Jazz began to roll the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbow and straightened it until the tiny human was pleased with the way it looked. She tilted her head one last time and then nodded, "You need a new tie."

"This is the only one I got." Jazz said and touched the black tie around his neck.

Taylor grinned, "I'll go get Wheeljack. He'll make you a new tie."

The little girl took off and it took Jazz a moment before he realized what a bad idea that was. He rushed after the girl and scooped her off the ground in the kitchen making her laugh, "Nice try, darlin'. I'll get Jackie."

He set her back down and when he was sure she wouldn't follow him to the garage, Jazz left. The mechs were coming and going trying to both get this machine working and keep the younglings distracted. Bumblebee and Bluestreak stayed out of the garage. They had chosen the role of sticking by the younglings the entire time, and Jazz was fairly positive that they chose so for their own reasons. The two youngest mechs were going to obviously miss the younglings. Pit, they all were.

"Yo, Jackie." Jazz stuck his head into the garage.

Wheeljack lifted his holoform's head from what he was welding, "Yes?"

"Taylor needs your help." Jazz replied. The twins were leaning against the back wall together, Ratchet was standing beside Barricade glaring at him, and Prowl stood over by the other Decepticons who weren't currently working beside Wheeljack.

"She alright?" Sunstreaker, who was the mech currently using his bipedal mode, leaned forward off the wall slightly.

"She's fine." Jazz shrugged, "She just needs 'im to program somethin' into the holoform programmin'."

Wheeljack turned to look at Ratchet who shook his head, "No."

"I can't leave in the middle of this weld. Please?" He pressed. The two argued over the commlink before Ratchet rolled his eyes and followed after Jazz. Taylor was still in the kitchen waiting.

Ratchet gruffly spoke up, "What do you want, youngling?"

Rather than answering, Taylor grinned and grabbed the medic's servo. Ratchet raised an eyebrow curiously before allowing the little femme to drag him upstairs. Taylor shouted at Jazz not to follow them. He chuckled to himself before sitting down at the kitchen table. Only a few kliks had passed when Jazz felt Taylor's hand lightly tap on his real body. He tensed slightly in surprise before letting the holoform fizzle out of existence. Going from holoform back to one's true body was always a bit strange, but Jazz was quick to shake off the odd feeling as he became fully aware of the medbay around him.

"Well don't keep us waiting, mech." Ratchet snapped. Jazz quickly transformed into his bipedal mode and stretched his stiff joints. Taylor was standing beside Ratchet, who was also in his bipedal mode rather than his holoform, with her servo in his larger, metal one. "Sit down on the berth."

"What is this 'bout?" Jazz questioned as he followed Ratchet's orders.

"I showed Ratchet Aj's dress so now your tie can match!" Taylor chirped happily. Jazz chuckled to himself but kept quiet as Ratchet programmed the new line of coding. He watched as Taylor glanced around the room filled with parked alt modes. "Can they see us?"

Ratchet was the one who replied, "No. They're aware that someone is around them, but they most likely have kept their vision focused through the holoforms."

"So if I touch them they'll know it's me?" Taylor asked.

"Yes." Ratchet replied warily as he let his optics glance over to the youngling. Taylor either didn't notice or ignored the mech's look as she began to go around the room to each alt mode. Jazz watched in amusement as she stopped at each one, knelt down, and pressed a light kiss to the hoods. The mechs would most definitely feel it and they'd be able to tell whom it was and what they were doing by their sensors alone. The only alt mode not in here was Barricade who decided to keep his true body elsewhere. Jazz continued to watch the youngling as she got to the twins. Taylor knelt down and kissed Sideswipe's hood twice and didn't touch Sunstreaker's.

"Why'd ya do that, kiddo?" Jazz questioned. He had his suspicions why, but he wanted to hear it from her personally.

Taylor smiled, "Sunstreaker doesn't like people touching his paint so I gave Sides two kisses. Sides can pass on my message of course!"

"Well what 'bout my kiss?" Jazz pressed. The little femme rushed over to crawl onto the bed. She happily pressed her lips against the side of his helm before cuddling into his side.

"I'm sending you over the code now." Ratchet spoke up. His optics didn't drift from the data pad in his servos. As the package was being downloaded, Jazz let his processors wander back to the femme youngling tucked against his side. Taylor was without a doubt the most touchy feely of the household. Even when they were small she was always holding onto them and curling up with them on the couch or anywhere for that matter, but it didn't lessen once they started to get big. She'd kiss and hug and curl up to any mech that stayed still long enough whether they were in their bipedal mode or holoform. Of course, Bumblebee got the most of her affection.

The downloaded completed and Jazz let it activate and merge with his holoform coding, "Got it, Ratch."

He let his servo brush against the youngling's head before he transformed back into his alt mode and then activated the holoform with the new piece of information. His sleeves were still rolled up to his elbows, but now his tie was a shade of purple.

"Didn' she pick the white dress this mornin'?" Jazz asked as he let his human looking servo touch the piece of fabricated material.

Taylor shrugged, "She got a new dress." The little femme grinned at the two of them before rushing out the door to move onto her next activity of the morning, whatever that might be.

Jazz let out a soft hum of thought. He suddenly realized that he was actually very curious about how the dress looked. More than that, he wondered what Aj would look like in said dress. Him and all the mechs had seen plenty of human femmes both in their universe and on the Internet dressed in a number of strange outfits, but Aj's clothing options were all somewhat similar and simple.

Ratchet returned to his alt mode and then turned on his holoform before looking back over at Jazz with a frown and determined gaze, "So you are going out with her today?"

"Yeah, why?" Jazz pressed.

Ratchet didn't immediately reply. Instead he shifted his stance slightly and huffed a human sounding sigh. This only made the saboteur wonder even more about what this conversation was about. The medic clenched his jaw before finally speaking, "Stay with her at all times. Keep her away from human males."

"Uh, how come?"

"Because I have seen enough of the Earth Internet to know how a human male reacts to seeing a human female that looks like Aj does." Ratchet snapped before leaving the room in a huff while muttering curses under his breath.

Jazz was curious before, but he was more so now.

* * *

 

One of the biggest down sides of having short hair was that my options for dressed up hairstyles was rather nonexistent. After toying with my hair for a good ten minutes, and getting interrupted by a grumpy Ratchet and cheerful Taylor, I finally decided to just loosely braid back a large chunk of it on the side and then lightly curl the rest of it. It looked all right and it wasn't too formal.

I let my eyes drift over the entire picture one more time and let a small smile slide onto my face. The dress fit really well and like I had guessed, it looked good with my skin tone and made my eyes seem that much brighter. It was warm enough that I wasn't going to wear a jacket over the dress and my legs wouldn't be too cold. Quickly, I borrowed an off white, small purse with a long strap that I could fit my wallet and phone into. Then I grabbed a pair of nude heels from Aubrey's closet. Her feet were a bit smaller, but I didn't mind suffering for a couple hours if it meant completing my look.

As I walked back into the Aubrey's bedroom I saw it was nearly 10:50. With an audible groan, I wrapped the small purse across my torso and then slipped the heels onto my feet. I sprinted out of her room only to run straight into a holoform's chest. Normally, I'd be able to catch myself easily, but the heels and dress had me stumbling backwards. Luckily, the holoform reached out in time and caught me around the waist. With wide eyes, I caught my breath and looked up at Sunstreaker who was staring at me in shock.

"Thanks, top model." I grinned, "You're my hero." Sunstreaker's hands were still resting on my waist. I expected him to scold me for the nickname, but he just stared in slight confusion. "Not that this isn't fun, but Granny'll murder me if I'm late so…"

I put my hands on top of his and slowly peeled them away from me. The moment his hands got back to his side he seemed to snap out of his stupor. His eyes narrowed as he shook his head, "What are you doing?"

"Going to the lunch party? Remember? Granny has been announcing it every time she set foot in the house for the past two days."

"Like that?" He pressed as he crossed his arms.

I glanced down at myself, "What's wrong with this?"

"It's…" Sunstreaker began before scoffing and shaking his head. A second passed before his eyes narrowed and he spoke up, "Shut the _frag_ up."

My eyebrows raised slightly, "I didn't say anything?"

"No, not you." Sunstreaker replied in a frustrated manner, "Sideswipe, won't shut up."

"Huh. It seems like the two of you are getting better at conversing over the bond in your holoforms." I shrugged nonchalantly before turning on my heel and heading for the stairs. "Later, Sunstreaker."

I was halfway down the stairs when I heard Sunstreaker speak up, "Be careful, Queen."

I glanced back with a slight smirk, "I always am."

He rolled his eyes and walked down the hall and out of sight. The kids were in the living room based off the Netflix argument I could faintly hear. Rather than go straight to them though, I peeked into the kitchen looking for an authority figure that I could tell I was leaving.

Optimus was in the kitchen standing next to Wheeljack's holoform. Across from them was Megatron who stood on the kitchen counter and Barricade's holoform who had his body bent toward the counter with his forearms resting on the countertop and his fingers laced together. They all glanced over at me and Barricade straightened his posture in response.

"Wow!" Wheeljack spoke first with an encouraging smile and a friendly thumbs ups, "You look _spectacular_ , Aj!"

My lips turned up in a slight smile as I waved off the compliment. Optimus nodded his head, "Wheeljack and Ratchet are not exaggerating. You look very nice."

"Ratchet?" I questioned curiously. Had he mentioned something after stopping by the room with Taylor? He hadn't said anything to me.

Megatron chuckled from the island counter, "I wasn't aware you wore anything other than your usual attire."

"I dress according to the situation, thanks. It just so happens that most of my situations here have been lazy days and cold days." I argued and crossed my arms. My eyes darted over to Barricade to see if he had something to add, but the holoform just glared at me with his dark eyes. Shocker. Honestly though, I was content with Barricade hating me from a distance. As long as the mech didn't murder me in my sleep all would be well. "So anyways, I'm leaving. Keep an eye on the kids, please?"

"Of course." Optimus said reassuringly. I glanced over at Megatron who rolled his eyes before letting out an annoyed sighed and nodding himself.

"Aj!" Tyler yelled from behind me. "You look so different!"

I chuckled and turned around to see him standing in the doorway with his hand in Bluestreak's bipedal mode. It must've been his turn. I could hear the other two kids leaving the living room.

"Good different?"

Tyler nodded with a wide smile. Bluestreak's door wings fluttered happily, "You look amazing, Aj! The color of that dress is much better than the other one and it makes your optics look so big. Is that glitter around your optics? It's almost golden and it kinda shines if I look from this way!"

"It's just eye shadow, Blue." I replied as Taylor ran into the kitchen pulling Peter behind her. She squealed about how excited she was to see me all dressed up and that I was going on a date that made me bite back an amused roll of my eyes. Peter offered a smile and compliment of his own. "Where is Jazz? We gotta go or we'll be more late than we already are."

"He went to start the truck and put his alt mode in the backseat." Peter answered. That was good news, he was already a step ahead. I quickly said my goodbyes before stepping outside into the cool air. It wasn't an uncomfortable temperature, but it was a tad bit chilly in the shade.

Jazz was standing outside of the truck, but when I stepped out he pushed off the truck and rubbed the back of his neck. A slow smile spread across his features and brightened his face. He wore dark dress pants, a white button up shirt with the sleeves casually rolled up, and a tie in a very familiar shade of purple. I let out a laugh, "Oh my God, are we matching? Is that why Taylor dragged Ratchet into the room?"

"You know it." Jazz replied. He had his sunglasses on right now, but I could faintly see his eyes through the dark glass. He shook his head, "Sweetspark, you're _gorgeous_."

The words put a crooked grin on my face as I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. Come on, let's go. Can you drive?"

Jazz shrugged, "Yeah, but why?"

"Driving in heels this high is a new level of hell for me."

* * *

 

It was 11:04 and we were parked outside City Hall. My phone was vibrated in my purse and I knew it was Granny demanding to know where I was. If I didn't go in soon or answer the call she'd probably storm out and race home to drag me to this thing kicking and screaming.

"You ready?" I asked with a smile and opened my door.

"I'm gonna stay 'ere."

It took a moment for the words to click in my mind, but when they did I slammed my door shut and whipped around to look at him, "What?"

"You should head in there an' meet the guy Rosie wants ya to meet." Jazz said seriously with an unhappy frown pasted on his lips.

"Jazz!" I cried, "Don't do this to me."

"For all ya know this guy could be good for ya." Jazz argued, "He could make a good boyfriend."

I crossed my arms with a pout, "I thought you were supposed to be my boyfriend?"

Jazz let out a sad chuckle and shook his head, "Go, sweetspark. You're late."

"Why are you so determined for me to do this?"

"I don't want ya to be alone." Jazz replied, "Just…Trust me, ok? I want to explore every option before I go to the extreme."

"What's the extreme option?"

Jazz didn't answer my question, "If he turns out to be a real slagger, just give me a call. You got my number."

I let out an annoyed sigh before leaving the cab of the truck without another word. My phone was filled with strange numbers and codes now, thanks to Wheeljack. It allowed me to call or text their commlink or something like that. Regardless, I didn't want to call Jazz from inside if this went downhill. I wanted the fragger to come in with me. By the time I got to the front doors, I was nearly hit with the heavy metal doors when someone came rushing out. Granny paused in the doorway with wide eyes. She wore a beige blouse that merged with a pale, pastel pink A-line skirt that went to her knees and a white blazer over the entire ensemble.

I let out a wolf whistle, "Damn Granny, you clean up good."

Her eyes widened and she didn't even scold me for cursing. Her hands went to my arms, "Oh my goodness! Look at this! Where did you get this dress, honey? You look absolutely beautiful."

"Oh this old thing?" I joked and pretended to fluff my hair. Granny rolled her eyes and I grinned, "It's from Aubrey. It was my old graduation gift. Apparently I am the same size I was eight years ago. It's all about the small victories, right?"

Granny smiled, "Bless her. You're so beautiful, Aimee Jane. So much prettier than all these other girls today."

"Other girls today?" I questioned. Granny ignored me then dragged me inside. The lunch party was in the same ballroom it was always in so I knew exactly where the older woman was dragging me off to. I questioned her the entire minute it took to get to the room, but she just replied by telling me what they had on the menu today for lunch. I had to hand it to her. The old lady knew me well.

We stepped into the ballroom, which was softly playing some classical piece of music. There were plenty of older faces that I recognized from the last time I had come and I noticed the buffet bar of fancy finger foods easily enough. My attention had been pulled away by the many tall, blonde bombshells walking around as well. There had to be at least twelve women around my age dressed in a variety of colorful dresses. Some stood off to the side talking to one another while others either stood by an older woman, much like I was right now, or by themselves.

"What is going on?" I asked softly.

Granny pulled me away from the doors and to a table where her purse was sitting by the only older woman that I knew the name of. Mable Cliff was around Granny's age with short, snow-white hair and small brown eyes. She was an absolute sweetheart and I seriously doubted she had ever hurt so much as a fly in her entire life.

"Oh, Aimee, you look wonderful!" Mable cooed from her seat.

I smiled at her, "Oh, please. I don't hold a flame to you, Mable. Is that a new dress?"

Mable chuckled and glanced down at the dark gray business casual dress she wore with a neutral colored cardigan, "It is! Thank you!" She chuckled, "I see Rosie dragged you into this silly competition."

"She did!" I replied and slowly turned to glare at Granny, "And she never mentioned that it was a competition."

Granny scoffed, "Competition. Please. When Ryan looks at you, he won't see a single other girl here."

"Any guy that agrees to something like this is not the type of guy for me." I argued.

"It wasn't his idea! Abbey is behind all of this." Granny replied.

"Of course she is." I muttered and glanced around the room for the old hag. I found her at the head of the room surrounded by her posse of old women that I could live without knowing. She wore a dress that was similar to the pattern and color of Granny's own two-piece outfit and a thick white cardigan over it. Her dyed blonde hair was pulled up in a fancy bun and there were a string of fat pearls around her neck. She began to laugh at something and her large mouth took up most of her face. I shook my head and sat down by Mable. "Abbey Collins scares the devil and not because she's Godly. More like she scares him because he never thought anyone could ever be as horrible and evil as him."

Mable laughed beside me and Granny rolled her eyes at me. The three of us sat and talked briefly with a few other women I recognized stopping by and saying hello. Some even introduced me to their granddaughters and I found most of the pretty women who had gotten roped into this mess were really nice and just as hesitant about all of this as I was.

"Oh he's here!" Granny cried in excitement as she yanked me out of my seat. She managed to do so seconds after I shoved a mini sandwich in my mouth. With a mouthful of food, I turned around and looked where she was pointing.

A guy with short, black hair had walked in through the doors wearing a navy suit over a white button up shirt and light blue tie. He had light brown eyes and was pretty good looking if I said so myself. He was a clean-cut guy with a cute smile that reached his eyes. He looked like the kind of guy one would have no worries taking home to meet the parents. He was greeting someone else across the room, but his eyes glanced over the entire room before landing on Granny and I. His smile widened as he waved back to Granny who was waving to him frantically. She glanced over at me and let out a sound of anguish, "Oh heavens, will you swallow your food, Aimee Jane!?" This startled me and made me choke on the food in my mouth which made Mable reach over and lightly tap on my back as Granny groaned and muttered to herself.

Just call me queen of first impressions.

"I'll introduce you." Granny said and began to drag me across the room after I gulped down some water to clear my windpipe.

"Are you sure I can't just leave and hide in my truck?"

"Hush."

We got closer and I noticed he had turned to talk to a really pretty woman with slightly curled, long blonde hair and wide brown eyes. She wore a white and silver dress that looked stunning on her. He took notice of Granny and me and excused himself. The woman smiled and said good-bye, but I noticed her sigh unhappily once he turned away from her. Her eyes lingered on him longingly before she walked away.

"Rosie!" He greeted and hugged the woman who happily returned the hug, "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing just fine. No complaints here." She replied with a grin. "There's someone I want you to meet. This here is Aimee Jane."

"I'm finally getting to meet _the_ famous Aimee Jane?" He joked with her before turning to me and offering his hand, "Hi, I've heard a ton about you. I'm Ryan Collins."

I shook his hand and offered a smile, "You can call me Aj, and I hope you've heard good things."

"Rosie never says anything negative about you." Ryan replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, that I seriously doubt."

Granny slapped my arm lightly and shot me a look before saying her good-byes and rushing away. The first few minutes of standing next to him were a tad bit awkward, but after finding out he played baseball in college we found a track of things we both liked and conversation became easier and time flew by.

"Hi! Ryan Collins, right?"

I paused in what I was joking about to see a woman who was about an inch or two shorter than me in a pale yellow dress standing by us. She had light brown hair that was straightened and green eyes. Ryan nodded, "Oh, um, yeah. I-"

"My name is Lauren Brinkley." She continued, "My grandmother, Jessica, suggested I come say hi."

Ryan smiled, "It's nice to meet you."

I saw the look Lauren shot me and gave a bright smile, "Well, I'll leave you two to talk. I'll just go get-"

"Wait." Ryan said quickly and lightly grabbed my arm, "Why don't you stay? Talk with us?"

"Um." I paused. Lauren's eyes were screaming that she wanted me gone yesterday, but Ryan's eyes looked almost…pleading? I nodded, "Sure?"

Ryan grinned and let out a quick sigh of relief, "Lauren this is Aj."

"Hi Aj." Lauren greeted in a not very enthusiastic manner. The next five minutes or so were spent with Ryan and I continuing our conversation with Lauren adding the occasional comment every few seconds or so. Sometimes it matched what we were saying and sometimes it didn't. Eventually, she excused herself and walked away.

I chuckled, "Oh my God."

"What?" Ryan questioned.

I motioned around to the room to the many young women around us. Some were enjoying lunch and the people around them while others glared in my direction, "It feels like I'm on the fragging Bachelor." Ryan let out a laugh, "No, I'm serious!"

"I know." Ryan replied between chuckles.

"I feel like I'm waiting for you to give me a damn rose or something." I added and he laughed again.

Ryan scratched the back of his head, "I'm sorry. This is really strange situation, isn't it?"

"You can say that again."

"Well, if this was the Bachelor, I think it's safe to say you'd be winning." Ryan replied. I smiled, but suddenly felt really bad about this. I had been talking to this guy for the past half hour or so. He obviously didn't want to stop talking and wanted me to stick around, but the feeling just wasn't mutual. He was super sweet and really cute and basically perfect, but he just wasn't for me.

"Ryan", I sighed, "I think I should go. There are a lot of really sweet girls here who would be a good match for you. You should talk to them."

"What?"

I paused before blurting, "It's just- I…I have a boyfriend. Granny, er, doesn't know about him which is why I got put up to this, but…yeah."

Ryan was blank faced for a moment before he grinned, "Oh God, what a relief."

I blinked in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I felt so bad!" Ryan gushed. "I thought I was leading you along or something, but I didn't want you to leave because if you did then the other women would come."

"And that's a problem because?" I pressed.

Ryan chuckled as his grin turned to a soft smile, "I'm engaged. Have been for the past month or so."

"Wow." I breathed, "That's…great, but it's also _really_ confusing."

Ryan sighed, "I got engaged to my girlfriend, and I love her more than anything, but my grandmother doesn't approve of her. She set this up in hopes of swaying me."

"And you came?"

"Have you met my grandmother?" Ryan asked with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded, "Good point."

"I knew you'd be easy to talk to. Rosie really does sing your praises to anyone who'll listen." Ryan explained, "Plus, I knew if I spoke to you it'd piss my grandmother off. She hates you."

"She hates me?" I asked. The two of us hadn't really interacted. I hated her because of the stories I've heard from a frustrated Granny and Mable. It was news to me that she hated me back though.

Ryan chuckled, "Oh yeah. She calls you ' _the little girl who scraped perfectly good caviar off her tongue with a fork into the trash and then chugged two flutes of champagne'_."

My thoughts went back to what had happened the last time I came to one of these, "Well, I have to say it's one of the more accurately specific nicknames I've had." Ryan shrugged and then stuck his hands into his pockets. I glanced over my shoulder to look across the room. Abbey Collins was seated now, but her eyes eventually shot over to me and narrowed into a glare. I turned back around with determination in my veins, "Forget her."

"Hmm?"

"Forget her!" I cried with a smile, "You said you love this fiancée of yours?"

"More than anything or anyone else in the world." Ryan admitted.

"Then who gives a damn what your evil grandma thinks?" I continued, "If I were you, I'd leave and spend the rest of the day with your girl, and not here trying to please her."

Ryan didn't say anything for a moment before a slow smile spread across his features, "You really think so?"

"I know so." I replied, "But I don't know why you're still standing in front of me."

Ryan chuckled and pulled me into a quick hug before pulling back and rushing out of the room. I nodded my head in triumphant before ignoring the stares and heading over to the table where Granny and Mable were staring with wide eyes. Abbey hurried out of the room a few seconds later chasing after her grandson.

"What did you do?" Granny questioned.

"I made things right." I replied and grabbed my purse.

Granny shook her head, "What are you doing now?"

"Well, if Ryan is gonna spend the rest of his day with his _fiancée_ ", I said and both women's eyes widened, "I figured I'd spend the rest of this lunch hanging out with my boyfriend."

Granny was frozen for a moment before she chuckled, "You brought him along?"

"I tried to drag him in with me, but he was being noble or something I don't know." I shrugged and typed out a quick text that explained the situation then sent it out.

Mable shook her head, "Boyfriend?"

Before I could explain that it was sort of a joke, Granny began to explain everything for me. She conveniently left out the whole alien thing. She spun some elaborate tale about a dramatic on and off relationship that showed how bad of a liar Granny really was. Luckily, Mable was too sweet to question a single word. A few minutes later I heard a soft gasp from across the room. I turned around to see Jazz had come in and taken off his sunglasses. There was a small group of girls by the door that were gaping at his holoform, not that I blamed them. I quickly got up, straightened my dress, and then began to walk over to him.

"Hey there, handsome." I greeted with a smirk and slipped my hand into his to pull him further into the room. Jazz grinned and laced his fingers with mine before moving our hands behind my back so my arm was casually pressed against my own back and he was much closer to me. I tilted my head up to whisper in his ear, "We're pretending to be the couple of the month, ok?"

"Oh, I think I can handle that, sweetspark." He replied with a smirk.

"Come on, there's someone I want you to meet." I replied and led him over to the table.

Granny chuckled, "Nice to see you again."

"I can say the same, and I might I add that you look fantastic, Rosie." Jazz greeted with a grin.

I motioned toward Mable, "This is Mable. Mable this is my boyfriend… Jace."

Jazz released my hand and stepped forward to offer his hand to shake, "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

"You as well." Mable replied with a giggle. "Come on, Rosie, let's leave the two of them to enjoy their lunch."

I began to argue that that wasn't necessary, but she just smiled and stood up. Granny followed her over to another group of women that greeted them happily. I dropped down into my seat and Jazz took the seat that Mable had just left which was right beside me. He shifted the wooden chair so he was closer and facing me though. I kept my gaze on him curiously as he just smiled at me warmly. I let out a nervous chuckle, "What? Why are you looking at me like that, you weirdo?"

He chuckled before crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat, "I told you how stunnin' you look already, right?"

I rolled my eyes with a chuckle, "Stop with the compliments. You and the others are killing me."

"How so?"

I shrugged, "I mean, I know you guys are just saying it because it's what you're supposed to say when someone gets dressed up. You found it on the internet, right?"

Jazz uncrossed his arms as his smile faltered slightly, "Aj, we're sayin' it 'cause we mean it."

"How?" I asked curiously and leaned toward him so our conversation would stay between us, "You're not…human. Your standards of what is pretty and what isn't have to be different. There is no way I look anything like a femme you would've found pretty on Cybertron."

Jazz pressed his lips together in thought briefly before nodding, "I see your point, but there's somethin' you don't understand." I waited for him to continue, "You can look at say…two dogs, and you can pick one as prettier, right? You can tell that there is a difference?"

"Are you comparing me to a dog, Jazz?" I joked with a smirk.

Jazz sighed and reached forward to grab the edge of my chair. I was startled when he pulled me even closer so the sides of our knees were pressed together, "Bluestreak likes blonde hair. Wheeljack said he thinks human females with green eyes are _incredible_. We see the differences, an' we can pick out what we find…attractive, the same way you would." He glanced over the room then nodded his head toward the buffet table, "Those two women over there. I think the one in the yellow dress is prettier than the one in silver an' white." I looked over to see Lauren Brinkley talking to the blonde woman Ryan had first been talking to when I walked up to him. "Not that the one in the silver an' white dress isn't pretty, I just think the other woman is prettier. We can pick out what we like more than others. Granted, our standards of what we consider beautiful may be different from the usual standards that you humans set for yourself, but we…" Jazz paused before smiling at me, " _I_ can look at ya an' honestly say that I find ya gorgeous. You're without a doubt the prettiest femme in the room an' I wouldn't want to be 'ere with anyone other than you."

I could feel my cheeks heat up slightly in embarrassment at his words. There were tons of times that I heard compliments. Sometimes it came from the sleazy assholes in a bar, sometimes it came from a group of mechs standing in my kitchen, but Jazz's words seemed so sincere and his gaze was so soft that I couldn't help but blush.

"Yeah, well…ok. That makes sense. Not the last part. I mean, I didn't know or assume that you thought that about me. I meant the beginning half." I replied stupidly. Honestly, why did I ever even open my mouth?

Jazz chuckled, "You're rambling again."

"Shut up." I shoved him lightly before giving him a small smile, "Thanks though. I, uh, appreciate it."

Jazz nodded once before lacing his hands together and then letting them rest on top of our knees, "So we leave this Thursday-"

"Tell me more about Cybertron." I blurted. The last thing I wanted to talk about was the fact that I'd have to say good-bye soon. That I'd have to remind the kids about it. His eyes widened slightly in surprise at my sudden request. "The Helix Gardens sound really cool, and I saw a painting of them that Sunstreaker made."

"He showed you 'is paintin'?" Jazz asked in surprise.

"Yeah, why is that so surprising?" I replied.

"No reason." Jazz replied quickly with a shake of his head and suddenly it seemed like he was trying to avoid a topic much like I was. A grin slipped onto his features, "Where to start though? Hmm", He unlaced his fingers and tapped my knee a couple times, "Has anybody mentioned the Cadmium deserts to you?"

* * *

 

Sunstreaker rolled his shoulders and stretched each joint in great lengths. Having to use his holoform all the time these days, though helpful, was a pain in the aft. The only thing that made it worse was the fact that he had to spend all day in his alt mode. Back in his universe, they could go at least a few Earth weeks before their joints started to get stiff and ache, but it was different here.

He used his pede to lightly kick his brother's alt mode a few inches back and Sideswipe immediately shoved him over the bond roughly. The red mech was still pissed at him for earlier when Aj was leaving the house. Sideswipe had begged over the bond for Sunstreaker to come relieve him of guard duty so he could see Aj in person rather than over the bond, but the yellow mech had ignored his brother's pleas. At least one of them were required to be in the garage at all times these days just in case, and Sunstreaker didn't plan on setting foot back into that garage until his shift truly started.

Sunstreaker shoved his brother back lightly, but Sideswipe just huffed in annoyance. His holoform's bond voice was faint, but still audible, ' _Go frag yourself, Sunny.'_

' _Don't be such a slagging sparkling._ ' Sunstreaker replied with a twang of amusement resounding through the bond. He could understand why Sideswipe was still pissed. Seeing something through your own optic's was much better than just catching a glimpse of it over the bond, and Aj had most definitely been a sight to see. It had his servos itching to paint. The contrast of colors as the maroon and burgundy cloth were complimentary to her skin tone, and made her already large, blue optics seem that much brighter. Sunstreaker thought humans were rather dirty and disgusting for the most part, but he had to admit that some could clean up well and Aj was obviously one of those.

 _'She looked prettier than usual._ ' Sideswipe commented over the bond softly, but his words turned bitter, ' _At least from what I saw since my_ aft _of a brother didn't come relieve me.'_

 _'I guess. For a human, at least_.' Sunstreaker replied nonchalantly before moving to leave the room. He couldn't paint her. He didn't have any more material to paint on, but he could find a comfortable spot and sketch her. It wouldn't be the same, but he had the mental image of her saved away in his processors to paint at a later date. He had never painted a human on the material he usually painted on back home with his own paints. He wondered how that would look.

Sunstreaker got to the stairs only to stop when Barricade stepped onto the top step. His holoform was glaring at the yellow warrior, but the glare made Sunstreaker mentally scoff.

"Get out of my way, con." He went to walk down the stairs, but Barricade moved in front of him and then shoved him back. The holoforms were stronger than a normal human, but obviously it paled in comparison to their true forms. Still, Sunstreaker stumbled back slightly more in shock than force, "Are you glitched? Did you not get your aft handed to you enough before?"

"No need to shove, Barricade."

Sunstreaker's optics shot downward to see Megatron walking up the stairs. The mech was tempted to punt the decepticon leader back down to the first floor, but he bit back on the urge.

"What the frag do you want?" Sunstreaker demanded.

"To talk." Megatron replied with a shrug. Both him and Barricade stepped to the side toward the younglings' rooms.

Sunstreaker scoffed and moved to leave, "Why the pit would I talk to you?"

"Because I've seen your painting and I know who that femme you're so obsessed with is."

Sunstreaker felt his energon run cold as his body tensed where he stood. Sideswipe was just as surprised from the other end of the bond, ' _The frag did he say?'_

Sunstreaker's helm snapped to the side to glare at the two of them, but he knew this glare wasn't his usual hardened look. He felt too panicked to glare at his usual strength and he couldn't quite figure out what made him feel this way. He was shocked to hear Megatron say this, but something about the warlord mentioning this femme, his femme, didn't sit right with him. It left a sour taste in his mouth.

Megatron just smirked and turned to walk off. Barricade gave Sunstreaker a smug glance before opening Aubrey's door and walking in behind his commander.

_'You shouldn't go in alone. They obviously cant hurt you but-'_

Sunstreaker ignored his brother's warning and followed after them without another word.

* * *

 

"And they're everywhere?" I asked with wide eyes.

"I wouldn't say everywhere." Jazz replied with a shrug, "Earth is 71% covered in liquid, but Cybertron's liquid content is only 'bout 43%. Granted, the Gallium lakes do make up 90% of that 43%."

I tried to mentally imagine the lakes he spoke about. Humongous bowls of melted metal. The liquid metal, which was closest to our element Gallium, was around 95 degrees Fahrenheit, which was less than a typical hot tub. Of course, a hot tub of liquid metal probably wasn't the same as a water one.

"It's real pretty." Jazz nodded, "It's silver, but it gives off this yellow tint in the right light."

This ten-minute conversation was beyond intriguing. Cybertron had deserts, and lakes, and a frozen portion much like our Antarctica. Their planet's features were a lot more metal than ours, but it shared similar characteristics. What I really got from this quick conversation was that Cybertron sounded amazing and I really wanted to visit. Unfortunately, I couldn't exactly drive to NASA and ask to borrow a shuttle.

"Hey", Jazz leaned closer again, "Is there a reason why we're getting glared at?"

"Glared at?" I questioned and glanced around. It was then that I noticed some of Abbey's little clique was giving us the stink eye as Abbey spoke. Then Abbey's own eyes snapped to us in distaste. Granny suddenly walked over to their group with Mable and a frown slipped onto my features. They all began to talk and though I could see Granny forcing a smile, I could tell this talk was more of an argument. "Jazz…"

"Right behind you, sweetspark."

I nodded and stood up to march over. Like he said, Jazz was only a step or two behind me as I came to their group. Some of the other, younger woman who hadn't left began to wander over to see what was happening. The group pushed to the side slightly and let me and Jazz enter.

"-and another thing, that color just doesn't look good on you, darling." Abbey spoke in a sickening sweet tone, "You need a skin tone more like mine."

I didn't need to hear what was said before that to know she was insulting Granny, and the broad was lucky she was too old for me to punch in the throat. I scoffed, " _Your_ skin tone?" After giving her a skeptical look I glanced over at Granny, "Don't worry, I doubt her skin tone is even real. She probably just cast a spell to hide the green."

"Excuse me?" Abbey gasped.

"Oh, I was calling you the Wicked Witch. I referenced the Wizard of Oz because you're so old." I replied, "But maybe I should've gone further back? I could add that you have the complexion and personality of a _velociraptor_."

Some around us looked appalled that I could say such a thing while others mumbled to each other and bit back smiles of amusement. Abbey just stared at me for a moment and didn't snap out of her stupor until I lifted an eyebrow in questioning.

"How dare you?" She yelled. "First you have the audacity to bring in that filth and then you-"

"Wait, what?" I cut her off in confusion, "Filth? What are you talking about?"

Abbey leveled a glare at me and let it travel to Jazz behind me before snapping back, "I am talking about that nigger you have behind you."

A moment passed before I realized what she had just said. Jazz stepped forward and set his hand on my waist. He leaned forward and spoke in a soft, comforting tone, "Aj-"

"No, you didn't." I snapped. "No, you fucking didn't." Abbey's eyes widened at my words, "This is the 21st century, you racist old hag. Get your wrinkly head out of your sagging ass and get with the program."

"He shouldn't be here unless he plans to serve lunch to us!"

Most of the other women began to jump in and disagree with her. They told her she had gone to far and that she should apologize, but I just stood there seething in my anger. I knew that Jazz wasn't actually an African American. He was actually a Cybertronian, but it still boiled my blood. Besides, I bet she'd be racist against giant metal aliens too. If you're gonna be ignorant why stop at one thing?

I scoffed with a shake of my head, "You're disgusting. You are a disgusting human being."

Abbey stepped toward me, "Disgusting? I'll tell you what's disgusting. Watching you hold hands and whispering to him at the table. And to think you spoke to my Ryan and stood close to him."

"You think me holding his hand is disgusting? Talking to him?" I scoffed, "Well watch this, asshole."

I turned around with zero thought other than pissing Abbey off and proving a point. I reached forward, grabbed Jazz's tie, ignored the look of surprise on his features, and pull him down toward me as I pushed myself up until my lips landed on his. I heard someone let out a cheer, but all my mind could think about was that Jazz had really soft lips. Honestly, I didn't know why that surprised me or why I was thinking about that, but that was the first thought that went through my mind. The next thought was something along the lines of 'what the fuck am I doing?'. Panic welled up in me and I quickly planned to pull away slowly and try to maintain at least some of my dignity, but before I could pull back or let go of the vice grip I had on his burgundy tie Jazz's moved instead.

His lips moved first, deepening the kiss, and then his body followed. He took a half step toward me so he was closer and then he used one arm to pull me the rest of the distance so I was pressed against him. He used his other hand to cup my face as his lips continued to move against mine. His skin was warm and the stubble above his upper lip brushed against my own skin. I was in total shock until I felt his tongue slightly brush against my bottom lip and then I just reacted.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, making him move his hand down to my waist where his other one was. It had been a long time since I had kissed anybody like this and I had forgotten how nice it could be. How nice it felt to have strong hands grip my waist, or how amazing it felt to have someone's lips parting my own.

"Aimee Jane." Granny cleared her throat. My eyes snapped open and I pulled away so fast I nearly toppled onto my ass. The group around us looked shocked, but not at me making out with Jazz. I was probably the only one still in shock from that. Instead, they all watched as Abbey glared across the group at Ryan and a pretty girl holding his hand. When had they showed up? Ryan glanced over at Jazz and me as he offered both of us a smile. Jazz, who seemed completely nonchalant about all of this, gave him a small wave and a smile in return. Granny gave me a curious look, "I think you proved your point, sweetie."

Ryan cleared his throat and stepped forward with what I assumed was his fiancée. She was about my height with black hair that was lightly curled and pinned out of her heart shaped face. She had dark brown eyes and a pretty smile. She wore a long sleeve blouse and jeans which made me think he had just ran out and grabbed her without letting her change into a dress for this disastrous lunch party.

"This is Caroline Kim." Ryan introduced her and she lifted her hand in a slight wave, "And she's my fiancée."

"No!" Abbey cried, but he ignored her and lifted Kayla's hand to show a rather large diamond ring.

He smiled, "I love her." Ryan motioned toward me, "I love her just like Aj loves her boyfriend."

My eyes widened and I began to shake my head, "I don't think- I mean it's not- I'm not- We're not- Oh God."

Ryan continued, ignoring my rambles, "I'm gonna marry her in a few months and we're going to be ridiculously happy." He looked to Caroline softly as a brilliant smile crossed his features, "We're gonna go live by the beach, and we're gonna adopt five dogs and not a single damn cat." Caroline began to laugh to herself, which made me think this was some inside joke between the two of them, "And we'll have ten kids and they'll all be musical geniuses just like her."

"Not all ten." Caroline joked back, "Remember, Ryan Jr.?"

Ryan laughed, "Right, Ryan Jr. He'll be a baseball player just like me."

In that moment it was like the two of them had forgotten they were in the middle of an argument with a racist old woman. They just stared at each other with bright eyes and soft smiles. He looked at her like she hung the moon and stars and she looked at him like he was the only source of light in her life. Love is everywhere in the world, but sometimes I forget to stop and actually look at it. I was looking at it now though and damn was it something else.

"First this horrid slut has to ruin our lunch with her date", Abbey pointed at me as she yelled at her grandson. Before she could finish her repulsive thought, Granny stepped in front of Ryan with a determined glare and her hands on her hips.

"I will not stand here while you insult Jace with your ignorant, abhorrent thoughts and I will not watch you yell at your sweet grandson and his lovely fiancée." Granny turned and smiled sweetly at the two of them, "Congratulations by the way. The two of you are so precious." Ryan and Caroline quietly thanked her before glancing at each other in an amused manner. Granny turned back around with a glare, "But calling Aimee Jane anything other than an wonderful woman?" She shook her head and marched toward Abbey, "You, Abbey Collins, you are a total bitch."

My eyes widened as Abbey and some of the other woman gasped. A laugh fell from my lips and I nodded, "You go, Granny. Kick her ass!"

Granny quickly pulled off her white blazer and threw it toward Jazz, "Jace, hold my jacket."

"Yes ma'am." Jazz nodded with a smirk.

Granny took a threatening step toward Abbey and the older woman scrambled back with a startled cry. She let out an unhappy scoff and began to leave the room with only two of the people from her larger clique bothering to follow her. Granny straightened her clothes before nodding, "Well then, I say we finish this nice lunch as a congratulations to Ryan and Caroline."

"To Ryan and Caroline." I nodded in agreement and the group echoed my cheer. There was light applause as Ryan and Caroline thanked everybody. The tension from the argument was gone now as people laughed and milled around talking to the lucky couple or eating more food. I moved to talk to Granny, but she took her jacket from Jazz and then was rushed by a large group of older women asking about the next lunch meeting and if she would run it.

"That was interestin'."

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and slowly turned around to look at Jazz who was grinning at me like the Cheshire cat. He leaned forward slightly, "Not that I mind you defending my honor, sweetspark, but you do know that the slur she used toward me doesn't _entirely_ apply, right?"

I shifted in my stance slightly as my fingers played with sides of my dress, "I'm aware. I just… I didn't like the way she was, you know, _talking_ to you." There was a pause where I realized Jazz was not going to start this conversation. He seemed content to just smile at me until I brought it up myself. I sighed, "So…that happened."

"What happened?"

"Jazz."

He nodded, "Right. That _did_ happen."

"I'm sorry." I apologized, "I was just trying to prove a point."

"Oh, I think you proved your point." Jazz replied as he lifted a hand to press his thumb against his lower lip.

I pulled him to the edge of the room away from the crowd, "She just made me so angry. I couldn't believe she could say anything like that about a human being. I mean, I know you're _not_ a human being, but she didn't know that and her words were still _horrible_." I knew I was rambling, but there was no stopping me at this point. I was pulling a full on Bluestreak. "So I didn't even think about it, I just slammed my lips against your holoform's lips and admittedly it's been a while since I kissed anybody at all and…I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." He chuckled.

It was a simple statement from him, but it calmed my nerves. I let out a relieved sigh as the tension in my shoulders disappeared. A smile slipped onto my lips as I chuckled, "I have to say though, you kiss pretty good for an alternate universe alien."

Jazz let out a loud laugh as he shook his head, "I thought some mech already told this to ya? Our species kiss too."

"I knew you guys used the word kissing", I tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear, "But I figured it'd be done differently or something. I mean, you're _aliens_."

"From my point of view, you're the alien." Jazz replied and I rolled my eyes making him laugh again. "In case ya haven't noticed by now, you little humans have a lot in common with us."

I nodded, "Like we both have metal armor skin, right?"

Jazz lightly flicked my nose in response, "It's true. It's no wonder our energy signatures resonate near the same level as humans."

"But kissing?" I snickered.

He paused before speaking, "We have two types. We have kissin' and then we have _kissing_."

"You literally just said the same thing except you emphasized one." I replied.

"It's not my fault you humans don't have a translation." Jazz argued and crossed his arms. He opened his mouth and made a clicking noise but shook his head tried to make a different noise only to end up coughing. I burst into laughter and he chuckled with me, "My holoform can't speak Cybertronian- _stop laughin!_ " I shook my head as my laughter died down to chuckles. He bit back his own laugh and shook his head, "Just trust me ok. Two types."

I nodded with a smug grin, "Ok, so what are these two types?"

"The first one is what just happened. Lip contact." He answered, "It's the less serious of the two. Any mech courtin' a femme will do that, but the other is usually reserved for two people who are much closer. They don't have to be spark mates, but pretty close to it."

"And that one is?"

Jazz lightly grabbed my waist and suddenly pulled me closer. He let his forehead rest on mine as the tips of our noses brushed against each other, "This. Through this area on the face we can send out our energy signatures best. We can… speak to each other through our spark fields. A couple doin' this can send emotions to each other. Happiness. Desire. Love." I pulled back with a flustered smile. Quickly, I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to keep my cheeks from blushing in embarrassment. "Any more questions?"

Despite the slight embarrassment, I did want to know more. I nodded, "So you have relationships a lot like ours? Dating wise?"

"I guess. There are casual flings and serious ones too. It just depends on the mech or femme."

"How does that whole spark mate thing work then? Do you date or court someone for a while and then one day you ask them to be your spark mate?"

Jazz burst into laughter, but rather than being more embarrassed that I asked a stupid question, I couldn't help but smile and chuckle myself curiously, "What? What's so funny?"

"Sorry", He shook his head, "The idea of someone askin' someone else to be their sparkmate is…it's _cute_."

"How does it work then?" I asked again.

"It differs for every Cybertronian." Jazz answered. "Some people date for a while and slowly they began to feel it. Their spark begins to call out to the other person." Jazz lifted his hand, though I wasn't sure if it was conscious or not, to brush against his chest. "For others it's the opposite, two good pals of mine, Ironhide an' Chromia, they hated each other to begin with. We'd see them fightin' all the time and then one orn they showed up to a meetin' as sparkmates. Prowl crashed so hard, it was hilarious…" His voice drifted off as he lightly chuckled to himself. I crossed my arms and kept my gaze on him. "Then sometimes, the person just knows." Jazz's eyes slowly drifted to me as he paused in speaking. A soft smile crept onto his features, "From the moment they see the other person somethin' in their spark wakes up and they just know. Right then, right there, that that person is _important_."

I smiled in return, "Just like that?"

He chuckled and nodded, "Just like that, sweetspark. Just like that."

* * *

 

Megatron's words hadn't brought any recognition to him. Memories hadn't flashed across his processors and nothing had become any clearer. In fact, all that had come out of that short conversation was a sense of absolute dread. The Decepticon commander hadn't even asked him for anything. No switching sides, no favors owed, or anything like that. He just wanted to watch Sunstreaker squirm. He wanted the slight flicker of hope that had been growing in Sunstreaker's spark to be extinguished. Megatron just wanted to see Sunstreaker in pain. The yellow warrior didn't know why he was so surprised.

"Why the frag should we even believe him?" Sideswipe demanded. The two brothers stood in the garage alone. Everyone was on break to spend time with the younglings or help Josh fix the broken sliding door in the foyer. They were both in their holoform modes because it was Prowl's turn to enjoy his bipedal mode now that his holoform had finally turned off. "He's a slagging liar!"

Sunstreaker shook his head, "He isn't lying."

"How the frag do you know?!" Sideswipe yelled. His optics darted to the door and he quieted his voice, "You believe him? You believe that he offlined her?"

Megatron had described the femme in detail. It matched everything in the many drawings and the one painting he had done of her. It matched the only memory he had of her. He hadn't given a designation, he said he didn't know that either, but that what he did know was her relationship to him and his twin.

 _'I believe the humans here call it a girlfriend._ ' Megatron had said. That single, mocking statement echoed through his processors and spark. He had to be wrong. In all of time and space, the twins only had each other. There were femmes here and there that they came back to occasionally, but a serious relationship? That wasn't them.

_'You lost your processors when you saw the hole where her spark used to be.'_

All Sunstreaker wanted to do was get Megatron's voice out of his processors, but it lingered like a bad virus. Sideswipe grabbed his twin's shoulders and shook him hard once, "Sunny."

Sunstreaker shook his head, "Why do you think we don't know her now? It's because she _died_ at the docks and we..."

"What?" Sideswipe demanded, "We _purged_ her from our memory banks?"

"Maybe."

Sideswipe scoffed, "Why would we do that, Sunny? It makes no fragging sense!"

"Doesn't make sense?" Sunstreaker barked back, "That's _all_ we do, Sideswipe! We ignore our bad days. We push back those ugly memories of our time in the ring to the back of our processors and pray to Primus that no mech ever asks about it!" Sideswipe took a step back as a frown decorated his holoform's face, "Why the frag did we ever remember her? What type of curse is that!?"

Sideswipe shook his head, "I'm _glad_ we remembered her. I don't plan on _ever_ forgetting her again, Sunny."

"You don't even know her fragging designation." Sunstreaker spat.

" _I don't care_!" The darker haired holoform argued, "What I do know is that we did care about her. She was a part of our lives, she maybe helped save my life, and Aj reminds me of her. Reminds _us_ of her. Maybe-"

"Don't even go there." Sunstreaker growled, but that didn't stop Sideswipe from broadcasting the thought over their spark.

"There are things that don't add up." Sideswipe continued, "Maybe we did purge her from our memory banks, but how come Ratchet doesn't remember her then? Did he and everyone else that was at the docks purge her too? Something _isn't_ adding up."

Sunstreaker shook his helm and let his holoform disappear. He couldn't activate his bipedal mode, but that didn't mean he could just sit in his alt mode and keep to himself. Maybe Sideswipe did have some sort of weird point, but that didn't change what Megatron had said or did millions of years ago. Sunstreaker didn't really know what to do so he'd just do what came natural to him after all those painful years in his life. He'd prevent the pain. He wouldn't put himself in the position to be hurt again.

* * *

 

"Wait, I don't know what this word means!" Taylor cried as she squinted at the script in her hands, " _Bee_!"

I watched from the couch as the kids practice Peter's play in the living room. Bluestreak, Bumblebee, Prowl, Jazz, and Thundercracker were in the living room helping. Taylor was wearing a Cinderella dress up dress with her hair curled and light makeup on her face. When I got home about an hour ago, I followed my promise to her and gave her a makeover.

Josh had come over about an hour and a half before I got home with a bunch of supplies and tool and now him, Wheeljack, and Optimus were fixing the broken sliding door area. I wasn't entirely sure what his plan was to fix it, but I trusted him.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed two familiar holoforms walking up the stairs. Grimlock had let slip earlier to me that the twins had been yelling at each other in the garage while I was out with Jazz. I quickly stood up and moved to the follow them up the stairs in hopes to check on them.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker weren't talking out loud, but based off their glares they were arguing over their bond. The two of them stood outside Aubrey's door and didn't even look over at me when I reached the top stair. Quickly, I straightened the hem of my dress, "Everything ok?"

Sideswipe finally looked over at me and gave me a wide grin, "Everything is fine, babe. Don't you worry your pretty little helm."

"Are you sure?" I questioned and looked over at Sunstreaker who still wasn't looking at me. "Sunstreaker?"

Sideswipe scoffed, "Ignore him. He's being an aft head."

Sunstreaker growled and shoved his brother's holoform. I rushed forward in a poor attempt to hopefully keep them from fighting with their fists, "Hey, stop!" I forced my gaze to Sunstreaker, "What's going on? Are you ok?"

His holoform's eyes suddenly snapped to me and he took an angry step in my direction, "This has absolutely _nothing_ to do with you, _organic_. So get your fragging, filthy nose out of our business."

My eyes widened. His words weren't too bad. When didn't he snap something in anger? What made me pause was his tone. Even in the beginning I don't think Sunstreaker had ever sounded so angry with me. My wide eyes turned to a narrowed glare. I made sure to keep my voice low so the kids didn't hear, "What the fuck, Sunstreaker? What did I do to piss you off so badly?"

"You exist." He snapped, "Being here was just a waste of my time."

Being here was a waste of his time. He didn't outwardly say it, but I could hear it as an echoed thought. I was a waste of his time. The kids were a waste of his time. Anger welled up in me, but I was surprised to find that it slipped away rather easily and was replaced by hurt of all things. Then I felt even more embarrassment. Why did this hurt me? It was because I had let myself care about him. About his brother. About very mech in this house. I'd have to say good-bye soon, but I made peace with that. Saying good-bye to Sunstreaker like this though felt like a sucker punch to the gut. I clenched my jaw and refused to show the hurt. I refused to show the pain because I knew it was my own fault. I let him in, I opened myself up to this possibility.

"You're right." I said and both mechs paused as their eyes widened slightly. I put a smile on my face and it was pathetic how easy it was to pretend like nothing was wrong. I was just too good at it now, "This has nothing to do with me. I'm sorry you wasted your time too. At least you'll be home soon."

Sideswipe rubbed the back of his neck as Sunstreaker just stared at me, "Let's… Let's go see the younglings practice."

The red mech's holoform began to pull me down the stairs and I let him. I was fine. Sure, it stung now, but he'd be gone soon and the pain would leave with him. Hopefully. Regardless, my lesson was learned.

* * *

 

Prowl's bipedal mode shook his helm, "Very close, Peter, but you skipped over a word. Try one more time."

Jazz chuckled and rested his holoform's servos behind his helm, "You'd make a very good 5th grade director, Prowler."

"I get a lot of practice giving younglings directions from dealing with you and the others at the Ark." Prowl replied and Jazz laughed. He couldn't argue with the tactician. It was a very true remark. He let out a content sigh and watched as Peter ran through a scene with Bumblebee as the others with scripts waited for their turn. Today had been a good day. Not a single thing he planned had gone through, yet things worked out better than he had ever imagined.

Aj came back into the room with a smile and Sideswipe by her side. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, but once she started interacting with the kids it grew into the real thing. Sideswipe joined in to help Peter practice but he argued when Thundercracker wouldn't let him play the role of Hermes.

"I finally figured it out, Prowler." Jazz commented as the two of them sat on the couch and watched Aj, Thundercracker, the younglings, and the holoforms act things out in a rather poor manner but with lots of laughs from the younglings.

"Figured what out?" Prowl asked as he flipped through his own copy of the play.

"Why I'm so determined to help her."

Prowl tore his gaze away from the script to look at the saboteur beside him. He paused in thought before shaking his head, "Do I want to know?"

Jazz chuckled with a wide grin and lifted his hand to his chassis where his spark would reside if he were in his true body, "Probably not."

"Where is Grimlock?" Ratchet's voice yelled from upstairs. It caught most everyone's attention. Jazz glanced over the back of the couch where Grimlock was lying on the ground under the archway in stasis. He opened his mouth to call back to Ratchet, but before him or anyone else could utter a single syllable the dinobot began to grow. By the end of his upgrade, he took up nearly all of the front of the foyer in his dinosaur mode. His tail was partly in the kitchen and his helm was lying in the living room entrance.

"Found him." Jazz replied as Ratchet's bipedal mode came down the stairs. The medic gave Jazz a cold glare, but he only grinned in return. Nothing could bring him down from the high he was on.


	25. Goodbye

* * *

_"Goodbyes are important. They're how we know we're doing the right thing. If they come easy then by all means leave and never look back. But if you open your mouth and feel the words get stuck like glue in your throat, you're making an awful mistake." – Beau Taplin (The Test)_

* * *

 

Some mornings flowed so well that the kids and I were out of the house and heading to school in less than thirty minutes. Things just operated well. The kids found what they needed to find, the mechs caused no issues, and I managed to get out of bed on time. Today was not one of those mornings.

I should've known it was going to be a wreck the moment I woke up late. Usually, the mechs woke me up if I somehow slept through my alarm, but they had all been downstairs busy with their machine which left me waking up in a time induced panic.

"Taylor, are you ready? Do you need me to do your hair?" I called out as I pulled a hoodie over my head outside my bathroom door.

"Almost, and no thanks. Bee is doing my hair for me!" The little girl called back from her room. My eyes narrowed curiously before loud arguing distracted me. It sounded like Tyler and Peter were shouting at each other in Peter's room, but I couldn't tell what the argument was about. I quickly opened the door and stuck my head in just in time to see Prowl's holoform calming them down and trying to come to a logical solution. As he pacified both of them, I slowly stepped back out into the hall. It may have been a wreck of a morning, but the mechs sure knew how to help calm the hurricane this makeshift family called getting ready.

Optimus walked up the stairs and paused at the top with his gaze focused on me. His holoform had activated last night right before the kids got in bed much to the kids' absolute delight.

Now I had a bit of a mental picture of what Optimus' holoform was going to look like. In my mind, I pictured the typical tall, blond, blue-eyed good looking American hero kind of guy. The type of man who flew fighter jets during the week, played golf with the president during his off hours, saved kittens from trees, saved orphans from wells, and modeled for ' _Patriotic Weekly'_ on the weekends or something. It was hard to put my mental thought into pictures, but basically it was almost nothing like what his holoform actually looked like.

Optimus' holoform was handsome in the most ordinary way. He was tall, the tallest holoform by far being about four inches taller than the twins, but he didn't have this wide chiseled 'hero type' chest or body to match the height. His shoulders were a bit on the broader side, he was still obviously muscled, but it was in a slim way. Optimus' holoform had an oval shaped face with a firm jawline that was clean-shaven. His light brown hair was closer to short than medium in length and looked like it had been neatly combed to the side hours ago, but was now slightly ruffled in the front. There was a small smile on his features that matched the one I occasionally saw in his bipedal mode when his battle mask was down. The only two things that matched my mental image were his pretty sky blue eyes and his outfit of choice. Optimus wore a dark gray suit with a white button up shirt and a black simple tie.

"Their book bags and shoes are by the front door ready when they are." He gave me a short nod and stuck his hands into his pants pockets casually.

I grinned, "Thanks, OP. I don't know what I'm gonna do…"

My smile nearly slipped off my face, but I forced it to remain glued on tight. The slight furrowing of Optimus' eyebrows made me realize that he knew what I was going to say. He knew how that sentence was going to end.

_'What I'm gonna do when y'all are gone'._

It was Thursday. February 5th, 2015. They had just about finished their ride home, and by tonight they'd be gone. This was a good thing. They couldn't stay here forever obviously. All of them were needed back in their own universe, in their actual bodies. This was a _good_ thing.

"You know, I really like your holoform, OP." I commented with a grin.

Optimus pulled one hand out of his pocket, pressed his palm against the center of his chest, pushing his tie back, and then glanced down at himself, "Thank you. I don't hear that very often."

"What do you mean?"

"The few humans who I work closely with usually comment that my holoform doesn't match who I am." Optimus shrugged as if he didn't get it himself.

I crossed my arms, "I thought the same thing at first, I guess, but the more I think about it the more I think it does suit you. Your holoform doesn't look like a badass, war-torn military leader, and I think that's what throws people off." I let my arms fall to my side and gave him a reassuring smile, "You aren't a military guy to the core though, right? I mean, you told me you used to work as a librarian."

"Are you saying I look boring?" Optimus joked.

I chuckled and let a sincere smile grow on my features, "I'm saying you look like the type of guy people want to know. The guy that you can trust with not only the big things, but the small day to day things too." Quickly, I replaced the soft smile on my face with a smirk, "Plus you're pretty handsome too."

"Of course. It's all part of our ' _take over the world with charming smiles'_ scheme." Optimus replied with a charming smile of his own making me laugh and shake my head. He nodded, "Thank you though, Aj. I appreciate your words."

"No problem." I shrugged then pointed toward him, "Don't you have any casual clothes though?"

Optimus chuckled lightly before glancing down at himself again, "I only ever use this holoform for meetings, and there aren't many meetings that are considered a casual affair."

"You could at least pick a colored tie. Add a little fun in your suit." I replied.

He paused in consideration before changing the topic, "Have you spoken to Jazz this morning?"

"Jazz? No." I shrugged, "I haven't even seen him yet."

There was a deep growling that filled the air making both of us suddenly glance down into the first floor foyer. Grimlock, in all his 7'5 glory, marched from the kitchen into the living room. He was forced to duck his head to get through the doorframe and his swinging tail nearly took down the chandelier. I was starting to think that if they had stayed for any longer this house wouldn't make it.

"Aj! Aj look!" Taylor came skipping out of her room. She wore light jeans with a simple t-shirt, but her short blonde hair was tied into two small, braided pigtails with a cute barrette holding back her bangs. "Good morning, Optimus Prime!"

"Good morning, Taylor." Optimus chuckled.

"Nice, Tay." I nodded, "Bee braids better than I do."

Bumblebee's holoform walked out of her room a second later with a shrug, "The internet has a tutorial for everything."

Taylor beamed, "Can I wear my hair like this to Pete's play?"

All three of us tensed up, but Taylor didn't notice. She didn't even wait for an answer. Instead she waltzed away from us into her brother's room to show her hairstyle off some more. The kids still didn't know that the mechs were leaving tonight and that not a single one of them would be here next Wednesday to watch Peter's play.

Optimus glanced over at me and quietly spoke, "You need to tell them."

"I know." I said back quickly, "And I will. When they get home from school. There's no need to tell them right now and ruin their school day."

Plus, I had no idea how I was going to tell them. The kids were smart and I had no doubt that they had an idea of what was going on. I just don't think they knew that the mechs would be gone within hours rather than days.

"Aj! Your phone is ringing!" Sideswipe yelled from downstairs. I gave Optimus and Bumblebee a quick smile that probably looked more like a grimace before I rushed down the stairs. Out of the corner of my eye I could see half of Grimlock lying on the couch while the other half was on the floor. He seemed comfortable enough though. Standing in front of the TV was a 7 foot tall Thundercracker. He had gone through the upgrade a little after Grimlock did. It seemed like all the mechs were following the regular order again when it came to upgrades. It frustrated Ratchet, who wanted answers, to no end. I was just happy that no one else was getting sick like Barricade had. Thundercracker huffed a sigh and it was then that I noticed the jet was talking to the two other seekers who were on top of the entertainment system.

I turned and walked into the kitchen to see Sideswipe's holoform leaning against the island counter. He answered the phone and brought it to his ear, "Hello?"

"Sides." I snapped and rushed toward him.

"Ms. Bradshaw? Why yes, she's right here." Sideswipe answered the speaker on the phone with a sly smile, "You'd like to talk to her? Sure thing. One moment please."

He pulled the phone away from his face and held it out to me. I reached forward to grab it only for him to yank it back and away from my hand, "Hey!"

"You didn't even tell me good morning." Sideswipe teased.

"Good morning, _aft head_." I replied, "Phone. Now."

"So rude." He shook his head, but the smile remained on his lips. Sideswipe leaned forward and tapped his lower lip briefly with his thumb before smirking at me, "The phone will cost you. One kiss and-"

Before he could continue his statement I pressed my hand against his face and shoved his head back. He let out a laugh that I ignored so I could pull the phone out of his hand.

"Hello?" I spoke into the phone as Sideswipe pulled my hand away from his face and pouted at me. I rolled my eyes at him, "This is Aj Bradshaw."

"Oh, Ms. Bradshaw, good morning." A woman's voice replied. She quickly cleared her throat, "My name is Dr. Janice Jones. I'm calling in regards to an email that you sent to a colleague of mine, Dr. Early?"

My eyes widened in surprise. It had totally slipped my mind that I had ever even sent anyone an email. Weeks ago, back when I first discovered that strange symbol both in the house next door and with my mom's stuff, I sent a picture of the weird design to an old professor of mine. He was the only professor that would probably remember me considering I was his aide for two different classes both my junior and senior year. He was a psychology professor, but I knew he had some contacts in the history department that might be able to make heads or tails of this thing.

"Right. Thank you." I nodded and tried to pull away from Sideswipe, but he kept a tight grip on my hand. "This is about the symbol, right?"

"Yes. I was very intrigued to see it mainly because I have never seen anything like it before."

A frown slipped onto my lips, "So you don't know what it is?"

"As a whole? No, but there are parts of it that I think I have deciphered."

Sideswipe, who had laced his fingers through mine, pulled me even closer so the phone was right by his head as well. He grinned at me and I couldn't help but roll my eyes again. I was fully aware that Mr. Super Hearing didn't need to be this close to hear my conversation. Thundercracker could probably hear my conversation if he wanted to listen in.

"Do you have the image in front of you? May I begin explaining?"

"Sure." I replied. The image might not have been in front of me, but for some reason I had every detail of the symbol burned into my brain. I wasn't going to forget it anytime soon.

"Alright, the outer border is a very common design seen all throughout Greek and Roman art. It is called a _meandros_. It was an important symbol in many popular works, but in this context I believe it stands for both infinity and unity." She paused briefly and I could hear the ruffling of paper before she spoke again, "Now the writing is unfamiliar to me, and I've run it by as many people as I can and no one seems to recognize it either. However, the snake design in the center is a bit easier to identify though there is no telling what it truly means. Sticking to a Greek theme, the snake could be symbolizing a number of mythical creatures. It could be a reference to Medusa, Typhon, Python, Chronos, the Gorgons, Asclepius, Aeetes, or even Olympias. There is just no telling what exactly the snake is referencing."

"Oh, ok." I replied slowly as I let her words roll around in my head. My eyes snapped over to my hand intertwined with Sideswipe's to see he was using his thumb to trace symbols on the back of my hand. "Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"Of course! Anything for Dr. Early."

"Yeah, let him know I said hi." I replied. She agreed and spoke a quick goodbye before handing up the phone.

The moment I pulled the phone away from my face Sideswipe spoke, "What was that about? What symbol?"

"It's nothing..." I shook my head as my eyes darted to my hand again. There was something odd about the shapes he was tracing on my hand. My eyes slightly narrowed as I tried to focus on what exactly he was doing.

"Does my touch make it hard to think?" Sideswipe asked in a husky voice as he leaned toward me with a sly smile.

I shook my head and pulled back, "Wait, what are you drawing on the back of my hand?"

Sideswipe's smile fell slightly as he shrugged and quickly answered as nonchalantly as he could muster, "Nothing."

"No, seriously, what was it?"

"It was just Cybertronian. Why?" Sideswipe questioned.

Before I could make sense of anything the kids began rushing down the stairs. My eyes darted to the microwave clock to realize we were still late and that I needed to get the kids to school now. I set the phone down and rushed to meet them at the door, but before I could get two steps away the phone began to ring again.

"Aj?" Bumblebee stuck his head into the kitchen as Sideswipe picked up my phone to answer it again. The kids had their shoes on and rushed outside to wait for me.

"What's up, Bee?"

The mech's holoform shifted in his stance slightly as he scratched the back of his head. He lifted his other hand to show my truck keys, "I was wondering if I could drive the younglings to school? I'm a good driver, I promise."

A small smile slipped onto my features. He was nervous because he thought I was going to say no. He thought I didn't trust him enough to let the kids ride along with him. I gave him a nod, "Course you can. Does Blue wanna go with y'all?"

"He's in the garage on watch. Maybe you can let him pick them up?" Bumblebee suggested.

"Good idea." I replied, "Now you better go or they'll be late."

Bumblebee grinned at me before turning on his heel and jogging out the front door. From where I stood I could hear the kids faintly cheer outside. Maybe I should've let the mechs take them to school more often with their holoforms. Leave it to me to wait until the very last opportunity.

"Well maybe she doesn't want to talk to you." I turned back around to see Sideswipe grinning as he spoke into the phone. "Hey, you might be the human's sheriff, but you have no authority over me." My worry lessened when I realized he was just talking to Josh. A second passed before his face fell in surprise, "Wait, _what_? How did you get Prime's commlink number?"

I reached forward and pulled the phone away from him, "Charming?"

"How do you put up with him all the time?" Josh replied. Sideswipe rolled his eyes before moving to leave the kitchen and head to the garage.

"You sound grumpy, sheriff charming." I joked.

Josh scoffed, "It's been a long night shift." He paused before continuing, "Shouldn't you be taking the kids to school?"

"Bee took 'em."

"Did you tell them?"

I groaned, "Not yet. Don't rush me."

"Well you're kind of running out of time. At this rate they'll just wake up in the morning and realize the mechs are missing." Josh replied, "Anyways, Rosie and I will both be there tonight to help you out and say, you know, good-bye."

I nodded and leaned against the counter, "So is there a reason you called?"

"Yeah." Josh's voice perked up, "I found her. I found that Kaylee girl you wanted me to look for."

My back went straight as my eyes widened, "Where?"

"She's in Auburn of all places." He replied, "I don't have an address for her, but she works at a diner in the city's outskirts. I can give you the address for that place."

"Do you know when she works next?"

"From what I'm looking at, she'll be there tomorrow from about 3 to closing." Josh answered, "It seems like she's there everyday after school and all day on the weekends. Poor girl."

"Thank you so much, Josh." I gushed. The garage door opened and a few seconds later Jazz, in his bipedal mode, came into the kitchen, "Just text me the address."

"Will do." Josh replied before hanging up.

I hung up as well and glanced at Jazz who was smiling at me as he came over. The conversation I was having with Sideswipe before Josh called wasn't over, but the mech seemed more than happy to leave it where we did. I still had more questions for him though about the supposed Cybertronian he was tracing on the back of my hand. Technically, I could ask Jazz about it, but Sideswipe's nervous nature on the topic made me want to go to him.

Instead of chasing after the mech though, I lifted my hand and pointed to Jazz, " _You_."

" _Meh_?" Jazz questioned with a grin.

"Why'd you tell Sideswipe about us kissing? Now he asks for kisses _every_ opportunity he gets." I set both hands on the counter so I could lean forward against it.

Jazz's smile faltered slightly, but he was quick to chuckle and shake his head in response. Jazz leaned against the counter beside me, "I didn'. I told Ratchet 'bout it. So the gossiper in this case is the grumpy medic."

"Why did _anyone_ have to know?" I questioned, "It wasn't _that_ big of a deal."

"First Cybertronian-Human kiss? Thought someone other than us should know." Jazz shrugged, but it seemed like there was something more.

I blinked, "I was…I was the first Cybertronian-Human kiss? I feel kinda special now."

"Ya should." Jazz set his hands on the counter beside mine. I reached out and flicked the side of his metal hand with my own, but he was quick to catch my hand and wrap his own around it, "I need to talk to ya 'bout somethin'."

Optimus' earlier question filled my mind and I shook my head in worry, "Is everything ok?"

"Everythin's fine, sweetspark." Jazz reassured me, "It's a sensitive subject, but the cons are bound to find out by tonight anyways. Aj-"

The sound of my ringtone cut off his words. I pulled my hand away from Jazz's, "Sorry. I'm apparently super popular this morning."

He nodded and I grabbed the phone. I almost answered it immediately and pulled it to my ear without a second thought, but at the last second my eyes caught sight of the caller ID. My jaw clenched as the blood in my veins turned to ice. Jazz noticed my change in stature and lightly grabbed my wrist. He pulled it toward him so he could read the name flashing on my screen. His own hand tightened around my wrist unconsciously.

"I should answer it, but…" My words trailed off.

" _Don't_." Jazz said firmly, "Don't answer it."

Boss hadn't called me since Jazz sent him all that money to pay off my debt. He hadn't even called the day I was supposed to get on the plane and show up in New York. For come reason though, four days after my missed flight he decided to give me a call.

"I need to." I replied, "He's going to be pissed."

"Let him be!" Jazz replied sharply in a tone that was so angry it startled me.

"You guys are leaving. I won't have 12 mechs and a fire breathing metal dinosaur to protect the kids if he decides to come knocking." I said and tried to pull my wrist away from him to answer the phone, but he wouldn't let go. My eyes narrowed and I tried to use my other hand to grab the phone, but he grabbed that hand as well. "Jazz, _let go_."

Jazz released my hand and grabbed my phone instead. He took a few steps back, but I took the same amount toward him. He shook his head, "This isn't a good idea. I can handle this. You don't have to worry."

"Give me the phone, Jazz." I said firmly, "I _can_ handle this."

The phone stopped ringing and the kitchen was filled with a tense silence. I still hadn't figured out exactly what I was going to do in this situation. Truthfully, it was something I'd have to talk to Aubrey about and I didn't plan on doing that until she was back home and healed. Besides, right now my focus was on getting the mechs home. I needed to handle this one step at a time.

"I'm sorry, but talkin' to 'im would only make it worse, sweetspark." Jazz said smoothly in a tone that told me he was trying to convince me that his words were true.

I shook my head, "I could've talked him down. I know how to handle Boss."

The garage door opened and both Jazz and I glanced over in time to see Sunstreaker's holoform pause in the doorframe opening. His eyes were narrowed to a glare aimed in Jazz's direction. Slowly, he let his gaze slide over the room toward me. His eyes lingered on me a moment and I forced myself to shove all the anger and frustration I felt for Jazz down so I could give him the most neutral look I could muster. His glare lessened slightly before he clenched his jaw and continued down the hall toward the foyer. I hadn't talked to Sunstreaker since the day I got home from that crazy lunch party. The two of us had managed to avoid each other in this small house, which was a feat in itself. Neither of us would have to tiptoe much longer though since he'd be gone by tonight.

I glanced back to Jazz, "I don't want to fight. Not on your last day."

"Aj-"

"I could've handled that, Jazz. Even if I couldn't, I obviously need to learn. I won't have you around to save me all the time." I replied and gave him a small forced smile. Jazz looked like he was going to speak up, but he hesitated and I took that as my escape, "I'm going to go change into something more comfortable."

I was wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie that I had thrown on so I could go outside and take the kids to school, but I'd much rather be in a pair of shorts or something more comfortable than this tight denim. Besides, I needed just a bit of space to get rid of any frustration I felt toward Jazz. Like I had said, I didn't want to be mad at him right now. This was my last day with him after all. I jogged up the stairs and went straight to my room that looked more like a truck stop than a bedroom. All along the floor were the alt modes of the mechs using their holoform right now. As I quickly began to change clothes I began to wonder how this was even going to work. Were they going to leave these large bodies behind or walk through the portal with the ' _used to be toy_ ' bodies?

Sport shorts had replaced jeans and I was wearing just a black sports bra over my upper body as I searched for a shirt to wear when the familiar sound of slight static briefly filled the room.

"It's 58.23 degrees Fahrenheit outside, you should wear more coverings." Ratchet's voice snapped from behind me. I spun around in surprise at his holoform who was now standing a few feet behind me at the desk. At the sudden movement, my foot slipped on the hoodie I had thrown to the floor and I went down fast and hard. Luckily, I had a freaking metal car to break my fall. I wasn't entirely sure whom I had fallen onto, but my back was throbbing from the car spoiler digging into my skin as I gritted my teeth in discomfort.

Suddenly static filled the room again and Wheeljack's holoform formed beside Ratchet with a light blue glow and a look of panic written across his features, " _Aj_?"

I sat up and glanced back to see it had been Wheeljack who I had fallen onto, "Sorry, Jackie. You ok?"

"Of course. The question is are you?" Wheeljack asked as he rushed forward and offered a hand to help me up. I took his help happily and let him pull me back up to my feet. Ratchet came over and grabbed my shoulder to turn me around so he could look at my back.

I sighed and shrugged away from Ratchet's touch, "I'm fine, I'm fine. It's takes a lot more than Jackie's spoiler to take me down." They both continued to look at me as I rolled my shoulders, Wheeljack wore a look of worry while Ratchet looked skeptical, "Seriously, I'm fine. Y'all have seen me black and blue, why are you freaking out about this?"

"Well we were just worried in general…" Wheeljack began to beat around the bush, but Ratchet cut him off, "Your energy field is upset."

"My energy field? Is that my energy signature?" I questioned, "Why is it upset? I thought it was giving off Ratchet signals."

Wheeljack nodded, "Oh yes, you're signature is still broadcasting Ratchet's guardian charge signal, but your energy field is just the other signals surrounding your signature. Those with inexperience have trouble biting back their emotional signs from the field and end up broadcasting. Usually, it's a problem sparklings and younglings have."

"First, I am not a youngling." I said firmly, "Second, how come y'all have never mentioned this before?"

"It's a rather new occurrence." Wheeljack rubbed the back of his head as he leaned against the desk casually. I reached back and grabbed a random short sleeve shirt from my closet to wear. Ratchet walked forward and snatched the shirt from my hands. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he ignored me and threw the shirt back into the closet before grabbing one of the long sleeve shirts and handing it to me. I rolled my eyes and began to pull it on as Wheeljack continued, "And since it is a new occurrence we thought-"

"There's no need for you to know." Ratchet interrupted as he crossed his arms, "The change is from interacting with our own signatures for so long, but once we leave tonight it will no longer matter. Your signatures will either go back to normal or stay how they are which is unnoticeable to anyone but us Cybertronians."

I dropped down onto my bed and pulled my legs into a crossed sitting position, "What did your energy signatures do to us this time?"

Wheeljack's eyes brightened and he pushed off the desk with a grin, "We use our energy signatures to communicate often and we tend to rely on it occasionally for social cues. Humans don't use their energy signatures for anything really, but because your energy signatures resonate at a level so close to ours, yours has the possibility to do what ours does. Interesting enough, having close contact to our energy signatures has allowed your own to change in a way that allows you to use an energy field like we do."

"That's confusing." I stated with a blink of my eyes.

"Like I said, we'll be gone by tonight so in the long run it won't matter. Don't trouble yourself over it." Ratchet commented before moving to shift something on the desk. I narrowed my eyes at him as he continued to ignore my presence. Wheeljack opened his mouth to speak, but when Ratchet snapped a glare in his direction he shut his mouth and shook his head. The even grumpier than usual medic turned to look at me, "Have you spoken to Jazz yet?"

I shrugged, "I argued with him like five minutes ago downstairs after he stole my phone."

"Not what I meant." He replied dryly and then nodded toward the door, "You _need_ to go talk to him."

"Well, I was gonna find Sides first because-" I stopped midsentence because of the heated glare Ratchet was looking at me with. His holoform definitely did him justice. I threw my hands up in defeat, "I guess I'll go back downstairs to talk to him."

I walked out of the room with the full intention to not go talk to Jazz. As I reached the stairs I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to ask either of them about the whole _'where will your toy bodies go?'_ question too. I couldn't go back now though because if I did then Ratchet would yell at me. A groan escaped from my lips as I marched downstairs.

The front door opened as I reached the bottom step and Bumblebee breezed in with a small frown on his face. The frown changed into a small smile when he saw me though. I shook my head, "Everything ok, Bee?"

"The younglings got to school safe and sound!" He chirped and gave me a friendly thumbs up in reassurance.

I nodded, "That's great, but are you alright? You look like someone spit in your soup."

Bumblebee seemed perplexed at my words for a moment before he shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pants' pockets, "I was just thinking is all."

"About?"

"How much I'm going to miss this place." Bumblebee admitted sadly, "The younglings, you, Rosie, Josh… I- We haven't been here long, but it still seems odd that tomorrow I won't be watching cartoons with Peter and Tyler, or talking to you, or…" Bumblebee visibly wilted and if he had been in his bipedal mode I was sure his door wings would've sunk way low down on his body, "Or hang out with Taylor."

I shifted awkwardly in my stance and tried to give him a reassuring smile, "Hey, just think about all your friends you'll get to see again." There was a pause before I continued, "You'll get to see Ironhide."

Bumblebee smiled softly at me and nodded his head once before slowly walking through the kitchen to get to the garage. I crossed my arms and watched him sulk away from me. The bot seemed really torn up about this and it hurt my heart to see the friendly Bumblebee so down in the dumps. I was sure once he got back home and he'd be fine. Him and the others would probably miss the kids for a little while, but eventually they'd get over it. Their time spent here probably equaled a blink in their lives if even that.

"So _squishy_." Skywarp's voice cackled in amusement from the living room behind me, and it was quickly followed by a frustrated sigh that was without a doubt Thundercracker.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Like where?"

"Anywhere but here."

It was odd to here Thundercracker sound so annoyed when talking to Skywarp. Exasperated? Sure, but the seeker was usually the most leveled headed of the trine and didn't snap at the more energetic of the three like Starscream did. I turned around and my eyes widened at the sight before me. Grimlock was curled up on the floor in front of the TV with a bored look on his features. He took up most of the living room and the TV behind him could no longer even be seen. Sitting on the couch however was an unfamiliar face with a purple and black jet flying circles above his head.

"You 'cons annoying me Grimlock." The metal dinosaur grumbled in warning. Skywarp, who was still mini sized, was smart enough to warp away without another word and I heard him reappear somewhere upstairs. The unfamiliar holoform, which was obviously Thundercracker sank in his seat with a sigh. Grimlock grumbled again, "What you human looking at?"

Thundercracker turned in his seat to look at me as I stood in the living room archway. I tore my gaze away from Grimlock who didn't look like he cared much about hearing my answer to the new holoform in front of me. The seeker slowly stood up as my eyes darted from him to the light blue jet resting on the coffee table. His holoform must have just appeared.

"Hey, TC. You look good." I gave him a warm smile. The seeker's only reply was to rub the back of his neck and glance away. After seeing what Barricade's holoform looked like, I expected all the Decepticon's holoforms to look kind of dark and intimidating, but Thundercracker didn't. Unlike some of the Autobot's holoforms, he did look like he belonged in the military with his broad shoulders, muscled arms, and rugged appearance. His light brown hair was shorter than most of the other holoforms and it messily stuck up in some spots as if he had been running a hand through it. There was matching stubble down his jawline and around his lips. Surprisingly, his eyes were a lighter shade of amber brown rather than the very dark shade that Barricade sported. What really caught my eye though were the scars. There was a faint white line over his right cheekbone where an old injury had healed and another scar in his eyebrow toward the end making it look like there was a small gap in the light brown patch of hair above his eye. He wore a dark gray t-shirt over a pair of regular blue jeans.

"Aj." I turned to see Jazz's holoform leaning against the stair railing behind me. Briefly, I wondered when he had snuck up on me and how long he had been standing there. "Ratchet said you were looking for me."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Biting back a scoff, I mumbled, "I bet he did."

"Can we talk?" Jazz questioned. I didn't exactly know why Jazz wanted to talk to me so bad or why everyone else wanted me to talk to him either, but his tone made me feel like this would be a conversation I didn't want to have.

I forced a grin, "I want to, I do, but I promised TC I'd take him to town."

"What?" Jazz questioned at the same time that Thundercracker's holoform blurted the same question.

I nodded, "Last day here, he wants to explore before he goes. Who am I to say no? Come on, TC."

Jazz didn't let his gaze linger away from me, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Thundercracker came out of the living room to stand beside me. I could see Jazz's jaw clench in frustration and I briefly felt bad about running out on him, but the guilt didn't last long. Why would it? I'd talk to him before he left for good. It didn't have to be now.

"It's cold out." Jazz said as he let his gaze shift ever so slightly to the decepticon holoform beside me.

I shrugged and slipped the tennis shoes that were sitting by the front door on, "It's a good thing Ratchet made me wear a long sleeve shirt then." I glanced at Thundercracker and quickly told him I'd be back before jogging into the kitchen with the plan to head to the garage. Bumblebee had my keys last and he probably just forgot to put them down. I only made it halfway before Sunstreaker's bipedal mode stepped into the kitchen from the opposite doorway.

The plan was to just walk by him, but he forced me to stop by sliding into my path. He wasn't looking at me when he spoke, "You're taking that slagging seeker out?"

"Yeah, I am. Now move-"

"Why?"

"Because I can." I replied shortly. Getting by his bipedal mode would be harder than getting by his holoform, but I was close enough where I could grab the wires in his wrist if need be. My plan of attack was cut short when his eyes glanced down at me. He lifted his hand and opened it palm up.

"You shouldn't trust him." Sunstreaker said firmly as I stared at the keys in the middle of his hand. I grabbed the keys and his hand closed around mine tightly, "I'm serious, human. He's a Decepticon."

"A Decepticon who'll be gone in less than 24 hours." I replied firmly. Sunstreaker let go of my hand with narrowed eyes, but I didn't pay him a second more of my attention. I walked back out to the foyer where Thundercracker was waiting alone and led him outside.

* * *

 

Ratchet was listening to Wheeljack babble when Jazz came into his makeshift medbay. The engineer's words came to a halt as the two of them looked over at the saboteur expectantly. Jazz, who was obviously not in the best of moods, shook his head, "I know you heard everythin' downstairs, what are you waitin' for me to say?"

"I don't know." Wheeljack shrugged, "I didn't think you were going to let her walk out."

"You _shouldn't_ have let her walk out." Ratchet added in an annoyed tone. They had this meeting two nights ago, and yet Jazz still hadn't managed to talk to Aj about the outcome of said meeting. "What are you waiting for?"

Jazz scoffed, "She isn't exactly making this easy."

"Did you think she would?" Ratchet questioned, "Have you _met_ her?"

"What am I supposed to do? If I go into this conversation while she's already in a bad mood she'll shut down."

Wheeljack nodded, "That is a good point."

"Right, and waiting until the very last minute to talk to her about this is _much_ better." Ratchet argued.

Wheeljack bobbed his holoform's head again, "Also a good point."

Ratchet shot the engineer a glare that didn't seem to even faze his old friend. He snapped his attention back to Jazz, "Talk to her. This shouldn't be this difficult. She's five foot three inches tall and weighs no more than 130 pounds."

Jazz smiled at Ratchet, but it wasn't the casual, laidback grin that usually adorned his bipedal or holoform's features. This smile was hard and a bit cold, "Sure thing. When she gets back I'll just wrestle her to the floor and tell her then."

There was a tense silence in the room that lessened slightly when Optimus' holoform walked through the door. Ratchet's attention went to him immediately, "What are you doing here? Who's downstairs with the machine?"

Jazz used this opportunity to slip out without another word. Optimus didn't stop his third in command, but did watch him walk out with a bit of concern for him. He shook his head, "The twins are down there along with Prowl, Bumblebee, and Bluestreak."

"They should be running final tests soon. I'll go take a look." Wheeljack announced before leaving himself.

Ratchet shook his head, "Jazz hasn't even spoken to her yet."

"I'm aware."

"Are you aware that this is going to end _horribly_?" Ratchet questioned, "She _won't_ say yes."

Optimus paused, "Do you truly believe that? Is that what you'd like?"

Rather than blurting out an answer, Ratchet thought to himself briefly. He thought about the circumstance, he thought about how they planned to go about this, and he thought about Aj's stubborn demeanor. He nodded, "I do believe that." Ratchet paused again at the second half of that question. It was much harder than the first. There were a lot more variables to deal with in that second question. He settled on the only answer he would allow himself to have, "It doesn't matter what I want."

The Prime nodded once before a silence stretched between the two of them. From everyway that Ratchet looked at this, it was a complicated problem. There were just as many pros as there were cons. An easy answer did not exist. The medic was startled by Optimus' next statement.

"I need to talk to you about my holoform."

* * *

 

I let my fingers thrum against the steering wheel as I drove. Thundercracker hadn't said a word since we left the house and instead just sat beside me in silence. He hadn't brought his actual form with him, which meant I had to stay within a ten mile radius of the house, but he didn't seem very curious about where we were going.

"The last time we rode in this truck together, I thought for sure I was gonna vomit, pass out, and then go careening off the road." I said to break the silence.

Thundercracker lightly bobbed his head, "You were very ill."

It was silent for another beat before I broke it again, "Are you excited to go back to your own universe?"

"I should be, shouldn't I?" Thundercracker mumbled as he stared out the passenger seat window. He suddenly glanced over at me, "Why are you avoiding Jazz?"

"I'm not avoiding him."

"You don't want to talk to him." Thundercracker pointed out. "To the point where you brought me out."

I glanced over at him briefly before pulling into the parking lot of the small coffee shop, "I brought you out because it's your last day and you finally got your holoform. I'd thought you'd like it."

"So avoiding Jazz is just an added bonus then?"

I couldn't help but smirk in amusement at Thundercracker's question. I didn't talk to him as often partly because he wasn't the most talkative of mechs back home, but holding conversations with the seeker was always interesting.

"I guess so."

Thundercracker glanced out the window again, "I can't consume any drinks or food in this form."

"I know." I nodded, "I didn't bring my wallet anyways so I have no cash. I thought we could just sit here in the parking lot and relax."

"Should you be driving without a driver's license on your person?"

"Probably not." I admitted with a shrug then gave him a grin, "Lucky for me, I know the town's sheriff."

Thundercracker relaxed his in seat, "Joshua wouldn't punish you for breaking the human driving laws?"

I chuckled, "Actually, now that I think about it, I'd probably rather just get a ticket then listen to one of charming's 'safety first' rants." I took off my seatbelt and got comfortable, "What's happened to your holoform's face? The scars?"

"Isn't it considered rude to you humans to ask questions like that?"

"Do I seem like the overly polite type?"

Thundercracker paused, "It's an old wound. It isn't noticeable in my true mode, but it shows up on my holoform." He shrugged, "It wasn't from the war. I got them when I was young and learning to fly."

"That sounds like it'd be quite the story." I commented.

The seeker let out a hum of agreement, but didn't explain any further. He glanced over at me, "Did you really kiss the saboteur?"

"Didn't you know it's rude to ask a lady to kiss and tell?"

"You asked about my scars."

I sighed and leaned my head against the side of the seat so I was mostly facing him, "How does everyone know about that? It wasn't that big of a deal."

"For you perhaps." Thundercracker replied.

"How often do you use your holoform?" I blurted in hopes to pull the conversation away from the topic it had been on.

He shook his head, "Never. None of us really had any opportunity or desire to use it. I think we stole the technology mostly out of spite."

I chuckled, "That honestly doesn't sound super surprising."

Thundercracker clasped his hands in front of him and let them rest on his abdomen as he leaned back in the truck seat. I was surprised to see him close his eyes and relax beside me. Most of the mechs back home seemed to never fully relax. There were a few mechs that would relax if it were just the two of us alone, but most of the mechs that did that were Autobots not Decepticons. I wondered if he was able to relax because the seeker trusted me or just considered me so little of a threat. It was probably the latter.

"You should talk to Jazz." Thundercracker spoke suddenly without opening his eyes. His tone was calm, but there was something else in his tone that made me think that the seeker might actually know what it was Jazz wanted to talk to me about so badly.

I turned my gaze away from him and leaned my head against the back of the seat. A soft sigh slipped from my lips, "You know, sometimes I wish y'all had never even come."

"Why is that?" Thundercracker questioned.

"Because now I'm going to have to see the kids in pain, and that's something I've always wanted to avoid." I shrugged.

There was a pause before he spoke again, "How about for you? Will saying goodbye be difficult for you?"

"No. I've gotten pretty good at it." I turned slightly to look over at him and realized he had been staring at me with a look of perplexity. Quickly, I offered him a soft smile. "In my life, I say goodbye way more often than I say hello."

* * *

 

Thundercracker couldn't help but let his holoform's optics continue to glance over at the strange little human femme driving the Earth vehicle beside him. After sitting in the vehicle with her for about an hour, she decided the two of them would go visit Joshua at his working place. Joshua did reprimand her for driving without the proper paperwork, but Aj expertly navigated through the argument with a cheerful smile and playful remarks. The human male gave up on the rant fairly quickly and the three of them went out for what Aj referred to as a brunch meeting. Thundercracker's holoform wasn't capable of eating or drinking, but he sat at the same table as them to join in the conversation. It was an interesting experience.

Thundercracker was hardly a fan of humans, but he had to admit that being stuck in this random universe had changed his opinion some. Not that he'd ever admit that to any other Decepticon. Although, he was fairly certain that Soundwave had a similar thinking process. The communications officer seemed to have a large soft spot for the younglings. Though Thundercracker personally didn't mind the younglings, he did prefer the conversations he held with the older humans more.

Joshua, for example, seemed like a level headed human and Thundercracker thought that if he had been created as a Cybertronian rather than a human then the two might even be friends. He had a similar opinion toward Aj which was the main reason why he didn't mind coming out with her and being her excuse to avoid the Autobot Saboteur.

Thundercracker thought Aj was pretty easy to read and rather predictable, but he had to admit this behavior had thrown him for a loop. It was nearly 12:00 and she was in the middle of driving the two of them home. The vehicle's radio was playing a song and Aj was happily singing along to it as her servos bounced against the steering wheel in beat.

He thought for sure that she'd be upset on some level today considering it was all of the mech's last day in this universe, but she wasn't. Thundercracker could see, though the conversations they had since they left the house, that a part of her was nervous and worried about breaking the new to the younglings, but she personally didn't seem sad in the slightest. Maybe she wouldn't miss Megatron, or Starscream, or Barricade, or even him, but he thought for sure she would at least miss some of the Autobots. She had grown rather close to many of them.

Yet, here she was singing along to the music and bobbing her helm up and down as her servos stilled on the steering wheel. She suddenly stopped singing and glanced over at him making his optics widened slightly at being caught staring, but she just smiled, "Thanks for coming with me, TC. I appreciate it."

"Of course." He nodded as he still tried to wrap his processors around what was going on in her fleshy little helm.

Her own optics darted back to the windshield as she began to turn into the driveway. She let out a low whistle with her lips, "He ain't messing around, is he?"

Thundercracker forced himself to look out the window to see Jazz's holoform sitting on the front porch steps. He glanced back at Aj once more before looking back out the window again. Every mech knew what Jazz wanted to talk to her about. The Autobots had a slagging meeting to discuss it. The Decepticons knew exactly what the Autobots were sending Jazz to propose and each 'con had their own opinion about it as well. Thundercracker got out of the vehicle as Aj did the same. He gave the human one last nod before heading toward the front door. Typically, he'd ignore Jazz entirely, but he paused long enough to give the Autobot's holoform a nod of the helm for good luck. Based off the nonchalant way Aj was behaving, he was going to need it.

* * *

 

I sighed and watched as Thundercracker greeted Jazz with a slight bob of his head before heading inside. The weather had warmed enough where the temperature didn't bother my bare legs and the direct sunlight beating down on me made me want to roll my sleeves up. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the slight breeze and coolness that brushed against me when I stepped into the shade.

"Hey there." I greeted, "Mind if I sit?"

"I was hopin' you would." Jazz nodded. Without another word, I brushed off the step with my hand and then sat down beside him. He shifted slightly so his right leg was pressed against my left, but he didn't look at me. Instead he kept his gaze forward toward the street in front of the house. "Sorry 'bout earlier."

I shook my head, "I should apologize too. I didn't mean to get upset at you. Not today."

Jazz finally glanced over at me with a firm smile, "We both made mistakes."

"Agreed." I chuckled, "Now what do you want to talk to me about? I swear, everyone is bugging me about talking to you about…whatever this is."

"Right." Jazz replied simply and rubbed his jawline with his hand. In his true mode, I could never see his eyes, but his holoform's sunglasses weren't as good at hiding them. It was faint, but I could see how his eyes briefly narrowed in worry before he continued, "I want you to just listen to me for a klik, alright? Don't say anything, just…hear me out."

He paused and he didn't say anything else until I nodded quickly, "Sure, ok."

Jazz let out a quick sigh, "Jackie's machine is up an' runnin'. He says it looks good, but we're gonna wait until tonight to use it because he's pretty sure it might knock out the power in this neighborhood. Plus, it gives us time to say goodbye." So far this was all information I was already aware of. I didn't know the machine was officially up and running, but Wheeljack had explained the rest to me yesterday at some point. "Two nights ago, when you an' the younglings were in recharge, we had a meetin'. Just us Autobots. I had somethin' I needed to run by them. A plan that I needed Prime's approval on."

"I know I said I wasn't going to interrupt." I blurted quickly with a raised eyebrow. Jazz actually looked relieved that I had cut in despite the fact that he asked me not to. "But, can you get to the point, Jazz? You're making me nervous."

Jazz chuckled, "Sorry." There was a pause where I put an encouraging smile on my face and he thought to himself. Finally, he focused his attention back on me, "We want you to come with us. You, the younglings, an' your sister."

I blinked in shock, "Wh- _What_?"

"We thought about it. We weighed the pros and cons, an' we think this is the best option." Jazz continued, "The five of you aren't safe 'ere anymore. Rosie an' Josh'll be alright, but now this Boss guy knows 'bout your family an' you and I both know he ain't gonna stop until he either has you, hurts them, or both."

"Jazz…"

"In our universe you'll be safe. Boss can't reach you there, an' we'll still be around." Jazz said in determination, "You can live in the town closest to the Ark. Pit, you can live _in_ the Ark with us. We've been talkin' about adding human barracks for the soldiers. We could always just add in two apartment sized areas. One for you and one for Aubrey and the younglings."

I shook my head, "I don't-"

"You don't even have to live by us." Jazz finished with a shake of his head, "You can live anywhere you want, but we've made the decision that we think your chances are better coming with us."

He finished his case and now a painful silence hung between us as I stared at him in shock. Go with him? All of us? Admittedly, there were some huge problems here. Boss would always be coming after me, and by association he'd be coming after Aubrey and the kids too, but moving to a different universe seemed a bit extreme. Jazz shifted and then set his hand on the crook of my elbow.

"Sweetspark, we don't have to say goodbye. None of us do."

We didn't have to say goodbye, but… but I was ready to. From the moment they got here I knew they wouldn't be permanent. They'd be a part of all our lives for a bit, but then they'd be gone forever. I had mentally prepared myself since the beginning for this moment and now he was telling me that moment didn't have to come? I liked the mechs. I liked them a lot. However, my entire relationship with all of them was built on a temporary basis. This new permanent option was terrifying.

"We can't." I shook my head and shifted to the side so Jazz was no longer touching me, "We can't do that."

"Aj-"

"Go to _your_ universe? _Live_ there?" I scoffed, "We aren't meant to be there."

Jazz sighed patiently, as if he expected this argument from me, and then spoke, "Why not?"

"Because that _isn't_ our universe!" I cried, "Humans and mechs aren't supposed to go skipping from universe to universe, Jazz. It isn't _natural_. This is our universe. This is where we belong." I let out a harsh laugh, "For all we know, your universe already has a version of us."

"So what?"

"So _what_?" I repeated in disbelief, "I've seen the movies. You meet your alternate universe self and the universe is ripped to shreds or something."

Jazz scoffed and shook his head, "You're bein' ridiculous."

"No, I'm not." I argued in return.

"This is the safest option-"

I shook my head, "Safest? Running through a portal made of spare parts into a universe that's in the middle of a robotic Civil War is the safest option for us? See, I don't think Megatron is going to be so friendly back when he's working on his ' _Take over all the worlds'_ agenda."

"We'll be there to protect you." Jazz said firmly with a set jaw, "Do you honestly think we'd let anythin' happen to any of you?"

"It only takes one slip up and then we're a pancake under a fifteen foot tall Decepticon." I snapped back and rose from my seat.

Jazz stood up as well and took a step toward me, "None of you are safe 'ere anymore. Boss could show up at your door with-"

"I can handle Boss!" I shouted, "He's _human_. He bleeds the same blood I do. My chances in a fight against him are pretty fragging good, but my chances against a fully grown Decepticon are pitiful!"

Jazz shook his head with a hurt look on his features, "I knew this would be a tough sell to you, but I thought at least some part of you would be excited." I crossed my arms and glanced away as he continued, "I thought you'd be happy that we wouldn't have to say our goodbyes tonight." I kept my gaze on the front door as I tried my hardest not to look at him. That plan went to hell when Jazz lightly grabbed my chin and turned my head to look at him before letting his hand fall back to his side, "I already figured it out. The others would go back with the 'cons, but I would stay. Either Jackie would tell me how to work the portal or maybe he'd stay too, but either way we'd stick 'round 'til Aubrey got back an' then we'd go. All of us together."

"I just don't think that's a good idea." I said quietly.

"Why?" Jazz pleaded, "Why not? The younglings would get to stay with us. We wouldn't have to lose them, we could be a part of their lives. A more _permanent_ part. We could watch 'em grow up an' be there for 'em. Aubrey would get any care she might ever need for her sickness. Money is no issue for us, an' you…" His features softened, "You wouldn't lose someone again."

I wouldn't lose someone again. This time at least. Who's to say what would happen a year from now or ten or twenty?

"Jazz, I-"

He shook his head, "You asked me once 'bout why we cared so much. You mentioned that this moment was so short for us. A blimp compared to the other millions of years we've experienced." Jazz waited until I nodded my head slightly acknowledging the fact that I did remember asking him something along those lines. "We… We feel things _deeply_. Once we make a connection we aren't used to havin' to let go of it so soon. Sure, we've all lost people to this fragging war, but our relationships typically last centuries, not just a couple slagging orns. None of us are ready to say goodbye."

There was so much I could say, but no words formed on my lips. I didn't know how to explain to him any of the reasons that had built up in my mind. So instead I just shook my head and offered him a soft apology. His face crumpled again in frustration and I felt bad about upsetting him like this. I wanted to make it better, but the only thing that would turn this conversation around for him was conceding with his side and that wasn't about to happen.

The front door opened and Bluestreak's holoform poked his head out sheepishly, "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt, but Ratchet said you guys were done talking and he wants to see Jazz in the garage."

"Thanks." Jazz nodded in his direction.

I shot the younger mech a smile, "Hey, Blue, you wanna come with me to pick up the kids?"

Bluestreak's eyes widened, "Yeah, I do, but I thought they didn't get out of school until 3:10? I set an internal alarm for fifteen kliks before that time so I wouldn't forget."

"I'm gonna pick them up early today." I replied, "Give them more time to hang out with you guys before you go."

Bluestreak's face fell slightly before he pasted a smile on his holoform's lips. He came outside and jogged the short distance between us. I handed him the keys and told him to start the truck up, but before I could turn and follow him Jazz grabbed my wrist.

"Think about it, Aj." Jazz said firmly, "And don't let your past dictate your future."

I gave him a brief nod to appease him and watched as he went up the porch steps toward the open front door. Thundercracker stepped into the doorway, but let the Autobot third in command stalk past him. I gave the seeker a curious look, but his only reply was to throw me my wallet. A chuckle slipped my lips as I caught it, but Thundercracker didn't stick around to hear my gratitude. I double-checked to see if my ID was inside and then I jogged over to the truck and slid into the passenger seat. Bluestreak gave me a smile and then pulled out of the driveway.

"Bumblebee was right. It's kind of strange to drive a car in our holoforms. One that isn't us at least." He said, "Oh and don't worry, I remember how to get to their school."

The last time Bluestreak had been in this car was one of the few times I let him and Bumblebee come with me to pick up the kids. That was back when they were small toys though. I kept my gaze on his happy features as my thoughts went back to what Bluestreak has said when he came out of the house, "Ratchet said our conversation was over. All y'all heard it, didn't you?"

Bluestreak's smile faltered slightly, "We didn't want to listen in. I mean, we weren't trying to, but you guys got kind of loud at one point and all of us really wanted to know what you were going to say about it. Sorry, Aj."

"It's fine. I'm not mad." I shrugged, "Are you mad? About me saying no?"

Bluestreak didn't immediately begin speaking and that made me lift an eyebrow in surprise. He sighed, "We had a meeting about it and Optimus wanted to know all our opinions because it is a really big thing so he held a vote before deciding." He paused and glanced over at me sheepishly, "I voted no."

"You voted no?" I asked in surprise. I thought for sure Bluestreak would have been on board with the kids coming to their universe. Him and Bumblebee both, "Why?"

"Being one of the youngest Autobots on base means that sometimes mechs don't look to me to make decisions. I kind of get treated like a sparkling sometimes. I don't mind it all that much. Prowl has always treated me like a little brother since the moment he pulled me out of the rubble in Praxus, so I'm kind of used to it. Besides, it's nice to know that he's there for me." Bluestreak admitted, "The only mech younger than me is Bee, but it's still kind of close." He shrugged, "Being here though, this was the first time since before the fall of Praxus that I got to really interact with younglings. Tyler likes hanging out with me and he looks up to me and for the first time that I can really remember, I feel like an older brother of sorts. It's nice."

I nodded, "Tyler really does love you. All the kids do."

Bluestreak grinned, "And I really like them." He thought to himself before sighing. His smile fell slightly, "But if I learned anything from Prowl, it's how to be a good big brother. It's not just making someone laugh and keeping them safe when they sleep. It's making the _hard_ decisions. I want all of you to come with us, but the others made a really good point as to why you shouldn't come."

"The others?" I questioned. "Who all voted no?"

"Prowl, Ratchet, Sunstreaker, and me." Bluestreak answered without hesitation, "Prowl and Ratchet both said that our war was too dangerous for you guys. Any humans that we interact with are possible targets for Decepticons, but if you guys came then you'd definitely be targets. The Decepticons know how important you guys are to us and that we'd do just about anything to save you."

I hadn't thought about it like that, but it was a really good point. Bluestreak got distracted asking about something he saw by the side of the road and the rest of the car ride was just his cheerful rambles. As much as I tried to pay attention to what he said though, my mind was a million miles away.

The kids were beyond excited about being picked up early, and their excitement only grew when they saw Bluestreak had come with me. The entire ride home they had conversed with the cheerful Bluestreak who seemed to always have something to say. Now they were bouncing around the house with bright smiles as I leaned against the kitchen counter with a lump stuck in my throat.

How was I supposed to tell them? How was I supposed to break the news? Was it better if I did it alone or should I do it with the mechs in the room? There was no easy way to do this, and every path ended in heartbreak. I sighed and buried my face into my hands. This was the exact reason why I didn't let these mechs too close to my heart. Sure, I liked them and hanging out with them was fun, but I knew that when this day rolled around it wouldn't be worth the pain. The kids had accepted them into their lives 110% and now they were about to be crushed whereas I would be able to handle this day. I'd be able to stay standing. This would just be like college all over again. Saying goodbye to friends was really easy if you went into the relationship knowing you'd say goodbye eventually. As long as you didn't put too much in to begin with then cutting ties with them wouldn't leave you broken.

"Aj?"

My head snapped up with wide eyes as I realized Peter had walked into the kitchen and was now standing across the island counter from me. I took in a shaky breath, "Yeah, Pete? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He shrugged. None of the mechs were in the garage anymore because the machine was complete. Now they were lounging around the house enjoying their last few hours. Last I saw, most of them were in the living room with the kids. "Are you ok?"

I gave him a small smile, "I'm fine. Just tired I guess."

Peter nodded and glanced over his shoulder to the doorway before looking back at me, "They're all leaving tonight aren't they?" My jaw fell open slightly as I stared at the boy in shock. I wasn't entirely sure how to even respond to his question. Apparently, this was answer enough for him and he let out a disappointed sigh. "I knew it."

"Peter, how did you…?" I began, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Peter was a smart kid and he knew the deadline for the mechs was around two months. In fact, the only reason why I bet he hadn't said anything sooner was because admitting it would make it that much more real.

"I've been marking the days in my school calendar." Peter admitted, "Plus, I talked to Prowl. He didn't say when they were leaving, but it makes sense now."

I pressed my lips together, "I'm so sorry, kid."

"I knew this had to happen eventually. At least we got to know them, right?" Peter said, but his voice wavered near the end and his eyes were beginning to grow slightly red. This meant so much to Peter. Having the only tie he had to his absentee father come to life was a miracle. Getting to know his heroes was healing, and hearing him speak now was only proof of how far he had grown in this short span of time.

"Exactly." I nodded, "Do Taylor and Tyler know?"

"No. I didn't know how to tell them and I didn't really want to."

I rubbed the back of my neck, "Same, kid. Same." Despite the fact that I didn't want to do this at all, I knew I had to get it over with. This was my responsibility and the sooner the twins knew then the sooner they could start to heal. "Can you tell them come here, Pete?"

He nodded before using his hands to rub his eyes under his glasses and then slowly walking off. I turned and went to sit at the dining table. My fingers drummed against the wood as my eyes darted to the microwave clock. It wasn't even one in the afternoon yet. It also suddenly occurred to me that even though I had bought the materials to fix the microwave, no one had done so. I could try, but maybe it'd be best if I asked Wheeljack to do it before he left.

Taylor skipped into the room, all smiles, and came to a stop in front of me. Tyler ran in a second later laughing about something that had happened in the living room. They both greeted me happily and questioned their presence, but I asked them to sit down at the table with me. Rather than grab two separate seats, I watched as they both shared half the seat to my left.

"I need to talk to you guys about something." I said slowly.

Taylor blinked, "Just us? Why not Pete?"

"But Aj, I'm in the middle of a race with Sideswipe." Tyler pouted slightly.

After a second of me not saying anything, they both seemed to pick up on the fact that something wasn't right. It might not have even been something they outwardly realized, but I could see them twitch in their seat and their eyes grow worried.

"The mechs have been working really hard in the garage lately. That's why we didn't want you going in there." I began, "The thing they've been working on is the machine that…that's gonna get them home." Tyler's face grew hard as he narrowed his eyes and Taylor immediately began to shake her head no with a quivering lip. "They finished it, officially, earlier today and tonight…"

"Aj." Taylor cried in desperation as she continued to shake her head, "No!"

"Tonight they have to go back home." I finished softly. The noise from the living room had died down and now the only sound in the house came from the two kids in front of me.

"No!" Tyler yelled, "They can't go home. Aj, you can't let them go!"

"Guys, they have to. They have friends back home and responsibilities. They can't stay here forever as-"

Both the twins scrambled out of the chair and ran out of the room with tears dripping down their cheeks. I jumped up to run after them and wasn't surprised to see that they had run into the living room sobbing and yelling at the mechs to stay. Tyler had his arms wrapped around Thundercracker's legs and Taylor had leaped into Optimus' arms and was sobbing hysterically into his shoulder as she pleaded for them not to go. It seemed like they had latched onto the closest mech they could after running in.

Peter was sitting on the couch with Prowl on one side of him and Wheeljack on the other. They must have been talking, but they had stopped to watch the twins. Peter's own eyes were still rimmed red as he wiped away stray tears on his cheeks. Grimlock, who was curled on the floor on the other side of the room behind the couch, had sat up to stare at the twins as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both stood in front of him awkwardly shifting their weight. Megatron, Soundwave, and Starscream were standing on the coffee table, still in their mini forms, as Skywarp sat on top of the entertainment system. Jazz, who was the only one in his bipedal mode, sat on the single seat couch with his elbows on his knees and his hands covering the lower half of his face. He didn't turn to look at the kids and instead stared straight ahead stiff as a board.

"Please don't go. Please don't go." Taylor stuttered between shaky breaths as she tightly wrapped her little arms around Optimus' neck. If he were a real human, he probably wouldn't be able to breath. He made a soft comforting noise as he rubbed her back softly.

Tyler had given up on talking and instead just sobbed into Thundercracker's legs. The seeker seemed hesitant, but he carefully knelt down slightly to set a hand on the young boy's shoulders. I opened my mouth to speak, but any words of comfort I had got stuck in my throat. There was movement behind me when suddenly Bumblebee and Bluestreak hurried into the room as Ratchet stood behind my right shoulder. They must have been upstairs.

"Taylor?" Bumblebee spoke softly and after a moment the blonde girl pushed herself away from Optimus and threw herself toward Bumblebee who caught her easily and wrapped his arms tightly around her small form. Her quieted sobs had grown louder again in his arms. Bluestreak didn't say anything, but he knelt down and scooped Tyler up into his arms. Both mech's holoforms glanced at me, silently asking for permission. I nodded once and the two of them carried the kids out of the living room and upstairs probably to their own room to talk. Maybe they could calm the kids down because Lord knows I was useless at the moment.

Wheeljack began to quietly speak again to Peter who turned to listen to him, but I didn't focus on what the Engineer was saying. All I could think about was that some of their pain was my fault. If I had said yes to Jazz then they wouldn't have to say goodbye. The kids would be thrilled to go into their universe with them. As if he were reading my mind, Jazz finally tore his gaze away from the wall to look at me with a knowing look. I stiffened and turned to leave when I caught Ratchet's gaze. He was still standing behind me by the staircase. The medic gave a small nod, "You're making the right choice, youngling."

I knew I was. Safety came before happiness, right? Still, my heart ached as I heard the twins cries echo down the stairs.

* * *

 

"Is everything ok? You sound kind of…sad, Aimee." Aubrey's voice drifted through the phone speaker. I sat on her bed staring at the wall. It was nearly six in the evening and Granny was downstairs in the kitchen cooking dinner, I could faintly hear her and smell the food. Josh was somewhere down there as well. The kids were still taking this really hard, but they put on brave faces to enjoy the last few hours. I was proud of them. I really was. "Aimee?"

"Sorry, Aubs." I sighed, "The kids are kind of sad today and it's effecting me."

"Sad? Why?"

"The…Army guys that always come over and spend time with them are leaving." I replied, "They're getting stationed overseas and the kids aren't taking the news too well."

Aubrey paused, "How are you handling it?"

"Well, I'm just trying to keep them happy. They're downstairs hanging out with all of the guys right now so that's good but-"

"I meant, how are you handling it, Aimee? Is Jace leaving too?"

I paused before nodding, "Yeah, Jace is leaving too."

"I'm so sorry."

Aubrey continued with words of comfort, but I couldn't focus on any of them very well. She mentioned that she'd call back tomorrow to talk to the kids rather than take time away from them tonight that they could spend with the mechs. I said a quick goodbye before hanging up and letting the phone fall from my hand. There was a ball of dread stuck in my chest and it seemed to grow with every hour that passed.

Someone knocked on the door making me glanced over just as the wooden barrier opened. A bright, red mech stood in the doorway with dark lavender blue eyes focused on me. The kids said they didn't want to spend the last few hours with the holoforms so all the mechs were walking around in their bipedal mode. It made things a bit more crowded, but no one was complaining. The only holoform activated was Thundercracker and that was just because he couldn't turn it off yet.

"Hey, babe." Sideswipe greeted before breezing into the room. "Ratchet was looking for you."

"How come?" I shifted where I was sitting and tucked my legs under me.

Sideswipe shrugged, "No idea. I don't typically stick around to ask Ratchet questions. That's how you get hit."

I chuckled and Sideswipe beamed in response. He walked over to the bed and then suddenly fell forward to land beside me making the entire bed sink under his weight. I fell to the side, landing on his chest, from the incline of the mattress, "Hey, watch where you throw that fat ass of yours."

"Oh please." Sideswipe shifted so he was lying on his back with his hands behind his head, "You think this fat ass is hot. Admit it."

I rolled my eyes and pushed off his chest so I could sit up. He kept his head slightly turned so he could remain looking at me, "What are you doing here?"

"My last few hours on this Earth, thought I'd bless you with my presence."

"Don't you mean curse?"

Sideswipe playfully scoffed and moved a hand to set it over the side of his chest, "You wound me, babe. My spark aches."

"Is that where your spark is?" I questioned.

"Yeah, but it's closer to the back then to the front." He replied nonchalantly then pointed his finger at my face, "Don't tell the cons."

Rather than answering him, I rolled my eyes again and in response he flicked my nose with his finger. I batted his hand away making him chuckle. He suddenly set his hand on top of my thigh, but before I could brush it away he used his finger to start writing against my skin. My eyes widened as I let him do so. He made strange movements in a line until he reached my knee and pulled away.

"Was that Cybertronian? Like earlier?" I asked and he nodded. It suddenly reminded me what I wanted to ask of him and I scrambled off the bed. Sideswipe sat up to watch me dig through Aubrey's bedside drawer looking for a pen and paper. I couldn't find a scrap of paper to use, but I did find a blue sharpie and that'd be good enough. I jumped back onto the bed, pulled up my sleeve, and began to scribble on my arm out of memory. Sideswipe was sitting up now, meaning he towered over me, and leaned forward so he could peek at what I was doing. When I finished I thrust out my arm toward him and he suddenly leaned back, "Is this Cybertronian?"

Sideswipe tore his gaze away from me to study my arm and his eyes widened in surprise before narrowing again. He grabbed my arm and pulled it closer before shaking his head, "Aj, how do you know this?"

"So it is Cybertronian?" I pressed.

He nodded, "Yeah. It is. How-"

"I saw it." I shrugged, "On this thing. What does it mean?"

"On this thing?" Sideswipe tilted his head in a manner that made me think he wanted way more information than what I was giving.

I shook my head, "What does it mean?"

Sideswipe sighed and looked back down at my arm at the three separate symbols. He pointed to the first, "This one stand for…the closest English translation I can find is magnanimity."

"What does that word mean?"

"Um like, being of great heart and mind. Not being petty and being willing to fight, essentially." Sideswipe shrugged and moved to the next, "This one is…royalty? No, it's more like a birthright. It means rising up to your birthright. Kind of."

I nodded and then pointed to the last one, "And this one?"

The last one was how I made the connection from the symbols Sideswipe drew on my hand earlier to these symbols being Cybertronian. It wasn't the same symbol exactly, but there was a portion of it that was identical.

Sideswipe nodded, "That one is conscience. Guiding right or wrong." He shook his head, "Aj, seriously, how do you know about these?"

I ignored him, "This one looks kind of like the one you were tracing on my hand earlier. It has that same zig zag part. What did you write on my hand?" He gave me a deadpanned look and I sighed, "You answer my question and I'll answer yours."

"I already answered a bunch of your questions, but whatever." He replied and took the pen from me. I held my arm out, wrist up, and he took it. As he scribbled on my skin I realized the red mech was left handed. Sunstreaker was right handed, I've seen him drawing and painting, but this was the first I noticed Sideswipe's dominant hand. "There." I focused on the symbol on my wrist. It was a bit longer than the symbols I wrote, but it wasn't as long as a sentence or anything.

"What does it mean?" I pressed and looked up at him.

He paused before rolling his shoulders, "It's ah…It's just- Well, it's kind of my name."

I blinked in confusion, "Your name? This means Sideswipe."

"Not exactly." He pressed his lips together, "It's like a signature. It stands for me. If I sign any Cybertronian documents, this is the mark I put down."

"Does everyone have one?"

"Duh." He replied simply, "Now your turn."

"Technically, I already told you." I said and traced my finger over the marking on my wrist, "I just saw it. It's not that big of a deal. Anyone can Google 'Cybertronian' and get a bunch of stuff."

Sideswipe paused and something told me he was checking for himself. He twisted his lips slightly, "Yeah, but 80% of all that stuff is wrong. It's just gibberish."

"So are you saying that 20% of the people posting that stuff got it right?" I questioned. Sideswipe sighed and seemed like he wanted to press it further, but it wasn't something I wanted to talk about. Finding out that it was Cybertronian written on the word symbol was beyond strange, but it wasn't any weirder than a group of Cybertronians coming through a portal and living in the house with us. I gave him a small smile, "So I bet you're eager to get back into your real body."

Sideswipe took the bait and scoffed, "You have no idea, babe."

"What's gonna happen to the bodies you're in? Will they stay here as toys?"

He shrugged, "We're not really sure. We're pretty positive that it's our sparks that traveled somehow so Wheeljack thinks our real bodies are probably just offline in our real world waiting for our sparks to show up. These bodies might go could go through the portal with us and just become inactive when our spark leaves it."

"Oh." I mumbled. It made complete sense, but it meant that the kids were going to lose everything about them. A part of me thought that was for the better though. If their bodies were to stay behind I wouldn't be able to look at them the same. They'd be just huge toys and that didn't sit right with me.

Sideswipe laid back down, but this time he did so in a manner where his head was resting against my legs like a pillow. He gave me a cheesy grin, "So, hey."

"Hey?"

"Are you gonna kiss me or not? Because I don't have much time left." Sideswipe asked cheekily. I reached behind me, grabbed an actual pillow, and then shoved it into his face muffling his laughter. "Oh come one, Jazz is the only Cybertronian to ever kiss a human and that isn't fair. I'll settle for second."

I scoffed, but a smile slipped onto my features, "You're a dork."

"You said it didn't mean anything, so what's the big deal?"

"Kissing by itself is fun and doesn't really mean anything unless it's with someone you really like, but that doesn't mean I wanna run around doing it with everybody." I laughed, "That's how you catch mono."

Sideswipe smirked, "I guarantee you that you won't catch mono by kissing me." I ignored him with a content smile on my lips. He shook his head, "Not even a goodbye kiss?"

My smile faltered slightly and the feeling of dread returned. It was stupid of me to feel this way and I continued to mentally scold myself. I was ready. I had mentally prepared myself to say goodbye, to cut those ties on my own terms, which meant it shouldn't hurt. It never hurt before.

Sideswipe slowly sat up again and turned around so he was facing me, "I don't like it either."

"Don't like what?"

"Saying goodbye."

I shook my head, "I'm fine. I like you guys and it wont be the same here without you, but I'm fine. You guys need to go. Your world needs you and I'm ok with that. The kids will eventually be ok with that."

That was the key to people leaving. I learned it early on in college. A majority of the reason why it hurt when people left was the shock of finding out. It hurt worse when you never saw it coming and them leaving caught you off guard. If you knew though, if you planned on it and did it on your own terms, if you cut the ties and said goodbye with them then it didn't hurt as badly. The wound it left didn't turn into a scar.

Sideswipe shook his head, "It's ok to not be fine."

"I was prepared for this. I knew from the beginning that this wouldn't last and I mentally readied myself for it." I shrugged, "It's not my fault you guys don't know how to do that."

My tone was a bit harsh and cold, but Sideswipe didn't seem fazed. He just stared with his unblinking gaze, "I get why you did that. Trust me, I do. I used to do something a lot like that, but do you realize how messed up it is to go into a relationship with the mindset that it won't last? That you have to say goodbye before it actually ends up going anywhere good?"

"Do you know how messed up it is to go into a relationship thinking that this time it might be different only to be wrong?" I questioned.

Sideswipe nodded honestly, "Yeah."

"I prepare for the worst because at the end of the day I have to be able to pick myself and all my broken pieces off the floor." I said simply.

"So it's fear then. That's the reason why you said no to Jazz?"

"If you mean fear of being stepped on then yes."

Sideswipe let out a sad chuckle, "Fear that if you truly let everyone in. If you give them a chance to actually be a part of your life, they'll walk away one day."

I didn't give him an answer because he didn't need one. Sideswipe knew and he knew that I knew that. Instead, I motioned toward my leg in a poor attempt to change the subject, "What did you write on my leg?"

Sideswipe gave me a sad smile, " _Till all are one_." I glanced down at my leg as if I could see the markings then lifted my gaze back to his eyes. "It's a Cybertronian goodbye."

"Oh." I mumbled under my breath as I realized my attempt to steer the conversation away from this had crashed and burned. Luckily, Granny who yelled up the stairs that dinner was ready saved me. Without hesitation I gave Sideswipe a quick smile before grabbing my phone and pushing myself off the bed. As I walked down the hallway to my room I pulled my sleeve back down. The plan was to just drop my phone off onto my desk and go eat, but as I stepped into the room I realized that Ratchet was in there. He glanced over at me as I froze in the doorway, "Ratchet."

The room had no other mechs in it now since everyone was walking around in their bipedal mode and Thundercracker was keeping his alt mode somewhere else. I glanced around before coming further into the room, "Sides mentioned you wanted to talk to me earlier?"

"I was looking for you, yes." Ratchet replied. He then shrugged, "It's no longer pertinent though."

"Ok." I replied then reached forward to set my phone on the edge of the desk. I turned to leave the room, but Ratchet's hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist.

"Wait." I glanced over my shoulder, expecting him to begin some sort of rant or speech, but instead he pushed my sleeve up an inch or two so he could see my wrist. His eyes read over the writing before snapping back up to me. I blinked, "What?"

He narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean, what? What is this?"

"Sideswipe said it's his name, right? Did he spell it wrong or something?" I joked.

Ratchet shook his head, "Why is it on your person?"

"We didn't have any paper." I shrugged and pulled my arm away. As I readjusted my sleeve I continued, "He was telling me about your language."

It wasn't a complete lie. There was just some part of me that wanted to keep this on the down low. It wasn't important, and it didn't really matter since they'd be gone. Ratchet seemed to accept this answer and scoffed, "He spent some of the last moment he has with you bragging?"

"Bragging? I wouldn't say bragging." I shrugged, "He just told me what some words meant."

"He didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Ratchet paused before a slight smile crossed his features, "Sideswipe is good at a lot of very random things." The medic crossed his arms, "He's hands down one of the best front liners in this war, the other being his brother. He's exceptionally skilled at finding a loophole in nearly all situations. He understands how important it is to keep up soldier morale and he's damned good at keeping every mech on the ark entertained. Sideswipe is good at thinking on his feet, despite common belief, he is good at improvising, and Primus knows he's good at getting on my last slagging nerve." I couldn't help but chuckle. Ratchet nodded his head, "Do you know about Sideswipe being a trader?"

"Yeah." I nodded, "He mentioned it. That he worked at some dock."

"He worked at The Docks. The largest port on Cybertron. He was extremely good at that too. The twerp knows how to work a deal in his favor." Ratchet shook his head, "Before he became a trader though, Sideswipe was trained to be a linguist."

I paused in surprise before speaking, "Does linguist mean the same thing for me as it does for you?"

"A person who studies and is skilled in foreign languages." Ratchet said, "He's a licensed Cybertronian linguist and he's a damn good one at that. Althought rather than working as a linguist he picked up a job as a trader, unsurprisingly really. It came in handy for him working at The Docks, and it has worked in our favor as well. I know for a fact that our Communications Officer, Blaster, goes to Sideswipe anytime he has to deal with an unusual language." Ratchet shrugged, "The red devil knows thousands. He knows all the various forms of Cybertronian, both old and modern. He knows the languages of our neighboring planets and I know for a fact that he is absorbing as many Earth languages as he can."

I leaned my hip against the desk as I listened in interest, "But don't you guys just download the language? How hard could that be?"

"Not exactly. We know our own language, but how we're speaking now is just from our translation software. When you speak our mind translates it into Cybertronian for us to understand and our thoughts are translated into English before being spoke."

My eyes widened, "So what you're hearing now?"

"It sounds like a strange, soft gibberish. This translation occurs almost instantaneous though which is why there is no lagging in our conversations."

"How come nobody told me this before?"

Ratchet shook his head, "It wasn't important."

"No, but it's kind of cool." I argued.

He waved me off, "Anyways, what Sideswipe does is actually learn the language which takes more than just a download. He learns it the way a human would, but he does so at a much faster rate than any human and remembers much more."

"So Sideswipe is the only mech in this house actually speaking and understanding English?" I pressed.

Ratchet nodded, "For the Autobots, yes."

"Why would he do that though?"

"From what I hear, he enjoys it."

"Aimee Jane, if you don't get your little behind down those stairs in the next minute!" Granny's voice threatened. I gave Ratchet a firm smile before turning to leave. The old woman never was a fan of people being late to dinner.

* * *

 

One of the smaller things that Ratchet found he would miss was coffee. Obviously their version of Earth also had this delicacy, but he was beyond positive that their true bodies wouldn't be able to handle the caffeinated beverage. Although, Wheeljack had mentioned trying to find a way to make their energon taste more like different flavors of coffee, which was an interesting concept. However, any new ideas Wheeljack had for inventions filled Ratchet with dread. New inventions meant more injuries for him to deal with considering Wheeljack was the type of scientist to figure things out by trial and error. Emphasis on the error.

The living room was filled with an odd atmosphere. It was warm and cheerful with the kids playing charades with many of the mechs, but there was also an undertone of sadness. It was already close to nine at night. Dinner had ended hours ago, and now everyone just sat around talking and watching the kids play. If this were a normal night, the kids would be getting into bed, but tonight was not a normal night.

"It was an astronaut!" Aj cried in mock frustration.

"How was that an astronaut?" Skywarp yelled in real frustration, "Can I switch teams?"

Prowl shook his head, "That did not look like an astronaut."

"Just because you jokers don't know what a fragging astronaut is-" Aj began.

"Aimee Jane, language!" Granny scolded as the opposing team laughed at her expense.

"Another point for us." Josh high fived Tyler who in return began to climb up Grimlock's back to cheer loudly. The youngling ignored the cries for him to get down and cheered louder when Grimlock stood up and carefully began to parade around the room.

Ratchet took another sip of what would be his last cup of coffee and let his optics wander across the room to the red front liner who was on the same team as Taylor opposing both Tyler's team, Aj's team, and Peter's team.

 _::You're glitched you know that?:_ : Ratchet shot over the commlink to the warrior.

Sideswipe's optic widened before looking over at the medic in surprise. He looked more surprised at the private comm channel rather than being called glitched though.

_::What did I do this time?::_

_::I saw the mark on Aj's wrist. What the frag was that about?::_

:: _What_?:: Sideswipe replied and Ratchet could see the slight confusion on his features before realization dawned on him. _::Oh, that.::_

 _::Yeah, that.::_ Ratchet countered in a firm tone.

_::What's the big deal?::_

If it wouldn't have attracted so much attention, Ratchet would've thrown the coffee mug in his servo at the twin's stupid helm. Seeing Sideswipe's mark on Aj's wrist had thrown him for a loop, and if he had been Prowl he surely would've crashed. Wearing another's mark was a sparkmate tradition. The most recent that Ratchet had seen was when Ironhide and Chromia came to him asking him to help them trade marks.

Sideswipe's optics widened again. _::Wait, did you think I was marking her?::_

The look on Ratchet's face must have explained it all because Sideswipe laughed to himself, and the only reason no one looked at him funny was because many others were laughing about something else entirely.

 _::Why would you even think that? She's human!:_ : Sideswipe scoffed. : _:I mean, I like her, but…geez. Get your processors out of the gutter, Hatchet.::_

Ratchet seriously had to resist the urge to get up and strangle the annoying little fragger. His tone over the commlink was short and harsh. : _:Then why the frag is your mark on her, you glitched spawn of Unicron?::_

There was a pause over the commlink and Ratchet could see the confusion on Sideswipe's face. Sideswipe shrugged at him before replying.

_::I don't know. I wasn't thinking about it earlier. I was just tracing it on her servo and then she asked what is was and we had no paper so…::_

Sideswipe seemed troubled all of a sudden. The comm channel was closed and Sideswipe turned to stare at his golden brother who was staring back at him intently. The two of them were obviously arguing over their bond, and Ratchet only had a faint idea of what the argument was about. The room suddenly grew quiet and the cheerful atmosphere died leaving only the sad one. The medic glanced away from Sideswipe to see Wheeljack had come in through the back archway and now stood there sheepishly.

"It's ready." Wheeljack said with no emotion in his tone whatsoever.

It was time.

* * *

 

It was time.

I spent the first few days after the mechs showed up thinking that this was never going to roll around, and yet here it was. I stood between Josh and Granny with my hands balled into fists at my side. The machine had been pushed back so it was right up against the metal garage door, and what used to be an empty archway was now a glowing gray circle with swirls of a darker gray constantly moving. All the mechs were in the garage, which was a feat in itself. The only way it worked was with Grimlock in his bipedal mode. Hell, that was the only reason he fit through the door.

It was time to say goodbye.

Everyone was moving suddenly. The twins were crying again, clutching onto whoever got close enough. Peter was knelt down talking to Soundwave. Josh was shaking Thundercracker's hand. Granny had her arms wrapped tightly around Ratchet who pat her back softly. I, however, stayed rooted to my spot.

I couldn't move.

Instead, I just stood there yelling at myself internally to get a grip. They had to go home. They needed to go home. It was for the best.

"Aj?" I swallowed the lump in my throat and glanced up at Optimus who came to stand in front of me. He retracted his battle mask and offered me a smile, "I wanted to say thank you one last time for letting us stay here under your protection." He chuckled, "Getting to know you and your family was an honor."

"We're the honored ones." I managed to blurt out.

"I understand the decision you made earlier, but know that there is still time to change your mind, if you wish."

I was too biased to make this decision. That was the truth of it, but then again so were they. Maybe I did want to say yes. Maybe I did want them to stay, but I couldn't make that decision for Aubrey. They were her kids. She needed to have a say in all this. Saying yes would buy us time. Maybe that was the right choice.

Was I being selfish? The kids wanted to be with the mechs so badly. Was I saying no not out of their safety, but because I was just too big of a coward to make a permanent spot in my life for someone? Multiple some ones? Then again, there really was no such thing as a permanent spot. This was proof. They had to go. They had to go home, and we couldn't go with them.

Optimus seemed to take my silence as an answer and nodded his head, "Goodbye, Aimee Bradshaw. I am proud to call you my friend, and I wish you only the best in your life."

I opened my mouth to speak, but it was like my throat was filled with cement. Nothing would come out. I was trying to say goodbye. I wanted to say, _'Till all are one, OP'_ , but it wouldn't come out. My eyes darted away from Optimus to look around the room. Peter was hugging Prowl. Jazz was walking toward me. The twins were with Bluestreak and Bumblebee. Sideswipe was giving Granny a hug. Josh was standing by Thundercracker's bipedal mode who glanced my way. My eyes shot over to the yellow frontliner who stood stock-still and stared right back at me.

Nothing would come out.

"Wait, we should take this slowly. We haven't done any testing with living material yet." Wheeljack's voice spoke up.

"I will be the first to go through." Starscream declared as he transformed into his alt mode and hovered in the air, "How can you lead the Decepticons if you have no body to return to Megatron?"

Megatron growled at the seeker who laughed in return. Everyone watched as Starscream took off toward the portal, and our eyes only widened more when Starscream slammed into the swirling gray portal and fell to the garage floor in a heap.

"What just happened?" Josh questioned.

"Serves you right." Megatron spat.

Wheeljack ignored the groaning Starscream and stepped over to stand by the machine. He stuck his hand out to go through the portal, but his hand would go no further than the surface. He pushed against it, but it looked like he was pushing against a solid wall.

"What's wrong with the portal?" Prowl questioned. Wheeljack looked confused as he moved to the side to mess with the controls. Soundwave went over as well to check the other side.

"Status: All stats are in check and energy levels are steady." Soundwave announced.

Wheeljack nodded, "Everything looks good here too. I don't understand it. This should be working. I triple checked everything, then you tripled checked everything." The statement was geared toward Soundwave. The Engineer moved to touch the portal once last time, but it made no difference. "This makes no sense…"

"Does that mean you're gonna stay a little longer?" Taylor asked. Her voice was quiet and laced with hope, but I could tell she was afraid of what the answer would be.

Wheeljack glanced over at her and I knew he was slightly smiling under the mask. His fins glowed blue as he replied, "I guess so, Taylor. I hope you don't mind too much."

The ball of dread in my chest disappeared as relief flooded through my body. I didn't want them to go home. I didn't want to say goodbye. Despite this being 'bad news' the room now seemed a bit lighter, minus a few Decepticons who looked less than happy. I had spent so much of today being afraid and worrying about what would happen if I really let these guys in completely, but it was a total waste.

The honest to God truth was, they had already managed to worm their way in my heart. At this point, there were now official aspects of my life just like the kids, Granny, and Josh were. Just like Aubrey was. In that way, saying goodbye to them would be nearly as impossible as saying goodbye to the kids.

Figuring this out made me happy. I was happy, truly happy, but there was a nagging voice in the very back of my mind that reminded me how terrifying this all was. The worst pain seemed to come from people I loved, and now there were quite a number of people who fit that description.


	26. Words

* * *

_"What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan." – Jason Fried_

* * *

 

The glass door let out a cheerful chime as I pushed it open. A few heads in the small diner turned to glance my way, but they were quick to return to their food or conversation. I readjusted the brown strap around my shoulders and torso connected to the bag resting against my hip.

"Smoking or non-smoking, sweetie?" An older woman questioned as she grabbed a single menu from behind the counter. She wore a pale yellow button up shirt, matching skirt, and light blue apron.

"Non." I replied quickly and followed her to the left side of the restaurant. My eyes glanced over the occupied booths as quiet conversations buzzed in the air. She set the menu down on the tabletop and I slid into the old, rickety booth. "Thanks."

The older woman hummed in response and went on her way. My eyes darted down to the single laminated sheet in front of me. I wasn't really hungry considering I ate lunch at the house before coming. Quickly, I pulled my cellphone out of my bag to check the time. It was nearly three 'o'clock in the afternoon which meant either Granny or one of the mechs were heading to pick up the kids soon. I left the truck for them to use, and Granny let me borrow her car for today. Her vehicle got a hell of a lot better gas mileage than the truck did, and I needed that for my long trip to Auburn. Nervously, I took a deep breath and let my fingers play with the strap of my bag. I couldn't let my mind wander right now. I had to focus on what I was going to say.

My eyes glanced out the large window beside me to scan the parking lot. It was a gorgeous day, sunny out with hardly a cloud in sight. Maybe Granny would let the kids play outside or they could take the kids out somewhere. With this extra time we have with the mechs, it'd be best to make the most of it right?

I mentally scolded myself for letting my thoughts carry away and thought back to my prepared speech. The door chime suddenly rang out again and I leaned out of my seat to try and take a peek at who came in. When my gaze settled on a couple I sighed and looked away. She probably wouldn't get here until at least 3:30. School wasn't even technically over yet.

With another sigh, I leaned back in my seat and began to once again recite my mental speech. The next half hour or so of waiting was going to feel like a million years.

* * *

 

Peter leaned against the wall with his bag of notebooks and pencils lightly bouncing against the wall as he leaned back and forth. His class was usually one of the first to let out, but he promised his mom that he would always wait for the twins by the front door so they didn't have to walk out by themselves. It wasn't that big of a deal for Peter anyways. He liked waiting for his little brother and sister so the promise was an easy one to make.

Another wave of kids came rushing down the hall to head home for the weekend and Peter took a step back so he was pressed against the wall. The last thing he wanted was to be run over by some sprinting kid.

"See you later, Peter!" Johnny waved in greeting as he rushed out. Peter lifted his hand and gave his friend a warm smile. Peter didn't often see Johnny anymore on account of them being in different classes, but they still got to eat lunch near each other sometimes.

"Hey!" A familiar voice greeted, and Peter glanced around before his gaze landed on Esther, a girl from his own class. She rushed toward him with her black ponytail bouncing this way and that. Peter had become friends with Esther early in the school year. The girl looked like she could be related to Bluestreak or Prowl's holoform and that made Peter bite back a chuckle. She came to a stop in front of him with a bright smile, "Do you wanna come over this weekend? My mom is holding an open house with all the _ajummas_ * at our church and she said I could invite my friends. James and Talia will be there and we could practice for the play next week!"

Peter smiled, "Sure. I have to ask my aunt first though."

"Your aunt Aj, right? She sounds like _so_ much fun. You should bring her too! My mom says she thinks she might know her from when she went to school." Esther grinned.

Peter hesitated. Aj never really talked about it, but he noticed that sometimes when they went out she'd recognize someone then avoid them. She probably wouldn't want to come then. He forced a smile, "I'll ask."

Esther nodded and then dug in her bright blue book bag. After a second she pulled out a small rectangle card, "That's my address and my mom's phone number. It's this Sunday at 5! Bye Peter!"

Peter took the card and waved as she rushed out with the next round of kids. He glanced at the words on the card before sticking it into his own bag. He went back to leaning against the wall patiently when his eyes drifted toward a little girl who was squealing happily as she ran toward her parents. She was probably only in the first grade or so, but she leaped up into her dad's arms and laughed. A twinge of jealousy built up in him making Peter frown and look away. Unlike the twins, Peter remembered their dad. He remembered a lot more than people thought he did, and he used to spend a lot of time thinking about him.

Lately though, he hadn't thought about his dad so much and it didn't really bother him.

A few minutes later he heard the sound of his little sister calling out to him.

"Pete! Pete!" She chirped happily and ran down the hallway to tackle him into a hug. Peter chuckled and hugged her back happily. His smile was short lived as he saw Tyler walking down the hall a few feet away talking to their teacher who was walking beside him. Her light brown hair was pulled up into a bun and she wore a light green and white dress.

Tyler finished whatever he was saying and their teacher looked over at Peter, "Hi, Peter. How are you?"

"I'm good, Mrs. Belle." Peter replied, but he couldn't help but be worried. This wasn't the first time he had spoken to the twins' teacher, but she didn't usually walk specific students out. "Is everything ok?"

"Mrs. Belle just has to talk to Aj." Tyler spoke up.

"Tyler is right." Mrs. Belle nodded, "I just need to speak to your Aunt about a few things. Tyler and Taylor aren't in trouble."

Peter nodded, "Oh, ok, but Aj- Our aunt isn't here today. She had to go out of town on an errand." He looked to his siblings, "Remember? She told us this morning."

Tyler and Taylor's eyes both widened as they suddenly remembered the conversation that was held over breakfast. Mrs. Belle glanced from the twins back to him, "Do you know who is picking you up today? Can I speak to them?"

"Umm maybe Granny?" Peter shrugged and nervously readjusted his glasses, "Or Josh if he isn't working. I'm sure they'll take a message for Aj."

Peter led the way out with Taylor holding his hand tightly and humming a song to herself. Both her and Tyler had been super excited ever since last night when the mechs machine didn't work. Peter did feel bad for them, but he did have to admit that he was happy to have more time with them. The eldest Williams boy led the twins and their teacher out of the school and toward where Aj, or whoever was picking them up, usually parked the truck.

They only got halfway when they noticed a very familiar holoform waiting outside the truck. Peter's attention focused to the unfamiliar guy sitting in the passenger seat of the truck bobbing his head to a faintly heard radio, but his little sister paid no mind the stranger.

She let out a loud cry of excitement, tore her hand away from his own, and then began to sprint toward Optimus Prime's holoform. He smiled warmly at her and didn't hesitate to catch Taylor when she threw herself toward him. He lifted her up easily as she wrapped her arms and legs around his holoform.

Optimus quickly walked away from the truck and met them halfway for some reason. Peter let his eyes glance down to Optimus' pink tie, but he didn't let his attention stay on it for too long. He nodded, "Good afternoon, Peter and Tyler."

"Hi." Peter blurted as Tyler waved at Optimus and then ran toward the truck. Optimus watched him go hesitantly, but didn't stop him, which made Peter think the stranger must have been a new holoform. Maybe Skywarp? He should be next. "This is Tyler and Taylor's teacher."

She stepped forward with a hand outstretched, "Hello, I'm Mrs. Belle."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Belle." Optimus shook her hand, "My name is Owen Pax. I'm a friend of Aimee Bradshaw, their aunt."

"I was hoping to talk to Ms. Bradshaw today." Mrs. Belle began. Peter noticed Tyler bouncing outside the car in excitement as he turned and waved for Taylor to come over. She wiggled in Optimus' arms until he set her down and she ran off. "Perhaps you can pass along a message for me?"

Peter wanted to stay and listen, but he also wanted to run over to his siblings. Half to settle his own curiosity about the holoform in the truck, and also because he was wary of the twins being over there on their own. He could see Optimus glancing over his shoulder warily.

Optimus nodded, "Of course." He glanced down and set a hand on Peter's shoulder, "Peter, perhaps you can go keep an eye on your brother and sister for me?"

"Sure thing." Peter nodded. That settled that. He gave Mrs. Belle a brief goodbye before jogging over to where the twins stood outside the passenger seat's window. As he got closer he could hear a voice that sounded very much like Skywarp, and he could make out more details of how the holoform looked. The holoform's hair was short on the sides and only a tad bit longer on top. Peter realized that it was almost the same shade of light brown sort of yellow that Thundercracker's holoform had. Even their skin tone and build was similar. Skywarp's holoform was wearing a light gray shirt with a black leather jacket over it and he was leaning in the passenger seat with his boots on the dash of the truck.

"Pete, Pete!" Tyler exclaimed, "It's Skywarp!"

"You know, that old squishy told me coming along to pick you younglings up would be fun, but this is kind of boring." Skywarp sighed in annoyance as he readjusted the reflective aviators over his eyes. "Why is Optimus talking to that human?"

Peter opened the back door and ushered his siblings inside. Taylor crawled in first, "That's our teacher Mrs. Belle. Did you grow big, Skywarp?"

Skywarp grinned and pulled his feet down to turn and look at the twins who were buckling in, "Frag yeah I did! Right after you three left for this school place."

Peter shut the car door and did his own seatbelt, "When did your holoform appear?"

Skywarp shrugged, "Eh maybe two joors ago."

The twins paused in thought before glancing over at Peter. The mechs had explained the time equivalents to all of them, but the twins still didn't remember them all. They still knew more than Aj though. Peter gave them a small smile, "About two hours ago."

Tyler began to ask random questions, with Taylor jumping in occasionally. Skywarp answered nonchalantly and even began to ask his own questions about what exactly they did in school all day. Peter let his eyes glance out the window as Skywarp ranted about how school sounded like a waste of time. Optimus was shaking hands with Mrs. Belle again. She nodded once with a laugh before turning and heading back to the school. Optimus made his way to the truck quickly.

Taylor and Tyler greeted Optimus again when he got into the driver's seat. Optimus turned slightly to smile at all three of them, "Hello again as well. How was school?"

"It was so good! I got to be line leader again today." Taylor declared proudly.

Tyler nodded, "Yeah, and I played on the swings with Sophia today at recess. I pushed her super high and she lost her shoe at the very top-"

"She did! I saw it!" Taylor cut in, "It went flying all the way to the playground!"

"Uh huh, and it hit Jordan in the head." Tyler laughed, "It was super funny. Even Jordan laughed!"

Skywarp snickered in his seat, muttering something about a squishy getting hit in the head with foot armor, when Optimus glanced at Peter, "And you, Peter?"

"School was fine." Peter nodded with a slight smile. Optimus started the truck up and announced that Granny had given him money to take them to the ice cream shop on the way home. He didn't mention anything about talking to Mrs. Belle, but Peter didn't push the subject. Obviously it wasn't any of his concern and he was plenty content with enjoying the rest of the afternoon getting ice cream with Optimus Prime, Skywarp, and his little brother and sister.

* * *

 

My fingers drummed against the table in a bored manner, but I stopped abruptly when I noticed the same older woman come over to the table with her notepad in hand. She put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at me, "Can I get you something, darling?"

"Well-"

She pointed to the mostly empty cup of water in front of me, "If you order another cup of water I'm going to kick you out."

I nodded, "That's fair. Um, I'll take an orange juice." She narrowed her eyes at me slightly, making me chuckle nervously, "And an order of fries?"

"Coming right up." She replied with a forced smile before walking away. I leaned my elbow against the table and resisted the urge to check my cell phone again. It read 4:12 the last time I checked it, and I doubted it had changed too much in the last three minutes or so.

The front door opened, activating the chime, and I almost didn't even bother to look due to the many false alarms I had faced since I got here. Luckily, I managed to ignore my cynical side and peek down the aisle toward the front. My eyes widened when I recognized the younger girl breezing into the diner and trying to avoid eye contact with the people around her. Now it was only a matter of time before she walked by me.

A few minutes passed before I began to worry that she might not be working my section. What if she was working the smoking section or something? The older woman came back to my table with my small order and a not so happy look on her face. I was beginning to think that was just her default facial expression though.

"Hey, can you get Kaylee to come to my table?" I asked before she could rush away.

"Why?"

I shrugged, "She's a friend."

"Whatever." The woman shrugged and walked away. I glared at her back briefly and internally prayed that her response had been her version of saying yes.

A sigh slipped my lips as I leaned back into the booth and brought one of the french fries to my lips. It burned my tongue and the roof of my mouth making me groan in pain while using my hands to wave at my mouth as if that would help much. The cold orange juice did more for me than my hand fans that was for sure.

I was on my eighth fry when Kaylee came from behind me to stand at the head of my table. My mouth was full of half chewed potatoes when my eyes landed on her. For a second or two, we just stared at each other in surprise. She was wearing the same uniform that my server was down to the odd, pale colors. Her long brown hair was pulled into a messy topknot as her large green eyes glared at me. There was faint bruising around the bridge of her nose and under her left eye that I know came from me breaking it not so long ago. Her bottom lip had recently been busted open, but that wound hadn't come from me.

I swallowed the food in my mouth and scrunched my nose up in a cringe, "Sorry about your nose."

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" She spat. "Kicking my ass once wasn't enough for you?"

"I'm not here to hurt you." I replied, "I just want to talk."

She crossed her arms and shook her head, "Why would I talk to you?"

"Because if you don't I'll tell your boss you spit in my fries." I blurted in panic making her glare widen in shock. It probably wasn't going to earn me any points with her, but I just needed to get her to shut up and sit down. Knowing how much she probably needed this job it'd probably do the trick. "Wanna sit?"

Kaylee lifted her arm and glanced at the watch around her wrist. She sighed and sat down across from me unhappily, "My shift starts in ten minutes. You have until then, _Queen_ Aj."

"I prefer _just_ Aj… and that's all I need." I gave her a friendly grin. When I had fought her in the ring, I had seen myself both emotionally and mentally. Based off the look in her eye then and now, we had a lot in common. However, physical traits were not one of those things. Her brown hair was a few shades darker than mine and was stick straight. She was tall and thin where I was short and more athletic. Her face was more circular where mine was oval in shape and her skin was much lighter. I opened my mouth to dive into my well-rehearsed speech only to realize I didn't remember a single damn word of it. Not a single syllable.

Kaylee raised an eyebrow at me, "If you're not going to say anything I'm going to leave."

"No, wait." I sighed and rubbed the side of my face, "I just forgot where I was going to start with all of this."

"All of what?"

I bit my lower lip in thought before rolling my shoulders, "I'm sorry. First things first, I am _so_ fragging sorry." She narrowed her eyes at me, but I wasn't sure if it was because of use of the word fragging or the apology itself. "I shouldn't have a laid a finger on you and I can't say sorry enough for that."

"Is that it?" She asked after a brief moment.

"No..." I shook my head, "I…I saw myself in you. I wasn't fighting you, I was fighting myself in that ring."

Kaylee leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms skeptically, "Maybe you should get that checked." I chuckled awkwardly before scratching the back of my head. This was a train wreck, but I guess I should've expected that. Kaylee suddenly spoke up again, "Why? Why did you see yourself?"

"Well", I began and I figured it'd be best to just bluntly spit out the truth. What could go wrong? I shrugged, "I could tell you didn't want to be there. It was the look in your eye. You just thought you needed to be there."

Kaylee scoffed, "How the hell would you know? Maybe I like fighting."

I leaned forward, "You were terrified to be in that ring, and based off the way you fight…underground fighting is pretty new to you."

"I'm a good fighter." Kaylee said firmly.

"Ok, I'm sure you are in a place where there are rules, but in that ring? No." I shook my head, "You don't belong in that ring. I know that because…neither did I."

Kaylee seemed taken aback by my words, "It seemed like you were pretty comfortable there."

"Because I forced myself to fit in there. I changed who I was, I made myself into something ugly to belong." I took a deep breath, "And that's why I'm here. I want to stop you before you make the same mistakes I did."

The young girl uncrossed her arms and glanced down at her lap before looking back up at me with defiance in her eyes. She steadied her gaze and shook her head, "You don't know me."

"You're alone and you think by being a part of that underground fighting ring you'll finally have something to hold onto. An identity that matters." I blurted and dove into my own example. "My mom died when I was young, my dad bailed out on my sister and I when we were just teens, and then my older sister jumped ship and left me on my own. I was an orphan with some serious abandonment issues and a major case of feeling worthless. The ' _was_ ' in that sentence is also a bit premature because I'm still pretty screwed up and that's only because I got myself involved in some real bad shit. The same shit you're trying to get involved with."

Kaylee shook her head, "First of all, I'm only in it for the money. I'm not looking for some identity or whatever it is you're talking about."

"Oh."

"Secondly", Kaylee leaned on the table and gave me a mocking smile, "That's quite the sob story you have there. If only I cared."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her words. Maybe I had somewhat misjudged her intentions, but I could still see a version of my younger self in her. Even if it was only the fact that she was kind of a sarcastic asshole. I nodded, "Fair enough. What's _your_ tragic backstory then?"

Kaylee leaned back in her seat again, as if the physical distance would make the situation better. A part of me didn't think she'd actually answer. I mean, why would she? I was just some random lady who beat the shit out of her a while ago. To my surprise though, Kaylee began to speak after glancing around for a brief moment, "You really wanna know?"

"Well, if you'd rather just leave this conversation at this and give _me_ the ' _Scarred Childhood_ ' award…"

She let out a small scoff before giving me a forced smile, "My mom's an alcoholic that does meth on the weekend for fun." Kaylee shrugged, "She doesn't have a job, not that anyone would even want to hire her on account of the whole druggie thing, so she uses my paychecks to buy booze and meth. The few bucks left over get put to rent and maybe if we're lucky food."

I tried not to show her the shock I felt and instead just shrugged back at her, "Life sucks, huh?"

"Yeah. It does." Kaylee replied bluntly.

"I am sorry about your mom." I added.

"So?" Kaylee spat, "Everybody's sorry. That doesn't change anything."

"You're right. It doesn't." I agreed with a nod of my head. People said sorry to me all the time. Hell, people said a lot of things to me that didn't actually have any weight behind it. The fact of the matter was, people talked a lot and most of the time it never really meant anything. They talked to fill a silence, to fill an awkward pause. They talked because they thought words could make a difference, but in my experience words didn't really mean shit. "Just saying sorry doesn't fix anything. It only matters when the person actually does something about it." I didn't let my gaze wander from her own. "I'm a lot of things, most of them not being very good, but I stand behind my words. I don't just say sorry to say sorry."

Kaylee narrowed her eyes in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"You said you were in this for the money right?" I asked and she nodded. Quickly, I reached into my bag and dug around until my hand wrapped around a crinkled, thick envelope. I pulled it out and set it on the counter between us. "That right there is the prize money from that marathon fight. 10K. I'm going to give it to you."

Kaylee's eyes were wide now as she glanced from the envelope of cash back to me, "You're…You're gonna give me the prize money?"

"Every last dime." I replied. Technically, I had given Frank a hundred of it, but I replaced the money with my own so she got the full 10,000 dollars. It only seemed right.

She shook her head, "Why? Don't you need this money too? Nobody goes through a ten fight marathon just for fun."

I didn't mention that there was a time in my life where I would've done just that. Instead I gave her a small smile, "I did need that money, but I have… _friends_ that saved my skin. Now you have someone too."

"What do you want from me?" Kaylee questioned and I could see the mistrust in her eyes. She doubted this, she doubted me, and I didn't blame her. It did seem to good to be true. The poor girl was probably waiting for me to say ' _psych_ ' and then run out with my money.

"I just want you to promise that you'll _never_ fight again." I replied simply then added, "Unless you're like being attacked in a home burglary."

Kaylee smirked, "What if I'm being attacked in a dark alley?"

"Yeah, ok, smartass. You know what I mean." I chuckled.

Kaylee shook her head, but now there was a slight smile on her lips, "That should be easy enough. The ring in Summerbrooke shut down anyways. The rings around here are bound to follow."

"Good for you. Less temptation." I said and didn't mention that I was the reason the rings were coming down for good. My eyes narrowed in confusion briefly before I spoke up, "Why did you fight in the Summerbrooke ring anyway? That's a hell of a drive from here."

Kaylee looked at me as if I had asked the stupidest question, "It makes it harder to find me. I don't want anyone around here recognizing me."

That was actually very smart. I probably should've done something like that back in the day, but I honestly didn't care enough at that point. Honestly, I think a part of me was hoping to get caught.

"That's clever for a…how old are you anyways? What grade are you in?"

"I'm 16." Kaylee replied, "I'm a junior right now, but school ends in June." Her words made a lump of guilt form in my gut again. She was only 16 years old. I had beat up a junior in high school. Even though I knew I was taking the steps to make amends right now, it still made me feel like absolute scum. She seemed completely open and content now as she crossed her arms on the table and leaned forward curiously, "How did you learn to fight like that though? I've never seen anyone move as fast as you did. You're so… _small_ , and yet you beat women like the Rhino and Madeline. I've never seen _anyone_ beat them."

I chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of my neck, "Mostly through trial and error. I got the shit kicked out of me over and over again until I finally started to adapt and learn how to survive in that kind of fight. It's a lot different then what you learn in a class type setting."

Kaylee laughed, "You can say that again."

The old woman server came by and gave Kaylee a look while tapping at her bare wrist. Kaylee smiled at nodded before the server left again. My time with her was up and I had done what I came to do. Quickly, I shoved the envelope across the table to Kaylee and while she opened it to look inside I pulled a twenty out of my own wallet and tossed it on the table. It was my last twenty and I briefly wondered how much cash I had back home, if I had any at all.

I stood up and Kaylee glanced at me while tucking the envelope between her hands tightly. With a smile, I pointed toward her hands, "I don't know what you should do with all that cash. Save up for college, or emancipate yourself, or something, but I'm gonna assume you're smart enough not to waste it." The young girl bit her lower lip and I could tell she was trying to bite back tears. I pulled the car keys out of my bag, "I'll tell you this though, if you let your mom get her hands on it I'll drive back from Summerbrooke to Auburn and break your nose _again_."

Kaylee let out a laugh of amusement and nodded. Without another word, I turned and began to leave. I paused mid step at the sound of her voice though and turned around just in time to be hugged tightly by her. My eyes widened in surprise, but I let my hand pat her shoulder in response.

She pulled back and stuffed the twenty I had left on the table back into my hand, "I'll pay for your fries and drink. It's the least that I can do."

"I was leaving a big tip for that lady too. I'm pretty sure I annoyed her."

"Mrs. Tyndell? She's annoyed by everyone." Kaylee shook her head. She paused before nodding one last time, "Thank you, Aj. You have no idea what this means to me."

I chuckled, "Actually, I think I do."

She gave me another smile that I quickly returned before turning to leave again. It was going to be a long drive home and I was eager to get back to the kids and the mechs.

* * *

 

The mechs didn't get to go home last night and I figured that would've upset them and put them all in a sour mood, but they were all pretty chipper for the most part. The house was filled with warmth and laughter as if nothing had happened. As if they hadn't even tried to go home. Of course, there were a few who were bitter about it. Barricade was pissed and he was still just angrily sitting in the garage as other mechs worked on the machine. Grimlock was kind of upset too at the fact that he wasn't back with his dinobots, but the kids were keeping him well occupied. Starscream was also unhappy, but I was starting to think that was just a personality trait of his. To my surprise, Megatron wasn't all that upset. He was still hanging out in the background as his small, toy looking self, but he wasn't nearly as angry as I thought he'd be. He was kind of…nonchalant and that was really weird.

"It went well though. She seemed happy." I shrugged and kept my hands around the cup of water in front of me.

Granny sat to my right at the kitchen table, "You gave her $10,000. Why wouldn't she be happy?" I chuckled and Granny set her hand on my wrist, "You did the right thing though. I'm proud of you."

I had no idea where each mech was in the house, but I knew a majority of them were in the living room with the kids who were currently talking to Aubrey on the phone right now. A second passed before Optimus and Grimlock came into the kitchen together. Grimlock came in first, the large dinosaur ducked under the archway and Granny and I watched as he came over, laid down, and curled up by the table so his head was right between me and her on the ground where we could reach out and touch him. I chuckled and let my hand rest on his nose.

Optimus came in right behind Grimlock, but he was in his holoform. The Prime was able to turn his holoform off now, he had been for a while now, but he said it was easier to keep it on in the house due to his size. My eyes widened when I noticed his holoform's tie was now a soft shade of pink.

"What's up with the tie, OP?" I questioned with a grin.

Granny shook her head, "I like it."

"Hey, I didn't say I didn't like it." I argued.

Optimus chuckled and sat down to my left. He laced his fingers together and smiled, "You suggested I needed some color in my attire."

"Why that color though?"

He paused and his smile softened slightly, "It is the same shade of my Elita's armor."

"Aw", Granny gushed, "That's your wife, right?"

Optimus chuckled, "In human terms, yes."

I winked at him, "I didn't realize Optimus Prime, commander of the Autobots, was such a _romantic_."

He shook his head slightly in amusement, but changed the subject, "How was your trip today?"

"It went well, I think." I shrugged and traced circles against Grimlock's nose, "How were things here?"

"Everything was fine." Optimus nodded, "I spoke with Taylor and Tyler's teacher though. She came looking for you after class."

My eyes widened, "She did? Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing was the matter." Optimus paused, "She said they have a school function coming up. A ' _Career Day_ ' she called it, where one of the youngling's parents comes to speak to their class. She just wanted to ask who could come for the twins is all. She knows the younglings'…situation."

Their teacher was aware that their father was an absentee scumbag and that their mom wasn't here at the moment. I had talked to Mrs. Belle before earlier this year after they got back in school. My lips twisted together. I couldn't exactly show up for career day and talk about the exciting opportunities of being an underground illegal fighter. That probably wouldn't end well.

"Did she say what day it was?"

"March 2nd. The first Monday of that month, I believe."

I nodded with a slight sigh, "Alright, I'll figure something out. Thanks, OP."

"Of course." He replied.

Granny began to speak to Optimus, but I couldn't focus on the conversation. Instead, I let my mind wander away tiredly. Driving was always exhausting, and I was already ready for bed. Still, I wanted to stay up a little longer so I could talk to Aubrey and hear how she was doing. So rather than listening to the two people in front of me talk, or think about the fact that the machine to get the mechs home would be fixed eventually, I tried to think back to my high school years and remember who exactly Peter had been talking about earlier. He said he got invited to some party on Sunday of this weekend to hang out with his friends and practice their upcoming play, but I didn't know who the mom of his friend was. He mentioned she was Korean, but I knew a couple Korean girls in high school and without her first name and maiden name, which Peter didn't know and which wasn't listed on the invitation, I was clueless.

A soft hum slipped from my lips as I got lost in my thoughts while tracing figure eights on Grimlock's nose.

* * *

 

"This isn't fair."

"How long are you going to complain? I ask because I'm honestly curious about how long you can complain before you start to annoy even yourself."

"I can go for vorns, babe, so just let me go with you!"

Taylor looked up from her sketchbook with a lazy smile on her lips. A tall, cherry red Sideswipe was towering over Aj who had her arms crossed and a slightly amused smile on her lips. Peter was going to his friend's house today for some party, and Aj was going with him. Personally, Taylor didn't really want to go and Aj was fine with her staying here with the mechs and Tyler. Besides, Sheriff Thompson was going to be here soon and that kept Taylor happily bouncing in her seat coloring her newest drawing.

The argument had started when Aj decided she was going to drag Ratchet to the party and not Sideswipe who hadn't taken the news very happily.

"Ratchet! Peter! Hurry up!" Aj yelled up the stairs and ignored Sideswipe who was basically resting his head on top of hers as he begged to go. She pushed him back and went to straighten out her hair, "Will you stop, you big metal baby?"

"Hang on!" Peter called back from up the steps.

Taylor let her eyes dart back down to the sketchbook resting on the table in front of her, but they didn't stay there long when she heard someone stomping down the stairs. She glanced up again to see an unhappy holoform stop at the base of the steps.

Ratchet crossed his arms, "Why are you so determined to drag me to this, youngling?"

"You spend all your time in the medbay yelling at people. It's time for a break, Ratchet." Aj shrugged, "Now stop pouting."

Ratchet's facial expression didn't change, "I am needed here. What if someone needs medical attention?"

"If they need medical attention? Listen, if any of these _slaggers_ do something that leads to them needing medical attention they're gonna be in a world of hurt." Aj replied and Ratchet scolded her for her language. She shook her head, "No amount of medical attention is gonna help them after _I'm_ through with them."

Taylor lightly giggled to herself and went back to her own work. The slight argument continued as they waited for her older brother, but Aj was able to counter each thing they threw at her with no hesitation. Tyler ran into the room from the back hallway and jumped onto the couch landing next to Bumblebee's holoform. He began to show Bumblebee something on his DS and Bluestreak's own holoform came into the room from the same direction seconds later. Taylor was sitting on the ground with her back to the TV. Her color pencils and drawing tools, courtesy of Sunstreaker, were laid out in a mess across the coffee table. As Tyler spoke to both holoforms beside him, she glanced over at the other two holoforms in the room. Skywarp was lying on the ground, on his back, by the single seat couch playing her DS. She gave it to him after he asked about it, and he seemed to find her Animal Crossing game amusing. Sitting on the couch beside where he laid, ignoring any comment Skywarp spoke, was Thundercracker. He was leaning his head against his hand, but his gaze was focused on the foyer where Ratchet was punching Sideswipe's bipedal mode in the chest repeatedly while Sideswipe whined and Aj laughed. Taylor giggled and shifted in her position so she was on her knees rather than her butt.

"Why are you still looking at Aj?" She asked curiously. Thundercracker's gaze snapped away from Aj to look at her. Bumblebee was the only other person in the room who looked her way.

"What?" Thundercracker questioned in a gruff voice.

"You've been looking at Aj for a long time now." Taylor thought aloud. She picked up the red color pencil to finish her picture of the Autobot twins in front of her. Sunstreaker was all drawn out and colored, but she still hadn't finished Sideswipe.

Thundercracker shifted in his set, "I wasn't."

Taylor smiled at him before looking to her drawing and then speaking, "It's ok. I think she's really pretty too." Taylor didn't notice the way Thundercracker froze in confusion and furrowed his eyebrows. Bumblebee, however, did and he shifted in his own seat with a wary gaze in the seeker's direction. Taylor continued, "I wanna be just like her when I get older."

"You can't be Aj!" Tyler looked up from his game, "You don't have brown hair!"

"So?" Taylor replied. "I can still be brave and funny and pretty and nice like her!"

Tyler shrugged it off and went back to his game. He had no further comment on the matter and was more focused on beating the enemy on his digital screen. Before anyone else could speak up Aj stepped into the room as Ratchet and Peter left out the front door, "Ok, we're heading out. Josh'll be here in like ten minutes." Her gaze drifted to Taylor and Tyler, "Be careful, ok?"

"Ok." Tyler replied as Taylor jumped up to give her aunt a hug. Aj chuckled as she returned the hug happily. Taylor buried her face in Aj's stomach. There was a brief time when Taylor had questioned how she felt about Aj. For a brief moment, when she came downstairs and saw Aj with a bloody and bruised face she was scared of the woman, but that had faded moments later.

Taylor had no doubt in her mind that Aj was good. She was good and she loved them and Taylor loved her. She missed her mom, no doubt. She missed her mom so much that it hurt, but having Aj around sometimes made it not hurt so much.

"Bye kiddo." Aj grinned and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before leaving out the front door. Taylor turned to return to her seat, but she caught sight of Thundercracker's gaze on the door. She smiled at him and watched as he narrowed his eyes in thought before looking back over to see what Skywarp was doing.

Taylor skipped back to her sketchbook and dropped down to finish drawing. She was nearly done with drawing all the mechs in the house. After this one, she just had to draw Soundwave and Grimlock and then that'd be it. Once she was finished she could show all of them to Sunstreaker too, which made her that much more excited to finish. After all, an artist never shows their work until they finish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ajummas: korean word for an old married woman


	27. Story

* * *

_"Story allows our imperfections to be set in a context that shows we are still good people." –Annette Simmons_

* * *

 

Monday morning was one of those times where I was super happy I had the mechs around to help me. The kids and I had woken up late again so now we were all rushing around the house trying to get our act together. While they were upstairs getting ready with the help of some of the mechs, I was downstairs trying to straighten up the kitchen while holding a phone between my shoulder and head.

"Aubs, you've been beating around the bush for the past five minutes." I interrupted her longwinded sentence, "Will you just get to the point?"

Aubrey chuckled nervously on the other end of the line while I transferred the dirty pan off the stove and into the sink with all the other dirty dishes. She cleared her throat, "Everything is going well. I just want to stress that I am fine before I ask you this next part."

I paused in my motions as dread filled my stomach. Despite her trying to use those words to comfort me, they only made me more nervous. Jazz's holoform strolled into the kitchen and I gave him a tight smile before focusing my attention on the phone call at hand.

"It seems I'm going to be here a little longer. I know I said I'd be back at the end of two months, but it might be more along the lines of…three?"

A sigh of relief left my lips as my body relaxed, "Oh God, Aubrey I thought something went wrong." I shook my head, "Yeah, of course, don't worry about it. You just get better."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Well, duh." I replied, "I'm not just gonna abandon the kids while you're gone."

"But what about school?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but I didn't really know what to say. It was actually a bit strange to be questioned about that at this point. Everyone in the house had found out the truth already.

"I've missed this much already." I shrugged sheepishly, "What could another couple weeks hurt?"

Jazz was leaning against the kitchen island across from me. I stared at him for a second before pulling my gaze away. Aubrey was rattling on about how she felt so bad that I was missing school, and it filled me with even more guilt. Quickly, I interrupted her again, "I gotta go, Aubs. School time and all that."

"Oh, right. Tell the kids I love them!"

"Yeah, I uh, will do."

I hung up without another word and set the phone against the kitchen counter. Jazz tilted his head at me, "You ok, sweetspark?"

"Peachy." I nodded with a forced smile, "I'm just outright lying to my sick sister. No big deal."

It was then that I realized in the panic of that entire conversation, I had forgotten to ask why she needed me to stay longer. I obviously didn't mind doing so, but I was curious as to why she had to spend an extra month or so at the hospital. She said everything was ok, but had something in her treatment gone wrong? Maybe she was lying to me as much as I was lying to her? I scoffed to myself at the thought. Aubrey didn't have a lying bone in her body. She was incapable of even the smallest of white lies.

"Aj!" Peter called out and seconds later he was standing in the kitchen with Jazz and I.

"What's up, buddy?" I questioned, "You ready for school?"

"Yeah, but I need a costume! I'm supposed to wear it tomorrow for the dress rehearsal and then on Wednesday for the real thing."

My eyes widened in surprise, "The school doesn't give you one or something?"

Peter shook his head no. I could hear Tyler and Taylor rushing down the stairs conversing with what sounded like Bumblebee. Bluestreak was probably still in the garage with some of the others. They were still working on that machine, trying to make it work. Ever since last night, when Starscream finally went through the upgrade, him and Wheeljack have been working together on it. I guess it was more helpful now that Starscream had hands that were big enough to actually get things done.

"Do you still want me to take them to school, Aj?" Bumblebee's holoform poked his head into the kitchen.

"Yeah, that'd be a huge help. Thanks, Bee." I replied and he grinned before ushering the twins out of the house and towards the truck. I turned my attention back to Peter, "Do you need anything specific?" He dug around in his book bag and pulled out a sheet of paper. It was a handout with all the characters in the play and what they should wear. I glanced over it before looking back up at Peter who was putting his shoes on by the door, "This is kind of last minute, you know."

"I was supposed to give that to you on Friday." Peter replied sheepishly.

Jazz chuckled to himself as I shook my head, "Pete!"

"Sorry, Aj. Bye!" He chirped before running out.

There was a beat of silence before I slowly turned around to see Jazz smirking at me from where he stood. I folded up the sheet of paper to tuck into the back jean pocket then crossed my arms curiously at him. His smirk only grew.

"Is there something I can help you with, Jazz?"

He straightened his posture, "Jus' wanted to talk is all."

"Right." I nodded and stepped toward him so I could lean against the island counter across from him, "Because our last heart to heart ended so well."

Jazz chuckled, but his smirk faltered slightly, "I wanted to clear the air 'tween us."

I pressed my lips together, "I'm sorry."

"Aj-"

"No, I am sorry." I repeated and rubbed the back of my neck, "I shouldn't have…I don't know. Freaked out? Shut you down so quickly? To be fair though, you dropped a bomb of an idea on me really short notice."

Jazz nodded, "I did, and I shouldn't 'ave pressed you like that which is why I'm sorry."

"Fine, we're both sorry and we're both forgiven." I chuckled, "Deal?"

"Sounds good to meh." Jazz grinned.

I pushed myself away from the counter to head back upstairs. I needed to get ready so that once Bumblebee got back with the truck, I could take it out to search the town for a costume for Peter. It shouldn't be too hard. The list just says white robe, gold crown, and a lightning bolt shaped thing to hold.

"Our offer is still up though, sweetspark." Jazz spoke up before I completely left the kitchen. I glanced back at him curiously to see he was leaning his side against the counter with one elbow, "An' now ya 'ave more time to think 'bout it too."

I opened my mouth only to close it stupidly and nod once before continuing on my way. After seeing them almost leave, I knew now that I didn't want to say goodbye. Despite mentally preparing myself for their departure since the day they showed up, I had fallen in love with these alien creatures and I was incapable of saying goodbye voluntarily. However, the situation was by no means easy. I couldn't just say yes and hop universes with the kids in tow and Aubrey following happily behind. That wasn't my decision to make. Aubrey was the one who had to make that decision about her kids, and if the kids stayed in this universe then I would too. No matter what. If Boss couldn't find me, then I knew without a doubt in my mind he'd go after her and the kids. He'd chase them to the ends of the Earth which is why I needed to stay and make sure his filthy hands got no where near them.

"Aj, babe!"

My eyes widened and I quickly turned around to see Sideswipe's holoform walking toward me with his arms outstretched. I blinked, "Yeah, what?"

"Are you ok? I called your name like a million times." Sideswipe replied.

I nodded, "I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself." Sideswipe grinned impishly.

I rolled my eyes with an amused smile and turned to walk into my room. Ratchet wasn't in here right now, but the usual line of cars were. Quickly, I grabbed a better change of clothes than the stuff I was wearing now and moved toward the bathroom. Sideswipe followed me every step of the way. At the final moment, I turned around with a skeptical look and Sideswipe nearly ran right into me.

"I'm not gonna let you follow me into the bathroom, so how about you say your piece now?"

Sideswipe chuckled, "Are you sure?"

"Bye."

"Wait, no!" He called out and grabbed the crook of my arm to keep me from turning around and walking into the bathroom with my stuff, "I wanted to ask you something." Sideswipe began to reach around my lower back, and before I could hit him or form a coherent complaint he pulled the piece of folded paper out of my back pocket, "Are you going shopping today?"

I motioned toward the paper, "Obviously you know I am."

"Can we go?" Sideswipe asked with a wide, charming grin, "Please? We'll be on our best behavior?"

"We?" I questioned and snatched the paper away from him.

He nodded and gave me a look that questioned my intelligence, "Sunny and I." My eyebrows furrowed together and I couldn't help but frown at his words. Sideswipe noticed this and began to shake his head, "Oh come on, Aj-"

"Why?"

"I miss hanging out, the three of us. Don't you? I know Sunny does." He sang the last part and I didn't miss the slight flinch of his features. The bright yellow brother must have said something or hit him over their magical bond.

The truth was I kind of did miss Sunstreaker in a weird way. If you had told me in the beginning that I was going to one day consider the yellow asshole a friend I would've punched you in the teeth. Now though…. I did consider him a friend. A good friend at that. What he said though had shaken me to my core. I've been called a lot of horrible things. Every demeaning, curse you could think of has been yelled at me at one point or another in my life. It came with the job, honestly. It gave me thick skin though and now I just laughed at anyone who wanted to call me a bitch or a skank or anything else. What Sunstreaker had said though was something else. He called his time here a waste. He basically said that I was a waste of his time and that cut me down. That was the one thing I didn't take well. It was the one thing that always filled my mind with doubt. Boss called me a waste. He always said that a waste of space like me was worthless to the world and those words just seemed to latch onto my past fears. It was one thing hearing those words from someone like Boss, but to hear it from someone I cared about? God, I had thought I was going to throw up right there and then.

"He doesn't want to be around me, and honestly I don't want to be around him." I shrugged, "I wouldn't want to _waste_ his precious time."

"Babe-" Sideswipe began and I could see the sincerity in his eyes, but I forced myself to turn and shut the bathroom door behind me. Sunstreaker had probably said those words as a way to protect himself. It seemed more like self-preservation than downright malice. I could understand that. I've done that myself a hundred times, but maybe this was a sign that being friends with the yellow warrior was only a bad idea. He was too broken for me, and I was too broken for him. Despite what the world wants to believe, two broken people don't make a whole. They make a bigger fucking mess.

* * *

 

"So am I gonna like this news?" I sighed and used the towel in my hands to try and dry my damp hair. We were in the office having one of those impromptu meetings. I was sitting in the office swivel chair while Optimus Prime, Jazz, and Thundercracker stood across from me. They were all using their holoforms at the moment. Technically, this was the kind of meeting where Wheeljack and Starscream should be here, but they were both downstairs still working.

"Good question." Jazz replied with his arms crossed.

"Bad answer." I retorted.

Optimus cleared his throat, "We have no idea what is wrong with the machine."

"Oh." I said in surprise, "Like…none?"

"Starscream had an idea, but after closer inspection it fell through." Thundercracker shook his head.

I lowered my damp towel and let it sit in my lap, "Damn. Now what?"

"Soundwave came up with a new plan." Optimus nodded, "It's similar in the end, but the general idea is that he believes some energy source must have brought us through to this universe so perhaps the same energy source can send us back."

"Energy source? What energy source?"

"We dunno." Jazz shrugged, "It's jus' a guess really. Could turn up to be 'nother dead end."

I sighed, "Well, obviously you guys are welcome here. I'm not gonna kick you to the curb because you're two month due date has passed." I let my gaze linger on each of them, "My only worry is your upgrades. If you stay here long enough, will you actually grow to your full jumbo size? That'll complicate things."

"Thank you, Aj. We appreciate your hospitality." Optimus said formally and the earnestness in his voice made me squirm slightly. "That is something we worry about as well and I have Ratchet trying to figure it out."

I chuckled, "I'm sure he loves _that_ job."

There was a chuckle of amusement that floated around the room, but it didn't last long. Before the meeting could continue though, a familiar face popped his head through the doorway with a wide cheesy grin, "Hey Aj-?"

"Didn't I already tell you no like six times?" I questioned Sideswipe who seemed unaffected by my tone or answer.

"Oh, come on." He whined, "Please take us with you? Please?"

I rolled my eyes, "I said no. If I needed someone to go with me I could ask Jazz to or TC."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jazz with a smug grin across his lips and I could see Thundercracker with a confused look focused on me. Was the seeker still not aware that I considered him a good friend? Even after the fun lunch I had with him and Josh last Thursday?

"Actually", Optimus Prime spoke up and all curious eyes shot to him, "Could you take the twins with you, Aj?"

"What?" I blurted, but I wasn't the only one. Jazz and Sideswipe both repeated the same word as I did with the same amount of confusion.

The leader nodded nonchalantly, "Neither of them handle being stuck in one place for too long very well. That's when the most accidents tend to occur." He glanced over at Sideswipe, who still looked surprised, but the red mech's holoform quickly began to nod his head in agreement, "Consider it a favor for Ratchet, Prowl, and I. Hmm?"

"Well, uh, sure, I guess." I nodded and stood up from my seat, "Ok. I'm leaving now, Sides."

Sideswipe grinned and rushed away. I still didn't really want to bring the twins along, but I couldn't exactly say no to Optimus Prime. Who the hell says no when Optimus Prime asks you for a favor? I gave the three holoforms in the room a quick smile before leaving and as I left the room I heard Jazz speak up, but I couldn't make out the words. It only took me a couple minutes to throw a hoodie over my head and put my damp towel in the bathroom where it could dry.

I said a quick goodbye to the mechs in the garage as I grabbed my shoes and then met Sideswipe by the front door. He looked a little bit too chipper, but I didn't comment on the face splitting grin he wore.

"Where's your brother?"

"He's putting our alt modes in the truck. We don't know how far out you plan to drive." Sideswipe opened the door for me.

I slipped my boots on, "Why are you so hell bent on coming with your twin, Sides?"

"I want you and Sunny to be friends again." He said truthfully with a shrug. As I stepped out his holoform wrapped an arm around my shoulder and led me down the front porch steps, "If you guys aren't friends then you aren't calling him those wonderful nicknames, and if you don't call him some more nicknames I'll lose the bet."

I shoved his arm away, "Are you serious?"

"I need to win this bet, babe." He nodded, "You have _no_ idea the kind of things I put on the line."

I tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn't help crack a smile. If there was one thing Sideswipe could do, it was make me laugh. My gaze drifted toward the truck where Sunstreaker's holoform was unhappily leaning against the side of.

I sighed, "Is he gonna be like this the entire time?"

Sideswipe paused before giving me a sheepish look, "Not the _entire_ time."

"Well, you're wrong about one thing, Sides." He gave me a curious look. "I don't have to be his friend to call him nicknames" I pulled my keys out of the front pocket of my hoodie and nodded toward Sunstreaker, "Hey, Mr. Doom and gloom, get in the truck."

Sideswipe, "28, but I'm only counting it because I'm so desperate."

I rolled my eyes and we all got into the truck. Sideswipe grabbed the passenger seat and Sunstreaker sat in the middle back. I glanced in the rear view mirror and caught his gaze, but he tore it away after a second. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 

Ratchet was in his bipedal mode standing off to the side in the garage. His optics were narrowed down at the datapad in his servos, but his full attention wasn't dedicated to the task he was trying to accomplish.

"Perhaps if we…" Wheeljack was thinking aloud across the room in his natural language as the trine listened skeptically. Soundwave had left a while back to pursue his own ideas on getting home while Starscream remained to help Wheeljack. However, Starscream was still unhappily stuck in his holoform.

"That would change nothing." Starscream spat out in English. Though Skywarp and Thundercracker's holoforms looked slightly similar in build, Starscream's was vastly different. He was just as tall as their holoforms, but he was incredibly slim with human hair that was shade between blond and brunet. While Thundercracker and Skywarp's holoforms looked like soldiers, Starscream's looked like a scientist. Ratchet couldn't help but mentally commend Hound and Wheeljack's holoform programming.

_::Is there a specific reason why you had me ask Aj to take the twins rather than doing it yourself?::_

Optimus' voice spoke over the commlink dividing Ratchet's attention further from the task at hand. At this rate, he'd never figure out the strange, random pattern to these sporadic updates.

_::I only ask because I am still upstairs listening to Jazz's many reasons why it was a bad idea.::_

Ratchet resisted the urge to roll his optics and huff out an unnecessary breath of air from his vents. Sideswipe hadn't been subtle this morning when asking Aj to take him and his brother out, and Aj hadn't been subtle in shutting him down every time. It was the reason why Ratchet knew that somebody had to step in and change the pace. Aj wasn't going to change her mind otherwise, and Sideswipe wasn't going to shut up about it.

 _::If I had asked the favor, she would have argued with me relentlessly. You, however, I don't think she's capable of saying no to a favor from you.::_ Ratchet replied dryly.

_::She has made it very clear that she does 'whatever the hell she wants'.::_

Ratchet could hear the amusement over the commlink and he knew that Optimus was directly quoting the femme there.

_::And yet she agreed to take the twins out without argument.::_

_::Fair enough, Ratchet.::_

Ratchet chuckled to himself. Despite the many walls Aj threw up to protect herself, she was a fairly easy to read. At least, Ratchet considered it easy to read her. Optimus' commlink went quiet and Ratchet had a feeling it was because Jazz had caught on to the fact that his commanding officer wasn't entirely listening to his complaints.

That was another reason Ratchet asked Optimus to state the favor rather than doing it himself. He didn't want to listen to Jazz's million and two reasons against it.

* * *

 

"Wouldn't it be easier to go to a large store and just buy the parts separate?" Sunstreaker asked in a dry tone.

"Why when I could come to this small store and buy the Zeus outfit in one go?" I argued in response.

"Because you already said you don't know if they'll even have one."

"But they could and I could _save_ time."

"But they might not and you could be _wasting_ time."

The two of us stopped in our steps to glare at each other. I had brought the twins to a small costume party shop downtown. It was the kind of place where you could buy Halloween costumes year round. Sunstreaker had a good point, but damn if I was going to admit that to him. Even if I knew I was wrong I'd argue against him regardless.

Sideswipe stepped between the two of us and wrapped his long arms around each of us. There was a sheepish grin on his lips, "Isn't this fun?"

"No." Sunstreaker and I said at the same time. Our glares had been focused on Sideswipe, but at the agreement of the lack of fun our eyes met again. There was a pause before Sunstreaker heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. He shoved his brother's arm off him before stepping forward and pulling the door open. He held it open and put a forced smile on his lips before motioning for me to enter.

I scoffed and walked into the small shop without another word. The store was decent sized, but it was entirely empty at the moment. There were multiple shelves that were decorated messily with random costume products. Sideswipe must have seen something that caught his eye because he immediately rushed off to the side of the store. I figured I'd let him explore on his own and made my way to the very back where I spotted a man behind a glass counter of products.

"Hey." I spoke up to gain his attention.

His head snapped up and his brown eyes widened in surprise, "O-Oh. Hi. Uh, welcome to Party Central. Here to satisfy any and all costume and party needs." He shoved aside the book he had been reading and rubbed his hands nervously against the red work vest he was wearing, "I'm uh Ted. Can I help you?"

Ted looked like he was still in high school age wise, but he was taller than me with wide shoulders. He shook his head to get his dark bangs out of his eyes. I put a bright smile on my features and he nervously cleared his throat.

"Hi, Ted. I'm looking for a costume for my ten-year-old nephew. He needs to dress up as Zeus the Greek god. Do you have anything that might fit?"

Ted blinked owlishly before glancing around. He lifted a hand with one finger raised as he thought to himself, "We might… I think we do. Um there's two places it might be." He stepped around the glass counter then suddenly stopped, "I can check the front for you and you can go around back and check the costume closet." I opened my mouth to question him and he pointed to the back, "It's just around the corner. You can't miss it."

He rushed away to the front and I headed toward the back with a shrug. I was going to question why he'd send me to the back while looking at the front. It seemed a little backwards, but in the end it didn't really matter. One of us would find the costume all the same I assumed.

The closet was just around the corner, but it wasn't the typical broom closet. When I first drove up I noticed the store had a drive-thru area that you'd see at a fast food place. It wasn't too surprising considering a lot of buildings downtown were repurposed. There was a church around here somewhere that used to be a bank. This store obviously used to be some sort of food place based on the used to be freezer I was standing in front of.

The inside of the freezer was small like a typical closet, but all the wall shelves were filled with costumes and props rather than food. The cold air aspect of the freezer had long ago been shut down, but the door was still a large silver freezer type door. It was propped open to the side so all I had to do was walk in.

A chuckle of amusement left my lips before I stepped in and began to search for a Greek god outfit. There was no organization to any of the items in here so it was a total toss up of where I might find the damn thing. After a minute or two of looking I heard footsteps so I turned in hopes that it was Ted with the costume in hand, but Sunstreaker stood in the doorway instead.

"Oh, it's _you_." I said and turned back around to keep looking.

Sunstreaker scoffed, "Don't sound so excited."

There was a white robe thing half hanging off the very top shelf that looked promising from where I stood. I pushed myself up on my tiptoes to try and grab it, but the tips of my fingers only grazed against the edge of the material when I jumped. After a few more failed attempts I began to look around for a footstool. If I couldn't find one I was just gonna climb the stupid shelf like an animal.

"I'll get it." Sunstreaker mumbled and stepped into the closet towards me.

He reached up but I pushed him aside before he could grab it. His light eyes narrowed in a questioning glare, but I just shook my head, "I can get it myself."

"You're five foot three. There is no possible way for you to reach that." He snapped, "Just let me help you, you fragging-"

"I don't _want_ your help, and I don't _need_ it." I replied, "Besides, I wouldn't want to waste your precious time, Sunstreaker."

There was a flash of something that crossed Sunstreaker's face, but he turned away before I could fully catch it. He took a few steps back and I thought he was leaving, but the sound of metal groaning made me whip around to see him pulling the large metal door closed.

"What are you doing?" I cried and tried to stop him, but by time I got to him the freezer door closed shut with a click.

Now the two of us were standing in the small, warm freezer space. Sunstreaker clenched his jaw, "We need to talk."

"Why did you close the damn door? I don't want to be in here with you."

"I'll open it in a klik, would you just listen to me?!"

"I don't want to!"

"Femme-"

"You started this!" I snapped, "You wanted it to be like this, Sunstreaker, ok? This was _you_." It took a moment for me to calm down and bite back on the emotions that flared up. Sunstreaker just stood in front of me with his gaze on me as I took a steadying breath, "It doesn't matter. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been arguing with you because it doesn't…it doesn't matter."

Why was it so hard to ignore him? The plan was just to pretend like he didn't exist. I didn't want to be angry with him because that meant…it meant I cared, and I didn't. I didn't care. I didn't want to care. I wanted to be nonchalant about all of this. I wanted to be indifferent about Sunstreaker, but for some damn reason I couldn't. I was just angry.

"So let's just…let's just go." I tried to push past him to get to the door handle myself, but Sunstreaker pulled me back and sidestepped so he stood in between my exit and me. "Sunstreaker-"

"You're _not_ a waste of space." He said roughly, "I didn't mean it like that. I was just… _frag it_."

I bit my lower lip and he pulled his gaze away. His entire holoform was tense and rigid in front of me. Sunstreaker was not in his comfort zone right now. In fact, he looked as far away from it as possible. He looked tenser now than he did the few times I spotted him before an argument or brawl in the house.

"I know." I crossed my arms and sighed, "You were just protecting yourself. I get it. It makes sense."

Sunstreaker nodded, "But I hurt you in the process. Again."

There was a pause between the two of us. I had been so pissed at Sunstreaker, but there was a look on his face that I couldn't stay angry at. He had hurt me, but right now he was doing something that didn't happen too often. I think he was apologizing for it. Or at least, he was trying to as best as Sunstreaker could.

"Why did you do it?" I asked and his eyes caught my own. "I mean, I get that you were trying to protect yourself, but I don't get why. What were you trying to protect yourself from?"

His gaze softened slightly, but stayed on me, "You…remind me of someone. Someone I think I cared about. A…A lot." I vaguely remembered Sideswipe mentioning something like that. "I lost her. In more ways than one, and I don't want to… You're not the only one bad at goodbyes."

I shrugged with a smirk, "I'll have you know that I'm very good at goodbyes."

Sunstreaker let out a scoff, "Just because you're forced to do something a lot, doesn't make you good at it. It just makes you good at pretending." My smirk faltered and he shook his head, "You deserve better than that though so I'm…" He sighed, "I am…"

I chuckled and nodded, "You're forgiven. Just don't hurt yourself trying to say that cursed four letter word."

Sunstreaker's holoform's lips twitched up in amusement. I pushed past him to open the freezer door, but when I pushed on the handle nothing happened. My own smile fell as I struggled against the handle repeatedly, "Sunstreaker?"

He lightly pushed me aside and tried the handle himself, but it didn't work. A look crossed his face, but I shoved myself in front of him before he could lift his hands. He glared at me, "What are you doing?"

"What am _I_ doing? What are _you_ doing?" I questioned.

"I was going to open the door."

"By what? Ripping it off the hinges?" I pressed. He quirked an eyebrow up at me as if questioning why that was a problem. "You _can't_ do that."

He frowned, "And why the frag not? Don't you want out?"

"Yes, but normal human beings can't rip freezer doors off the hinges." I hissed and began to bang my fist against the door in hopes that Ted would hear.

Sunstreaker groaned, "Another reason why you humans are inferior. As if there weren't enough reasons."

"Ted!" I yelled out and paused to sneer at his ' _inferior humans'_ comment, "A human didn't get us stuck in here, you did you, big, yellow dunce."

Sideswipe's voice called out from the other side, "29!"

"Sides!" I called out.

"Oh my God, are you guys ok?" Ted's voice spoke up. Both of them must have come around.

I sighed, "We're fine, but the door is stuck. Can you open it from that side?"

"I don't have the key! Earl does!"

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, "Who the hell is Earl?"

"My boss!" Ted cried back, "I can go get it from him, but it might take a minute."

Something told me it was going to take a lot longer than just a minute. Ted ran off with Sideswipe claiming that he was going to help him. Sunstreaker yelled after his brother, but stopped after a minute. He was probably still cursing the red twin over their bond though. I'd bet money on it. I crossed the closet and sat down in the corner where I could lean my back against a box on the lower shelf. Sunstreaker paced in front of me after a minute before looking down at me. I offered him a small smile and he sighed.

He came over and grabbed the white robe off the top shelf before dropping it into my lap. I lifted it up to look at it as he sat down an inch or two to my right. The robe was about Peter's size, but Granny would probably have to make it a little bit smaller for the slim boy. It was definitely Greek god looking though. It had gold details and was very toga like in its design.

"I think this'll work." I nodded.

Sunstreaker pulled his knees up and rested his arms on the top of them. He let out a small grunt acknowledging my words. I folded the robe up and settled my hands on top of it. I heaved a sigh and settled down for what I knew was probably gonna be a long wait.

* * *

 

Most mechs in the house had a favorite location. Thundercracker had enjoyed the top shelf of the human's entertainment system when he was small. It was the highest place in the house and it couldn't really been seen by anyone else. Not entirely at least. Now that he was larger his favorite spot didn't exactly work for him any longer. However, he had found a new spot that he liked a good bit.

He could only be here while in his holoform, but the Autobots were pretty adamant about most mechs staying in their holoforms throughout the day. It was the single seat couch in the living room. The one where he could sit and see the foyer and the entire living room as well with his pedes resting on the low table between all the couches. Aj called it a coffee table, but he hadn't ever seen her drinking coffee at it.

His trine brothers were still in the garage, but Thundercracker was content in his chair with his holoform's helm leaning back to stare up at the ceiling. The sound of the front door opening made him curiously glance over. The older human, Rosie, and the younglings came parading through the door. It wasn't anywhere near the time they should be home, and something was obviously wrong. Rosie and Peter had a look of worry across their faceplates and Taylor's optics were rimmed red as if she had been crying. His optics landed on Tyler and he couldn't help but sit straight up as he realized the youngling was injured. The flesh around his left optic was purple and the flesh around his nose was tinted red.

"Oh hello, Thundercracker." Rosie sighed, "Where is Aimee Jane?"

"Out." He answered, "Tyler?"

At the sound of his designation, his lower lip quivered and he sprinted up the stairs without another word. Thundercracker shifted his gaze to the other humans. Rosie and Peter rushed upstairs after him, but Taylor slowly walked into the living room towards him. He stiffened as she crawled up into the chair and sat in his lap with her head resting on his chassis. He awkwardly let his servo pat her back. There were mechs upstairs that could handle the other humans, but he knew the best mech for Taylor was in the garage.

_::Send Bumblebee into the living room. The younglings are home. Taylor is upset and Tyler is injured.::_

He sent the comm message to Skywarp, but within nano-kliks he heard the garage door swing open and the sound of pedes running down the hall. Bumblebee's holoform slid into the foyer from the kitchen and he rushed over.

"Taylor?" He questioned in a worried tone and she quickly sat up with her arms outstretched. She quietly began to cry again and Bumblebee was quick to scoop her up and rock the youngling in his arms.

Bluestreak ran in next with wide optics, "Tyler? _Where is Tyler_? You said he was _injured_ is he-"

Thundercracker pointed toward the stairs and Bluestreak's holoform raced up them without another word. He shifted in his seat as Taylor mumbled words into her guardian's shoulder. Bumblebee began to move toward the stairs, "She's shopping with the twins, but she'll be home soon, Taylor. I promise."

The living room was empty again, but there was a feeling of unease that Thundercracker couldn't shake. Soundwave and Megatron entered the room and stood in front of the entertainment system.

"What has happened now?" Megatron asked gruffly. Soundwave's helm tilted slightly as he turned to look at Thundercracker. The seeker let his holoform give a human like shrug. Megatron's frown turned to a sneer, but whatever he planned to say was interrupted when Peter came into the room with a sigh.

The youngling glanced from Thundercracker to Soundwave and Megatron. He sighed, "Hey guys."

"Inquiry: What occurred?"

Peter came over and he sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of the two smaller Cybertronians. Thundercracker shifted forward in his seat to listen as the youngling spoke, "Tyler got in a fight at school. One of the boys in their class was picking on Taylor so Tyler stepped in. It went from arguing to hitting I guess. Taylor is pretty shaken up still, but Bee is calming her down pretty well and Tyler won't talk to us."

"Is he talking to Bluestreak?" Thundercracker asked curiously. He had long ago gotten over the surprise of the fact that he did care about the wellbeing of the humans in this house.

"I think Blue is still trying." Peter shrugged and kicked his foot, "Optimus was gonna talk to him too." There was a slight groan of pain that made Thundercracker glance over to his right. Megatron's optics were downcast as he held a servo over his chassis. Peter stood up in worry, "Megatron? Are you ok? Should I get Ratchet?"

Suddenly, Megatron began to grow as he went through the upgrade. Within nano-kliks, the warlord was standing at the Earth measurement of seven feet three inches tall. Peter's optics grew wide in surprise. Megatron's optics went dark as he began to tilt forward. Thundercracker jumped up and tackled Peter without a second thought in his processor. Megatron fell forward and slammed into the coffee table, crushing it entirely under his weight. Thundercracker rolled over and glanced over the youngling to make sure he was fine.

Peter glanced from Megatron to him, "Wow. Thanks, TC."

Thundercracker nodded and relaxed against the ground. There was one thing he knew for sure right now and that was the fact that Aj was not going to be happy when she got home.

* * *

 

A good fifteen minutes of silence had passed in the not freezing freezer, and every second that passed seemed to fill the air with even more awkwardness. The awkwardness could probably be blamed on the fact that we had only just made up after that fight, but I was getting pretty sick of the silence. Before I could open my mouth to speak, Sunstreaker beat me to it.

"Have you changed your mind?"

I blinked in confusion, "That's a little vague, do you wanna clear it up a little?"

"Have you changed your mind about staying here?" Sunstreaker pressed, but he kept his gaze straight ahead rather than looking back at me. "I know Jazz is still pushing for you and the younglings to come with us."

"Aubrey too." I added too since he forgot to mention her. He grunted again, but didn't seem to care much for me bringing up my sister's name. I shrugged and tore my gaze away from him to look straight ahead as well, "I don't know. I don't want to say goodbye to y'all, but… I also don't want to get stepped on by a pissed off Megatron or Barricade, you feel me?" Sunstreaker didn't reply so I continued, "You voted that you wanted me to stay here, didn't you?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Sideswipe didn't though."

"Can I ask why?" I pressed curiously.

Sunstreaker turned to look at me at with a shake of his head, "Isn't it obvious? We're in the middle of this Primus forsaken war. The real question is how anyone could fragging want to drag all of you into the mess we call our lives." He scoffed, "Jazz argues that you're in danger here, but nothing that Boss fragger could do to you compares to what could happen if you're involved with us."

"Well, he could kill me." I said, playing devil's advocate.

Sunstreaker flinched slightly and tore his gaze away. His voice grew quieter, "Death is better than some of the stuff the cons could do to you."

The conversation had taken a bit of a darker turn than I liked. I cleared my throat and shrugged, "I know Ratchet, you, Prowl, and Blue voted no, but what did Optimus Prime vote for? Did he vote yes?"

"Why do you want to know?"

I gave him a wide grin so he'd know I was trying to lighten the mood, "Come on. It's _Optimus Prime_. I'm not entirely sure he's capable of making a wrong decision."

Sunstreaker let out a laugh of all things. It was short, but it was genuine. I had heard him chuckle under his breath and things of that nature, but to actually let out a bark of laughter like that seemed crazy to me. He shook his head with a smirk, "Primus, you sound like Sides."

"I do?"

"Oh yeah." Sunstreaker nodded, "Sideswipe thinks he, as you humans say, walks on water." He paused briefly to look at you, "I don't fully get that human metaphor, by the way."

I rolled my eyes and ignored his last comment, "What and you don't?"

Sunstreaker leaned back and I noticed that any tension his body once held was now gone. He was entirely relaxed, "Sides told you about how we joined the Autobots after the Docks were attacked right?" I nodded and he continued, "Sideswipe had wanted to join the Autobots decacycles before the Docks were hit. Prime used to get on air and broadcast these… _speeches_. They were about peace and hope and Sideswipe just ate that stuff up."

"I never pictured Sides to be an OP fanboy." I commented.

Sunstreaker shrugged, "I never bought into any of it. I figured he was just some politician general trying to sell the war to young mechs who were too stupid to know any better. I only agreed to join after the Docks because I wanted revenge." He paused and his small smile faltered as his eyes grew wide, "But frag, he didn't disappoint. I might not agree with everything Prime says, but I do respect him. Optimus turned out to be everything Sides thought he'd be. The slagger still doesn't let me live that down."

I smiled and added his words to the small story being written in my mind on who these two mechs were. It seemed like I was always learning something new. Something else to be added into the story that changes everything.

"Sides said they got the key. They'll be back in about ten Earth minutes."

I nodded and bit my lower lip, "Hey, Sunstreaker?" He turned his head to look my way. There was a look of calm, nonchalance on his face. I suddenly realized how much I missed talking to him. Not bantering with him in front of all the other mechs and the kids, but actually talking to him like this. I took in a deep breath, "I want to ask you something, but I don't know how you'll take it. I don't want to make you upset or anything."

His eyebrows furrowed together and I couldn't help be amazed again on how realistic these holoforms were. His jaw clenched slightly and I could tell he was hesitating, but finally he let out a breath of air and nodded, "Ask."

"Sideswipe told me that… that your name used to be Spin-Out." I began and the moment the words left my mouth his entire body tensed again. There was a look of worry in his eyes that was clear to see. "I just wanted to know why you chose the name Sunstreaker is all."

Sunstreaker visibly relaxed. He must have thought I was going to ask something else because by time I finished my statement the worry was gone from his eyes. He turned away to look straight ahead again, but I didn't push because I figured he'd answer me after taking time to think about it or he'd ignore me. The mech didn't owe me any answers after all.

Finally, he turned back to look at me and the calm look had returned, "Sideswipe lied to you about something. Not because he wanted to, but because it's something neither of us really talk about anymore." My eyes widened curiously at what it could be. "He told you that we don't remember anything about our…parents is the human term, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah. It is. He said your parents died when you guys were young."

"They did." Sunstreaker nodded and glanced away, "But we remember them very well." He paused and I watched as a slight smile grew on his lips, "Our carrier, or mother, used to tell us stories at night before we went to berth. She had all these amazing stories, but there was one story that Sideswipe had her repeat over and over. I didn't mind because I liked the story too."

I set Peter's costume aside and curled my knees up so I could rest my head on top of them. Sunstreaker glanced over at my movements, but he didn't stop, "The story was about a misunderstood mech. He had no designation, no past that he could remember, and he had no home. He wandered from city to city, but nobody ever welcomed him because they were scared of him. He was built large, with thick armor marred by scars, and had bright red eyes. Gradually, the mech began to believe the stories people told about him. He thought he had to be a monster. Well one day, the stars in the sky began to quarrel. They fought and argued about who was the brightest, about who deserved to light up the sky. The fight got so intense that they didn't even notice how close to Cybertron they had gotten. The light they gave off was so intense that it began to burn down cites and home. While they argued about who would light Cybertron best, they didn't realize they were killing the planet and those that lived on it." Sunstreaker paused, "The mech realized, while others around him began to die and buildings began to burn, that the heat didn't bother him. His armor was so thick that it didn't affect him. The light didn't blind his bright red eyes either. It was then that he knew what he had to do." A slow smile spread across Sunstreaker's lips and for a moment I was shocked by how the genuine and real smile lit up his features, "He climbed to the highest building, flames all around him, and leaped into the sky. He leaped so high and so far that he landed in space with the stars. The mech began to grab the stars and throw them this way and that. He was spacing them apart so the light didn't burn the planet he loved. He was streaking the light across the sky around the entire planet. He kept doing this until his armor was scorched black from the heat and he didn't have the energy to continue. Slowly, he fell from the sky back to Cybertron. He knew that this had to be the end. He was going to crash into the ground and his spark would be extinguished, but…" Sunstreaker paused again and I suddenly realized that I was hanging onto his every word, "The people on the planet who hated him, who shunned him, they sent up seekers and planes to catch the mech mid air and safely bring him down. They tended to his wounds and he was celebrated as a hero. They called him _Sunstreaker_ from that day on as a memory to the day he spread out the light that was killing the planet."

" _Sunstreaker_." I breathed with a slight chuckle, "That's why you chose the name? As a memory to your mom?"

He shrugged, "Sideswipe chose the name, really. That stupid nickname he calls me. Sunny? He's been calling me that since the first time we heard that story."

"He might have chosen it, but you agreed to it." I grinned. Sunstreaker nodded and I chuckled to myself, "That was a good story. You're good at telling it."

"She was better." He mumbled softly. The smile on his face had grown smaller, but he was lost in his own memories now.

I cleared my throat, "My mom wasn't a big story teller. Aubrey was though." I chuckled, "She'd tell me stories as she bandaged up my cuts and bruises. The ones I usually got from fighting the kids that would pick on her. I guess it was a fair trade."

"You still love her." Sunstreaker spoke up, "Even after she left you?"

I paused in thought. Maybe for years I had held that grudge, but a part of me knew that underneath it all I stilled cared about her. The fact that I was here in Alabama after all this time was proof of that. That was my big problem really. No matter how much I pretended not to, I really did care too much. It was the same problem I just witnessed with Sunstreaker. Despite the fact that I wanted nothing more than to nonchalantly cut him out of my life. I cared too much deep down to actually do it. That's why it hurt so much when Kyle left.

"She's my sister." I sighed, "Even if Sideswipe did something crazy and left you or something…you'd still love him wouldn't you?"

"Sideswipe wouldn't ever leave me."

"But…?" I pressed with a grin.

Sunstreaker rolled his eyes, "But if he did, I'd still love him yeah." He nodded, "I'd fragging beat the slag out of him though."

I laughed, "Yeah, well, Aubrey is basically made out of glass. I can't afford to punch her in the teeth. Even though I wanted to for a very long time." There was a break of silence when something finally clicked in my mind. My eyes went wide as I whipped my head around to look at Sunstreaker He seemed startled by me, "Why are you still here?"

"What?" He questioned with narrowed eyes.

"You're a holoform. You could just fizzle out and reappear outside of the closet then pop back in when Ted showed up to not cause suspicion. You didn't have to be stuck in here." I said. He shrugged and crossed his arms and mumbled something under his breath. "What?"

He sighed in an annoyed manner, "I said, I didn't want to leave you in here alone."

It took a moment for me to wrap my head around his words, but when I did a slow grin spread across my features. Sunstreaker rolled his eyes again at the look on my face, but I just chuckled, "I know your real secret now, Sunstreaker."

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

I leaned over and set my head on his shoulder. He stiffened at the touch but didn't shove me away, "You're a total softie under that thick yellow armor." Sunstreaker let out another annoyed sigh, but his stiff body relaxed. "I see it now you grumpy, teddy bear."

"30!" Sideswipe's voice chirped. My head snapped up and I quickly got to my feet. Ted began to speak from the other side as well saying he got the key. I heard him toying with the door handle. Sunstreaker slowly pushed off the ground to stand by me.

Before the door opened I glanced over at Sunstreaker and gave him a soft smile. I shrugged sheepishly, "I don't know what's gonna happen. If I stay here or if I end up going with you, but I'm glad to call you my friend, Sunstreaker."

That small smile grew on his lips again, but I turned my attention to the door that was being pulled open. Ted stood to the side with a worried look on his face as Sideswipe beamed from beside him.

"What the frag are you wearing?" Sunstreaker barked.

Sideswipe had a cowboy vest on over his black button up shirt, a ten-gallon hat on his head, a toy gun holster around his waist, an eye patch over his right eye, and a fake toy parrot on his shoulder, "Don't be jealous, Sunny. There are plenty of other costumes in the store you can try on."

I ignored the argument brewing between Sunstreaker and his cowboy, pirate brother. Instead, I picked up the robe off the ground and walked over to Ted, "I found what I was looking for, but do you have an accessories to go with it? Maybe something that isn't located in a used-to-be-freezer that I can get locked in?"

Ted opened and closed his mouth repeatedly as he tried to find words to speak. Finally he just settled on nodding his head and leading me back towards the front. I glanced over my shoulder at Sunstreaker, who was glaring at his brother, and Sideswipe, who was beaming at me with his thumbs up. I chuckled and shook my head before following after Ted.

There weren't many accessories available that would fit the whole 'Zeus' theme, but I grabbed a fake, gray beard and a crown of plastic, golden laurel that Peter could wear. I could always make Peter a shiny lightning bolt to hold on stage, and by that I mean I could rope some poor mech into doing it for me. Sunstreaker was artsy, and we were on speaking terms now so that might work.

"Down that aisle, they have plastic swords." Sideswipe grinned and motioned across the store to his brother.

Sunstreaker narrowed his eyes and shook his head, "We have fragging real swords, you moron."

"So what do I owe you, Teddy?" I motioned toward the robe, crown, and beard.

Ted shook his head, "Earl told me to just give you the stuff as long as you promise not to sue him for the freezer thing."

"I like this Earl guy." I replied and nodded, "You got a deal." I glanced over at Sideswipe who motioned toward his own new accessories. With a roll of my eyes, I looked back to Ted, "I'll be paying for this idiot though. No arguments."

"Have I mentioned that you're my favorite human?" Sideswipe asked as he slunk over and leaned on top of my head.

I shook him off with a laugh, "I aint gonna buy you the whole ensemble. You can pick two things."

Sideswipe paused in thought before he glanced over himself. After a moment he pointed to the toy belt around his waist, "The gun and the belt count as one."

"Fine."

Ten minutes later the three of us were back in the truck, but this time the middle seat in the front was pushed up so Sideswipe could sit between Sunstreaker and I. The cab of the truck was filled with a comfortable glow, which was infinitely different from the atmosphere earlier. Also different was the fact that Sideswipe was wearing an eye patch over his right eye and playing with a toy gun. I wouldn't have ever predicted that.

"Check this out, Sunny." Sideswipe elbowed his brother. He lifted the new plastic gun to show it off. It looked like the old revolvers that cowboys would use in the Wild West. He cocked back the hammer and pulled the trigger. The gun let out a comical, small 'bang' that Sideswipe was overly amused by. "Isn't that awesome?"

"Sideswipe", Sunstreaker began slowly, "You are the Autobot's artillery unit. You have 200,000 pounds of explosives in your subspace. Can you at least act like it?"

Sideswipe smirked and waved his gun in his brother's face, "No need to be jealous, Sunny. Aj did offer to buy you one too."

"I did, Tinker Bell."

"Oh, that's 31!" Sideswipe cheered and fired his toy gun in celebration, "Skywarp and Ratchet are officially out of the running."

I laughed in amusement and my laugh only grew louder when Sunstreaker reached over, grabbed Sideswipe's eye patch, pulled it back, and then let it snap back onto the red mech's holoform's face.

I pulled the truck back into the driveway and narrowed my eyes at the familiar car parked on the edge of the curb, "Why is Granny here?"

"Pit if we know." Sunstreaker commented. He got out of the truck and went around to grab his and Sideswipe's actual bodies. He let out a grunt of acknowledgement making me think Sideswipe must have said something over the bond. I grabbed the bag of what I bought from the backseat and then slid out of the truck and walked around, and the moment I got around the truck Sideswipe slid into step beside me. He lazily draped his arm around my shoulders and I rolled my eyes in response.

"Thanks, Sides." I said with a chuckle, "I'm glad you pushed for this to happen. I'm glad I made up with Sunstreaker."

"Sunny wanted to make up with you." Sideswipe shrugged, "He just needed a push. I know you did to. It was no problem."

"Still, I owe you."

Sideswipe grinned and I couldn't help but chuckle at how ridiculous he looked with that stupid eye patch and fake gun hanging off his hip, "I know one way you can pay me back." He briefly lifted the eye patch to wink at me.

"Are you still going on about that?" I rolled my eyes.

"You said it yourself, it's just a kiss. No big deal, right?" Sideswipe said. He pulled me to a stop before we began to walk up the front porch. "Besides, the fact that Jazz got the first Cybertronian-Human kiss is just a punch to my ego."

I chuckled, "I think you could use a few _more_ punches to your ego, Sides."

Sideswipe beamed at my words and leaned in closer toward me. I raised an eyebrow at him, but his smile only grew. The front door suddenly opened and I glanced over.

"Aj, what are you doing with Sideswipe?" Taylor questioned with a frown.

My eyes widened and I pushed away from Sideswipe, "Taylor? What are you doing home?"

"Were you _kissing_ him?" Taylor cried with horror on her features.

"What? _No_ I-"

Sideswipe nodded, "Yes."

I elbowed Sideswipe in the gut and he doubled over and wheezed out a light laugh. Taylor shook her head, "Aj, how could you do that to Jazz?!"

I jogged over, "Taylor, I promise I wasn't kissing Sideswipe." I knelt down in front of her, "Now what are you doing home?"

Taylor's face fell slightly as she shook her head, "Granny picked us up. Tyler he…"

Worry bubbled in my stomach, and Sideswipe must have realized something was wrong as well. I shook my head, "Where is Granny and Tyler?"

"Upstairs." She replied. I tossed the bag off to the side of the foyer and rushed up the stairs without a second thought. I came to a screeching halt when Granny stepped out of the office room and stood on the top step.

"What's going on?" I said in a breathless manner, "Is Tyler ok?"

"There was a fight at school. Tyler is fine, but he has quite the black eye." Granny sighed.

My eyes widened and I pushed past her, "Why didn't the school call me?"

"I was already there volunteering in the library. I brought them home."

"Is he in his room?"

Granny nodded, "He wont talk to any of us. Even Bluestreak." I bit my lower lip and watched as Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz stepped out of the office then. Ratchet and Wheeljack stepped out of my room with Soundwave by their feet. Granny shook her head, "Did you by chance take a peek in the living room?"

"No. Why?" I questioned.

"Megatron went through the upgrade." Prowl spoke up, "And he landed on your coffee table. It took us quite some time to drag him up to the medbay."

Granny set a hand on my shoulder, "He nearly landed on Peter. We're lucky Thundercracker was there to push him away."

" _Peter_?" I shook my head, "But he's-"

"He's fine." Wheeljack spoke up from down the hall, "He's in the living room with Bumblebee and Taylor."

Ratchet nodded, "I looked over him and Tyler both. They are fine."

I gave a brief nod before turning toward Tyler's bedroom and pushing the door open. Tyler was sitting on his bed facing the back wall with Bluestreak sitting beside him. Bluestreak glanced at me and gave me a sad smile.

"Do you mind if I talk to Tyler real quick, Blue?" Bluestreak nodded and left the room. He shut the door behind him and I paused before sitting on the bed beside the young boy. Tyler tensed when I sat down and he readjusted the bag of frozen peas he was holding over his eye. I pressed my lips together, "Mind if I take a look at that shiner?"

Tyler hesitated before turning to face me, but he didn't lower the ice pack. I gently lowered his hand and set the make shift ice pack aside. His left eye was bruised, but it wasn't too swollen which was good.

"Am I…Am I in trouble, Aj?" Tyler asked with a whimper.

I twisted my lips, "How about you just tell me what happened first, little man?"

He nodded sadly, "Bryan was being mean. He started saying really mean things to Taylor. Like-Like, he said our mommy and daddy don't love us and that's why you're here and-and-and he said it was weird that Taylor liked Transformers." Tyler's eyebrows furrowed together and his hands balled up into fists, "Taylor yelled at him and told him to stop, but then he pushed her! He _pushed_ her, Aj!"

I tried not to show how upset I was at the fact that some little punk ass kid had pushed my baby niece down. Tyler was already riled up enough. I nodded, "Then what happened?"

"I told him to stop. That I was gonna tell Mrs. Belle, but he didn't listen." Tyler shook his head, "He pushed me back and then Sophia, my friend Sophia, came over and told him to stop and he p _ushed her too_! It made me _so_ angry, Aj, I just- I just…" His lower lip quivered, "I got up and I hit him. Right in the nose. I punched just like Bluestreak and Bumblebee showed me. It started bleeding and he got angry so he hit me back. The adults came by then."

Not only had said punk ass kid pushed my niece, but he also punched my nephew? Good Lord, I was not gonna stand for that. I'd go down to the school and raise hell. I'd call Josh and tell him to go scare the shit out of the kid.

"I got in trouble at school. Principal Ray yelled at me and Bryan." Tyler looked away, "He said I shouldn't have hit Bryan. That I should've just gone to get Mrs. Belle."

"Tyler…" I began slowly. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to say. What would Aubrey say in this situation? What did she want me to teach her kid?

He rubbed at his non-injured eye and bit back tears, "I just don't want you to be mad at me, Aj. _Please_ don't be mad."

I didn't know what Aubrey would want me to say, but I didn't care anymore. I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

I set my hand on his shoulder, "Mad? _Mad_? Ty, do you really think I could _ever_ be mad at you?" He forced his gaze back to mine and I gave him a wide grin, "To be honest, I'm a little proud."

"R-Really?" He questioned.

I sighed and tried to think of a good way to explain this, "Listen, Tyler, fighting is an  _extreme_ measure. You don't fight unless it's the last possible option you have left. Do you understand?" He nodded slightly and I continued, "But what you did…you were protecting your sister and your friend and I _can't_ be mad at you for that. Ever. It'd actually be hypocritical of me to be. Do you know how many times I got in trouble at school for fighting the kids that picked on your mom?"

"You did?" Tyler asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, because if there's anything worth fighting for or getting into trouble for, it's protecting the people you love."

Tyler's face slowly broke out into a small smile. He quickly leaned over and crawled onto my lap with his arms wrapped tightly around my neck. I returned the hug happily. "Thanks, Aj." He mumbled softly.

"No problem, kid." I replied and pulled him back, "Just remember, drastic measures _only_. You can't just go around punching people because they disagree with you. You only do it in emergencies."

"I understand." He nodded.

"Good." I picked up the pack of peas and set it over his eye, "Now will you go talk to Bluestreak? I think he's gonna lose it if you don't."

Tyler chuckled and got up to leave his room. He swung the door open and stopped when he spotted Ratchet standing in the doorway with Optimus only a step behind, "Hi, Ratchet. Hi, Optimus."

"Are you feeling well, Tyler?" Optimus' holoform questioned.

"Uh huh." He nodded and rushed away.

"You need to rest!" Ratchet barked after him, but the young boy ignored the medic's holoform. They stepped into the room and I raised an eyebrow at their sudden appearance. "We need to talk about Megatron's condition."

I shrugged, "Condition? Didn't he just go through the upgrade?"

"He did, but there is more." Optimus spoke up.

Ratchet sighed, "The glitch has a virus."

"Like the one Barricade had?"

"No. They aren't the same." Ratchet shook his head, "Megatron's is a bit more severe."

My eyes widened in worry, "Is he gonna be alright?"

"The slag head will be fine." Ratchet scoffed and Optimus glanced in his direction, "But he'll be in stasis lock for about three Earth days or so. Maybe two, maybe four."

I nodded, "Well, as long as he's going to be ok." My hands drifted to my waist, "Where's Thundercracker?"

"Down in the garage, I believe." Ratchet replied, "He should be down there with Wheeljack, Jazz, and the rest of the trine."

"I need to thank him for saving Peter." I mumbled to myself. Now that things have kind of slowed down I realized how horrible it could've turned out. Megatron was huge. He was the second biggest mech here and if he had landed on Peter… God, I didn't even wanna think about the outcome. "Maybe I should clean up the coffee table first."

"It's already been cleaned." Optimus said, "We just threw the entire thing away and then Granny vacuumed the ground for any glass or wood slivers."

"It was that bad?" I questioned. They both nodded and I gave them a quick thanks before leaving the room. I could hear Sideswipe speaking in the office, but I didn't know to whom. As I got down to the foyer, I heard Taylor talking and I just assumed it was to Bumblebee. Quickly, I made my way to the garage.

The machine looked the same as ever, but my eyes darted to the corner where the frame of the coffee table sat. It was entirely crushed in the center and I could see why they just decided to trash it rather than fix it. My eyes darted back to the mechs in the room who were now looking at me. Skywarp was in his bi-pedal mode and he was sitting on the ground off to the far side comfortably. Everyone else was using their holoform. Wheeljack was closet to the machine, and Jazz was beside him so I figured they had been talking before I rushed in. Starscream's holoform was across the room looking for a tool and I took in his appearance again. He wore very formal clothes, a white button up shirt with black slacks and a matching blazer. His dirty blond hair had a slight wave to it, but Wheeljack's holoform's hair was curlier.

"Is Tyler alright?" Jazz questioned.

I glanced his way and smiled, "Yeah, he's ok." Before the conversation could continue, I tore my gaze away to look at Thundercracker who stood toward the center of the room with his holoform's arms crossed. He noticed my gaze and gave me a curious look as his arms went to his side. I quickly rushed across the room and pushed myself up so I could wrap my arms around his neck in a hug. He let out a startled sound and lowered his neck slightly so I wasn't hanging off him like a monkey. One of his hands awkwardly patted my back and I chuckled before releasing him, "Thanks, TC. You saved Pete."

"It was nothing." Thundercracker mumbled and his eyes darted around to the other mechs in the room.

I shook my head, "No, it wasn't. I can't thank you enough for what you did. If it wasn't for you… Pete, he'd be…God, I don't want to even think about how bad he'd be hurt."

Thundercracker glanced away and nodded once nonchalantly. I let out a chuckle of relief before saying a quick goodbye to the other mechs and heading back inside. Who would've thought that I'd consider the Decepticon seeker, Thundercracker, to be my hero of the day? What a world. What a strange, strange world.

* * *

 

Sunstreaker stepped into the living room in his bi-pedal mode and let his optics glide around the room. Grimlock was curled up in the corner recharging while Bumblebee's holoform was sitting on the couch watching Taylor color and hum to herself. There was no table in the living room now so she was lying on the ground with her sketchpad on the floor. His brother was upstairs talking to Prowl, but he didn't care for the conversation much.

He walked over, ignoring Bumblebee's curious look, and sat down beside Taylor. She glanced up from her work to offer him a small smile, but then quickly went back to it. Sunstreaker tilted his head to see what she was coloring and was surprised the subject of her art very much resembled his bright red twin.

In the drawing, Sideswipe stood in a green field alone. His optics, which he noted that Taylor paid enough attention in detail to add the purplish tint, were crossed and a light pink tongue stuck out of his mouth. Sunstreaker already thought his brother tended to be a major glitch at times, but the picture made him seem very much like one. If the expression on his faceplates wasn't enough, Taylor had written two words over his head with an arrow pointing to him.

_'Stoopid Head'._

Sunstreaker's lips twitched up in amusement. Taylor let out a huff and glanced up at him, "I don't like your brother very much, Sunstreaker."

"I don't blame you." Sunstreaker replied with a shrug and he could feel his brother press against their bond in annoyance. He was aware that Taylor was upset at Sideswipe for trying to kiss Aj. She underlined the words twice with a red color pencil. "Are you alright?"

Taylor nodded with a smile, "I'm ok. Tyler protected me. He's a good brother. Too bad you don't have a good brother like I do. You're stuck with _stinky_ Sideswipe."

"That is a shame." Sunstreaker said. He could feel Sideswipe deflate over their bond. He knew his twin hated the idea of the younglings being mad at him. Sunstreaker also knew though that Taylor's anger wouldn't last and the red frontliner would easily be able to win her over again. "He's not too bad though. At least not all the time."

Taylor let out a hum of acknowledgement and signed her name at the bottom of her artwork just like he had shown her to do. He motioned toward the masterpiece, "Do you think I can keep that one?"

"Sure." She pulled it out of her sketchbook and handed it to him with a smile, "Will you give me one of your drawings?"

Sunstreaker glanced over at Bumblebee who quickly averted his gaze as if he hadn't been watching all along. The yellow warrior noticed the smile on the young mech's face plate though. He sighed and stuck the drawing into his subspace, "Yeah, I guess that's fair."

Taylor squealed in happiness as Sideswipe spoke over the bond, ' _Why the frag do you want that drawing?'_

 _'Why wouldn't I?'_ Sunstreaker replied with a mental chuckle, _'I've never seen a piece of art capture you so well, Sides. Even my own.'_

Sideswipe huffed over the bond again, but Sunstreaker ignored him and went back to watching Taylor as she began to start a new drawing.


	28. Life

* * *

_"Enjoy life today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come." – Unknown_

* * *

 

"You warm 'nough, sweetspark?" Jazz asked from somewhere behind me. I was currently standing in the driveway at the mouth of the garage. It was early enough that the sun hadn't risen yet, so all the street lamps were on. The lack of sunlight also made it freezing cold outside. I mumbled a quick response and tried to keep my eyes from shutting.

"There is no reason for you to even be out here. We are quite capable of handling this ourselves. Go back to your berth before you freeze, youngling." Ratchet barked out from somewhere in the garage as well. It would take too much energy to retort that I was not a youngling so instead I settled for looking over my shoulder at him in disdain.

Ratchet's holoform met my look with a glare of his own. The mechs currently in the garage waiting with me were Jazz, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and the mech of honor, Grimlock. Today was Wednesday, the day of Peter's big play, and the plan was that at 4:30 in the afternoon every single mech would tag along to watch his theatrical debut. There were a few exceptions to this plan. The first was Megatron who was still upstairs lying in my bed in stasis. He obviously was not going to the play with us. The second exception was Grimlock. He had spent all of yesterday declaring that he was going to go see Peter's play regardless of what anyone else had to say on the matter. I was partly convinced that the main reason he wanted to go was because we had told him he couldn't.

For a good while, I thought I was going to have to wrestle with a big ass metal dinosaur to try and keep him in the house, but Prince Charming swept in with the perfect plan. His parents own a shit ton of land in the outskirts of town. It was private property that only his family and friends were allowed on. Josh assured all of us that nobody would be out there when it was this cold and so the decision was made that we'd let Grimlock go exploring. It was perfect because it would keep the mech preoccupied while we watched the play and it would give him an opportunity to stretch his legs and get some fresh air. He was the one mech that was trapped in this house the most and it really sucked because he was also the largest.

It all worked out perfectly. In fact, the only non-perfect thing about it was the fact that I was standing out in the cold waiting for Josh to show up with his friend's pick-up truck.

"You, human, come here." Grimlock barked from where he was sitting in the garage. I stopped my stare down with Ratchet and glanced over at the mech. He was curled up on the ground in his alt mode.

I figured out a long time ago that arguing with Grimlock was pretty pointless. So rather than trying to hold a conversation on why I was needed over there I just tucked my arms closer to my body and trotted over. Jazz grinned at me as I passed him and I lifted an eyebrow in question. Why was he so cheery? As soon as I got close to Grimlock I realized why he was calling me over. He was radiating with heat as if to make up for the cold temperature. Without hesitation, I sat down on the ground and leaned against him with a sigh. Apparently, I was no longer used to he cold. After living in New York for so long, I thought I was more accustomed to it, but I guess it was all gone now.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back upstairs to rest?" Wheeljack questioned. He was going to go with Josh to help Grimlock get set up for his day in the wilderness, but right now he was tinkering with the machine as he waited.

I waved off his concern, "I'm great now. I got my own personal dinobot heater." Grimlock huffed at my comment, but made no further statement or movement about it.

"Have you given any further thought to how you plan to bring Soundwave to the play?" Ratchet asked.

I shrugged and pressed my cheek against Grimlock's metal side, "I figured I'd just shove him in my purse." Ratchet rolled his eyes at me and I scoffed, "You got a better plan, Hatchet?"

His eyes snapped to mine in a glare at the familiar nickname, but he gave into my plan reluctantly, "I suppose not."

I gave him a smug smile that he huffed at before looking away. The sound of a truck made me glance down the driveway. Seconds later, a dark blue truck that was much bigger than the tiny truck I drove around parked in the driveway with the bed facing the garage. The engine cut off and Josh stepped out with a smile, "Morning, y'all."

All three mechs replied with morning greetings of their own in a variety of enthusiasm. Josh walked over to me and offered me a hand to take, "You look comfortable."

"Very much so." I chuckled and let him help me off the cold garage floor, "Why couldn't we do this at a normal hour again?"

"Because I wasn't too keen on the townsfolk seeing the Sheriff drive a metal dinosaur around." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes and let my hand pat the shoulder of his leather jacket, "Yeah, ok, smartass. Let's get Grimlock in the truck."

Josh chuckled and moved to get the bed of his truck open while I stepped aside to stand by Ratchet. He grunted and glanced over at me, "Isn't it just a pain when someone back talks you?"

I turned my head to look at him with a wide grin spread across my features. He remained staring forward, but I could see the slight upward tilt of one side of his lips. I chuckled and looped my arm with his before leaning my head against his shoulder, "You know you love me, Ratchet. I'm a pain in the aft, but I'm one of your _favorite_ pain in the afts."

"Language." Ratchet scoffed in response.

A chuckle left my lips again, but I remained where I was leaning against the grumpy medic's holoform watching as Wheeljack and Josh began to clear out the bed of the truck. My eyes darted over to where Jazz was standing by Grimlock speaking in whispered tones. Well, Jazz was whispering. Grimlock was just grunting acknowledgements to whatever it was the saboteur was telling him.

"Alright, Grimlock." Wheeljack clapped his hands and walked over, "Let's get you onto the truck."

I pulled away from Ratchet to stand in front of Grimlock, "Be a good dinobot, ok?"

"Grimlock be fine. You human pet be good." He grumbled back and rose from his resting positions.

I smirked, "I'll be on my best behavior, Grimlock."

Wheeljack and Jazz were in the process of helping Grimlock get onto the truck when Josh walked over to me. I glanced at him before looking back to the mechs, "Who's truck is this anyhow?"

"A guy from the station." He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, "He let me borrow it to move furniture."

I snorted at the excuse and nodded, "Fire breathing, grumpy furniture." Josh chuckled at my comment. I turned to face him, "You're coming to Pete's play tonight, right?"

"Of course." Josh nodded, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Good." I said, "He'll be happy to see you there."

"Pete's gonna have quite the cheering section tonight."

I beamed in excitement, "I know. He was so excited yesterday when the mechs told him they were gonna come."

"Come on, mech, jus' stay put now." Jazz pleaded as Grimlock continued to move around in the bed uncomfortably.

Wheeljack turned to look at us, "Perhaps it's best if we go now?"

"Right." Josh nodded and gave me a brief hug, "I'll bring back your Engineer before the kids wake up."

"Thanks." I replied and turned to say goodbye to the mechs. Wheeljack grabbed his real body to put in the car because of how far out they were going. Josh gave one final wave before I watched the truck pull out of my driveway. The tarp they threw over Grimlock's head shifted and I chuckled in amusement.

"Alrighty." Jazz came over and draped his arm over my shoulders, "Time to get the pain in the aft to berth."

"Hardy har har." I mocked and let him drag me indoors. Ratchet hit the garage button to shut the large door as we all came in.

* * *

Sleeping in my own room was a bit out of the question considering Megatron had been and still was lying in my bed. So I had claimed Aubrey's bed as my own for now. It wasn't too bad, but admittedly it still felt strange to wake up in her room rather than my own. It was odd to not have Ratchet nagging me when I woke up. A familiar decepticon came into view as we headed toward the stairs, "Morning, Barricade."

He grunted in response before heading past us to the kitchen. I was still a little confused on how the mech managed to stay out of sight so well considering he was considerably larger than he used to be. My thoughts became preoccupied as I realized I'd be able to go back to bed and sleep for another hour or two. Hell, I didn't even complain when Jazz comically tucked me into bed. I just rolled over and let myself slip back into a peaceful rest.

Granny was rushing around the kitchen setting up breakfast as she gushed about how excited she was to see Peter's play tonight. The kids were sitting at the table, all dressed and ready for school, with Bluestreak, Bumblebee, and Ratchet's holoform. Bluestreak and Bumblebee were active parts of the conversation along with the kids, but Ratchet was working on a datapad silently.

"I'm gonna videotape the whole thing so your mom can watch when she gets home." Granny said as she poured juice for the kids to go with their breakfast from a local Mom and Pop type of restaurant. The place served Peter's favorite kind of pancakes, that was why Granny ran through and picked up the food for them.

I chuckled from where I was leaning on the kitchen counter, "Yeah, but who's gonna teach you how to work a video camera, old lady?"

Granny snapped her head to the side to give me a light glare before bringing the glasses of orange juice over to the kids. Ratchet stood up when she approached and motioned for her to take his seat before coming over to lean against the island counter across from me.

"How did the drop off with Grimlock go?" Granny questioned from the table as the kids conversed excitedly with Bumblebee and Bluestreak.

"Josh and Jackie said it went well." I replied, "Grimlock seemed to like the area."

Granny shook her head, "I still don't know how I feel about that. What if someone tries to steal or hurt him?"

"He's a big ass metal dinosaur that breathes fire. I pity the idiot who would be stupid enough to try something."

I shifted slightly to try and get more comfortable and flinched when I felt a sharp pain at my left hip joint. It was a familiar pain that decide to rear it's ugly head this morning when I woke up for the second time. Fighting the way I did left some physical issues I'd have to deal with for the rest of my life, and the sharp pain at my inner hip was one of them.

Subtly, I set my hand on my hip and pushed down on it as if I could rub the deep muscle pain away. Nobody at the table noticed, but when my gaze drifted over to Ratchet I realized he had decided to take a break from his datapad to skeptically stare at me instead. His eyes darted down to the hand on my hip then back up to my own eyes slightly narrowed. I bit back a groan and tore my gaze away. He wasn't going to let that one go.

About five minutes later, Jazz casually strolled into the kitchen in his bipedal form with Prowl's holoform beside him. The two went over to the table as the kids continued to eat, and I flipped through the newspaper Granny had brought in an attempt to ignore the hole Ratchet was burning into my skull with his eyes. Another five minutes passed, and Granny began to get the kids up from the table so they could leave.

I pushed off the counter, ignoring the pain, to help clear the table. Some mornings I just woke up and it hurt worse than normal. For the most part, the pain was so slight that I could ignore it entirely. I only had a few episodes the entire two months I spent here, but this specific episode was pretty bad. I'd probably have to take a few Motrin so it wasn't bothering me later tonight.

"Don't forget your lightning bolt." Granny said and Peter lifted the golden cardboard cutout from the ground. Sunstreaker and Taylor had made the glittery thing yesterday. It looked pretty good, better than anything I could've done.

Bluestreak had already grabbed the plates for me and put them in the sink as Bumblebee helped Taylor slip her backpack on. I grabbed a handful of trash and napkins in one hand and Taylor's half glass of orange juice with the other then turned to throw away the garbage and put the glass in the sink. Unfortunately, as I turned Tyler rushed out in front of me to run for the door and I had to quickly come to a stop. The ache in my hip grew making me scrunch up my nose in pain, but worse it made most of the juice in the cup come sloshing out and onto the mech closest to me. The mech closest to me being bipedal mode Jazz.

He was facing away from me talking to Ratchet and Prowl so most of the juice splashed off his back armor, but I could tell that some dripped down into the crevices to his protoform.

"Oh shit, Jazz, I'm so sorry!" I cried as he slowly turned around in confusion.

Tyler whipped around as well and shook his head, "Did I do that?"

"Yeah, you made Aj spill it. Say sorry, Tyler." Peter answered his brother.

Tyler's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, "I'm sorry, Jazz! I'm sorry, Aj! I didn't mean to!"

"Don' worry 'bout it, little man." Jazz grinned, "It's jus' juice."

I focused my gaze on Tyler who looked to me. The bruise around his eye was just a light shade of purple with yellow all around it. It was getting better, but it'd be a few more days before it disappeared. I smiled, "It was an accident, it's fine. Just get to school."

Tyler beamed at the two of us before rushing out with his siblings and Granny. They let out a chorus of goodbyes that all the mechs and I returned. When the door shut, I turned to set the glass back down on the table and began to wipe at his armor with the balled up napkins in my hands, "Geez, I seriously am sorry about that. It's gonna be all sticky. Did it get on your protoform?"

"It's fine, sweetspark." Jazz reassured me with his hands outstretched, "Nothin' a wash won' fix."

I opened my mouth to apologize one last time for good measure when Ratchet stepped around Jazz and pointed to me, "You, medbay, now."

"Oh come on, Ratchet." I moaned and tossed the trash back on the table.

Bumblebee's eyes widened, "Are you hurt, Aj?"

"No." I replied at the same time that Ratchet said, "Yes. Something with her hip socket."

Bluestreak motioned toward me, "Your hip socket? Does it hurt to walk? We can carry you upstairs if you need us to. It really is no problem at all, Aj."

Jazz was frowning now, "You didn' tell me you were hurtin'."

"I'm fine." I stressed the words with a glare towards Ratchet.

"Get upstairs. Now." He ordered again.

Bumblebee glanced at the table, "We'll finish cleaning up. Don't you worry!"

I gave the cheery mech a small smile before heading toward the kitchen exit. Prowl began to speak up to the two younger mechs as I did so. It sounded like he was telling them to head the garage to relieve the twins of duty. Jazz and Ratchet followed me up the stairs and as we reached the top, Optimus' holoform stepped out of the office with a curious look.

"Is everything alright?" He questioned.

"Jazz is covered in a liquid fruit and Aj is injured." Ratchet replied bluntly.

Optimus nodded once, "I see."

"Aj is _not_ injured." I said firmly, but it seemed like Ratchet was content with ignoring me entirely. Optimus joined our little parade down the hall toward the medbay.

Jazz grinned as he peeled off from our little posse to head toward the bathroom, "Listen to the Hatchet, girl."

Ratchet and I both shot him a glare for entirely different reasons and Jazz cackled to himself in response. He shut the bathroom door behind him and right before being ushered into my room I heard the shower turn on. I was fully aware that the mechs were taking showers and it wasn't entirely shocking. They fit in the shower now after all. It wasn't like I could wash them up in the kitchen sink anymore. Typically they did so at night, and I knew this because I hear the shower running occasionally. Honestly, I couldn't care less that they did so. A mech's gotta get clean somehow, right?

My eyes focused on the very large, very still form of Megatron lying on my bed. To say it was a strange sight was the understatement of the century. He was a little bit taller than Optimus' bipedal form was and he was much bulkier on the upper half than the leader of the Autobots was. At this size though I could see scars lining his armor in certain areas. My lips twisted in thought, but before they could trail to far away I had Ratchet grabbing my attention again.

"Tell me about your pain, youngling."

I groaned and turned around to face both mechs, "It's just this…ache. I'm fine. I've always had it."

Ratchet's holoform had the nerve to roll his eyes at me and Optimus bit back a chuckle to himself. Optimus walked over and took a seat at my desk with a slight smile on his lips. Ratchet shook his head and pointed at me, "As your temporary guardian and the Chief Medical Officer, I order you to tell me about your pain."

"You're really gonna pull the CMO card on me?"

"You are a Guest Officer to the Autobot Army. That puts me in charge of your health for the time being." Ratchet argued.

I grumbled under my breath before motioning to my hip area, "I'm just really sore here. It hurts to move it in certain positions. It's always been like that though."

"Always?" Ratchet questioned and stepped forward. I could tell he was in full doctor mode at the moment. He reached forward and I moved my hands out of his way. Carefully, he applied pressure to the front left of my hip, "Does it hurt when I apply pressure?"

I shook my head, "No, not really. Just when I move. It's muscle pain. Usually, I'm always stretching or fighting so it stays loose and not so painful, but I haven't done either of those things in a while."

"I noticed you stopped stretching in the morning." Ratchet mumbled, "Lift your leg to touch my hand." He flattened his hand in front of me. Slowly, I lifted my knee to touch his hand and squirmed at the tight ache that I felt. He nodded and carefully pushed my knee to the side until there was a sudden popping noise. He quickly dropped his hand, "Did that hurt?"

"No more than usual." I shrugged and set my leg down. "It makes that weird popping noise all the time when I move certain ways."

Ratchet let out a low hum as he stepped back and lifted his hand to his chin in thought. Suddenly, his holoform fizzled out of existence and his alt mode transformed in the corner of the room. He rolled his shoulders before walking back over toward me, "If you knew that stretching helped this injury then why did you stop? Was the pain of stretching too much to bear?"

"Nah, I just didn't feel like stretching." I replied nonchalantly. Ratchet frowned and it looked like he was biting back the urge to hit me. He began to hiss in Cybertronian unhappily as he crossed his arms and shook his head.

I glanced over at Optimus who looked rather amused by Ratchet's reaction, but when he caught my gaze he gave me a concerned look, "Should we take you to a human doctor?"

I waved him off, "If they did anything it'd just be like physical therapy or something, and I don't have time for that. Like I said, I'm fine." Optimus nodded, but the concern didn't entirely fade away. Admittedly, I kind of liked the concern. It was nice to have people worried about it. "I got a question for y'all though." Both mechs were focused again on me, "How come both Megatron and Barricade got viruses, but nobody else did?"

Optimus glanced over at Ratchet who let out a very human like sigh, "We aren't entirely sure. There are many variables to consider. It's an odd occurrence though. Especially since both of them came down with two separate viruses."

My lips twisted in thought again. There had to be a connection between the two. They were both Decepticons, but that couldn't be it considering the seeker trine went through the update perfectly fine. They were both kind of dicks, but I seriously doubted that it caused them to have a medical problem. A thought occurred to me then, "Well maybe…" Ratchet was talking over his commlink, I could tell from his slightly dimmed eyes, but he turned to look at me when I spoke up, "Could it be…oh wait, never mind."

"What were you going to say?" Optimus asked curiously.

I rubbed the back of my neck, "I was gonna suggest that maybe it's something organic causing it? Like being in these bodies made you susceptible to something in our universe. I was thinking maybe they caught something from the kids since kids are basically just giant walking germs, but Barricade and Megsy were rarely even around the kids."

"Go to the bathroom." Ratchet said.

"What?" I blinked in confusion. That had nothing to do with what we were talking about. "Are you having a Cybertronian seizure or something?"

Ratchet sighed again, "Jazz requires your help. Come back immediately."

I glanced at both of them before shrugging and heading for the door. Ratchet began talking in Cybertronian as soon as I left the room, but I didn't bother listening in on the harsh sounding language. The shower was no longer running, but the door was still closed. I knocked my fist against the wood, "Jazz? Ratchet sent me. Is everything ok?"

There was a pause before the door cracked open and Jazz peeked his head slightly out. His body was still entirely behind the door, "You're 'ere?"

"Um yes? Did you not know he was sending me?"

He frowned, "I knew. I told him he could send you, I'm just…second guessing."

His lack of an accent in his last sentence made me slightly worry. I shrugged, "Well, he's talking to OP, but I can tell him you need him now. Are you sure there isn't anything I can do?"

Jazz didn't reply immediately. A few more seconds passed before he nodded, "Just…give me a klik, ok?" I nodded and the door shut quickly. Faintly, I could hear him moving behind the door and I resisted the urge to press my ear against the wooden barrier. A sound from the foyer made me turn curiously, but the door opened right as I turned. Before I could look back at Jazz I felt him grab my upper arm and drag me into the steamy bathroom. Jazz was apparently a fan of hot showers based on the fogged up mirrors. He shut the door just as quickly.

I reached out and turned on the fans before focusing my full attention on Jazz. He was standing with his back to the shower and there was something odd about his chest armor. Jazz had one hand pressed against the center of his chest and I realized that he was keeping his armor from falling forward.

"Is your…" My eyes were wide as I slowly lifted my hand to point to him, "Is your chest armor off?"

He nodded, "Good observational skills, sweetspark."

Worry flooded my system again, "Oh God, did the orange juice mess something up? I'm so sorry."

Jazz chuckled and shook his head, "It's not that. It's…something else."

I crossed my arms, "I thought you said protoform wasn't like being naked. That you Cybertronians didn't really care, but you only kept it hidden all secret like because of the war."

"That's true." Jazz replied, "But my circumstance is bit different."

"What do you need me to do, Jazz? Let me help." I said. He bit his lower lip and actually looked wary of me for the first time since I met him. "I promise not to murder you."

My comment succeeded in making Jazz chuckle, but I wasn't entirely sure if he was actually laughing or if he was just being nice. He nodded, "Alright, but this stays between us, got it?"

I reached back and locked the bathroom door as a gesture of good will. Jazz nodded again before rolling his shoulders. He mumbled something in Cybertronian before pulling his armor forward and setting it on the bathroom countertop. Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect seeing a protoform. It looked very human like in the sense that it looked like he had the same muscles. There were abdominal muscles, pecs, and traps, but they all had that same soft metallic texture in a shade of dark gray. In fact, one of the only things noticeably different, other than the color and texture, was a thin plate of metal off to the left over where his ribcage would be. That and the fact that he had no belly button or nipples. That little tidbit would've made me burst into laughter in any other situation, but I could barely focus on those facts. My eyes were glued on the many, many scars that lined his protoform. Some were long, thin lines while others were thick and jagged. All of them were smooth and darker than the rest of his protoform, just like Wheeljack's had been, but his was so much worse than Wheeljack's.

"Holy- Jazz?" I said dumbly. "What…?"

"There's a spot on my back I can't reach, even with my armor off." He replied. Jazz pulled a small, thick disc from his subspace and spun open the top before handing it to me, "I need you to rub this over it. Ratchet says it won't bother your hands so don't worry."

Worrying about my hands was the last thing on my mind right now. He turned before I could try and think of something to say and at the sight of his back I had to bite back a hiss of surprise. His back looked just as bad as the front, maybe even worse. There scar in the very middle of his back that was slightly raised up as if it were swollen. It took a moment for me to regain my composure before I scooped some of the light purple gel type mixture on my fingers and began to lightly rub it in. Jazz hissed in pain when my fingers pressed against the area.

"Before you ask again" Jazz spoke up with a grunt, "This is not from the orange juice."

I forced a slight chuckle and just kept working. My eyes drifted slightly and I noticed that Jazz's dark protoform had an equally dark purplish tint to it. After a few more seconds, I noticed the swelling was going down and Jazz was being to relax.

"That's good." He mumbled and I nodded despite the fact that he couldn't see me. I set the disc on the counter by his chest armor and went to wash my hands. Jazz grabbed his armor and began to put it all back on. It hissed and clicked into place as I dried my hands. Jazz was rotating his arms, like he was getting adjusted to his armor back on, and I hopped up to sit on the counter as he did so. His visor focused on me, "I'm sure you're curious."

I shrugged and shifted to make my hip more comfortable, "It's not my place to ask if you don't wanna talk about it, and you obviously don't." Jazz seemed to relax even more at my words and I offered him a smile, "I am wondering why you decided to let me help rather than Ratchet."

Jazz leaned his elbows against the counter so he was leaning beside me, "I find it really easy to trust you… for some reason."

I lifted my hand to rest under my chin like a princess, "Who wouldn't trust a face like this?"

Jazz laughed and shook his head, "I'm serious. I don't really know what it is entirely." He glanced over at me as if he was suddenly going to find the answer written across my face, but he had a look on his own face that made me think he had an idea of what it was.

"I trust you too, Jazz."

He chuckled, "I'll tell you about my mess of a protoform one day. I promise."

"The same day you show me your eye color?"

"Two big secrets in one day?" Jazz pressed the back of hand against the side of my thigh, "Where's the fun in that, sweetspark?" I chuckled and he continued as his accent slid back into place flawlessly, "So how're you feelin'? Ratchet fix you all up?"

I scoffed, "It's tough to fix something that ain't broken." The words fell from my mouth, but I immediately shook my head, "Well I mean, by all definitions I am kind of broken, but not…yeah, you get what I'm saying."

Jazz chuckled and nodded, "I get ya, girl. Who ain't a little broken in the helm though?"

I pushed myself off the counter and winked at him before leaving the bathroom and heading back to the medbay. As I entered, I noticed Optimus had left and now it was Ratchet alone in the room. Ratchet was back in his holoform though. He glanced up as I entered, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes?" I replied. "Jazz seems ok now at least." Ratchet nodded in approval before turning to the desk and picking up a pen. He began to scribble on a piece of paper making my eyebrows narrow in confusion. What could he possibly be writing? Rather than ponder on that, I dropped down into the desk chair to the left of him, "I have a question though, Ratch."

Ratchet stopped and glanced over at me. I met his gaze and saw the hardened look. Without even saying a word, I knew exactly what he was trying to get across to me. Quickly, I shook my head, "It isn't about Jazz's… Everyone has a right to his or her secrets. Trust me, I'm the last person to go prying. I'm a curious son of a bitch, but I'm not that bad."

"Language." Ratchet mumbled but he looked relieved at my words. He sighed and began to go back to writing, "Well what is it then?"

"Jazz had this thing on his chest. It wasn't like…everything else. It looked like it belonged there."

Ratchet paused again, "Where?"

"Like here." I put my hand to my lower left ribcage for an example.

Ratchet chuckled, "Ah. That's the entrance to his spark cage. You're right in the fact that it does belong there. Every mech and femme has one though they vary in location as you probably already know."

"Yeah, someone told me about y'all moving your sparks around for the war." I nodded, "I think it was Sides."

"Did I hear my name?"

Ratchet groaned in annoyance as Sideswipe's holoform strolled into the room with his brother's holoform right behind him. They must have gotten off from garage watch duty or whatever the mech's were calling it.

I chuckled and crossed my arms, "You know what they say, speak of the devil and the devil shall appear."

"Devil?" Sideswipe pasted a look of hurt across his human features, "That hurts my feelings, queenie."

Now I was the one to groan to myself. Ever since Sunstreaker and I made up, he went back to calling me queen. I felt like I technically wasn't allowed to complain too much about it considering I called Sunstreaker a million things other than his name, but I felt more than justified to complain when Sideswipe pulled that card.

"Get up." Ratchet ordered. With a sigh, I pushed myself up off the chair and slouched off to the side to keep my hip from aching. "I wrote down a physical therapy regime that can help your hip."

"What's wrong with her?" Sideswipe questioned with a tone of panic. Sunstreaker stepped past him and came closer. Ratchet shoved the piece of paper into his hands, and Sunstreaker's gaze fell down to read it over.

I shook my head, "Nothing. I'm just a bit-"

"You have illopsoas tendonitis which is more commonly known as snapping hip syndrome." Ratchet shot a look at me from over his shoulder. "Your illiotibial band moves from the back to the front of the trochanter of your hip."

I twisted my lips stubbornly, "You just googled that."

"It's accurate." He replied, "Do the exercises. All of them. You'll do this every morning from now on. Understand, youngling?"

"I'm not a youngling." I argued pitifully.

Ratchet shot the twins a look, "Make sure she does them."

He left then leaving only the three of us in the room. Not counting the Decepticon warlord sleeping behind us at least. I paused a moment before grinning, "So hey, there's this show on Netflix that Josh just raves about. You guys wanna-"

"The first stretch is a Quadriceps Stretch." Sunstreaker spoke up. "Sides."

"Got it, Sunny." Sideswipe hummed and walked over to me, "I'll hold you so you don't lose your balance."

I lifted an eyebrow at them, "You guys aren't serious are you?"

"Keep your injured side furthest from Sides, face forward, then pull your ankle toward your aft with your servo." Sunstreaker replied.

"Oh come on!" I laughed.

Sideswipe lightly grabbed one of my hands and lifted it to rest on his shoulder with a smile, "Get to pulling that ankle, queenie."

I rolled my eyes, "This is ridiculous."

"Humans are weak, and fragile. The least you can do is make sure you don't fragging fall apart. Now do the slagging exercise." Sunstreaker said.

"Fine." I replied and pulled my leg up in the stretch, "Whatever you say, drill sergeant asshole."

Sideswipe chuckled and mumbled a number under his breath. I knew they all had good points in me doing these exercises, but they were still a pain in the ass. I was nearly done with stretching both sides when Sideswipe spoke up, "When we call you queen does it bother you?"

"No more than any other nickname would, I suppose." I said with a shrug. "Isn't that the point of a nickname though?"

"It's what you went by in the ring here didn't you?" Sideswipe added.

I nodded, "Yeah. They called me Queen Aj, which was just stupid, but it doesn't bother me when you guys call me it for some reason. Now if you called me Small Fry that'd be a whole different story."

"That's what they call you in New York?" Sunstreaker questioned.

"Yeah. That one has worse memories tied to it." I mumbled.

 

There was a pause of silence before Sunstreaker spoke up, "Hamstring stretch now."

* * *

 

Optimus' holoform was seated in the office chair with his elbow propped up on the armrest and his servo tucked under his helm. Prowl was across the room from him, in his own holoform, leaning against the wall quiet in thought. Even Jazz, who had switched from bipedal mode to holoform, was silent as he sat on the edge of the desk to Optimus' right. It couldn't be helped. There was a lot to consider at the moment and this was the second officer's meeting held in the last human week that he purposely wanted to keep from their human hosts.

The office door swung open and the silence was broken as Wheeljack's holoform rushed in with an excited glint in his optics, "Ratchet sent me the hypothesis over comm link. This is incredible! I can't believe it never even occurred to us before."

"Jackie." Jazz said in hopes to calm the engineer down, but it was to no avail.

"The fact that this mock bond could somehow be acting as a defense in our systems from viruses is nearly impossible to believe!" Wheeljack was now pacing the room, "In fact, I wouldn't believe it if I didn't have the evidence right in front of me. Where is Ratchet?"

Optimus was the one to speak up, "In the medbay with Aj and the twins. He is setting her up with a routine to care for her injury."

Wheeljack's pacing stopped as worry crossed his features, "Of course, I heard she was injured. Is it serious?"

"She's fine." Ratchet's voice made all optics turn to the entrance. His holoform stepped in and shut the wooden door behind him. "It's nothing serious, though that surprises me."

"Why's that?" Jazz questioned and Optimus found himself eager to hear the reply as well though a part of him knew exactly what Ratchet meant by his words. He was only listening so closely to confirm his thoughts.

Ratchet scoffed, "According to her, she started fighting illegally around the age of 16, correct?" He didn't wait for anyone to answer him. "There was a break from fighting when she went to college, but she's been through about six years of intense fighting with little to no breaks during those six years. The fact that she can even function is a miracle."

"Humans were not made to withstand that." Prowl thought aloud.

"Exactly." Ratchet turned to nod at the tactician, "Human professionals who fight with the same style she does, this mixed martial arts technique, typically have a career of around five years. Maybe."

Jazz nodded, "Plus, they 'ave rules an' scheduled vacations. One year for 'em is probably filled with a tenth of the fights she does in a year."

Optimus leaned back in the office chair as some of his soldiers continued on the topic of what Aj put her body through. None of them would outright say it, but the truth of the matter was: Aj should probably be dead by now. With the way she fought, the people she fought against, and the accumulation of injury on top of injury it made no sense that she could function so well. It was a Primus damned miracle.

"The injury she is suffering from makes sense though." Prowl said and Optimus wondered what he had exactly missed when he spaced out. "The twins stated that her fighting style avoided kicks with her left leg."

"It's probably become a habit." Wheeljack crossed his arms.

Ratchet shook his head, "If she continues the therapy I lined up for her, which she fragging will, then she'll be entirely fine. Now…are we going to discuss what we came together to discuss?"

"Aj's words gave Ratchet the idea and it seems to hold up." Optimus took charge, "The mock bonds are somehow keeping our programming from glitching and causing viruses. The only question is how."

Wheeljack was slowly becoming excited again at the newest discovery, "I've been thinking about it, and I believe it may have something to do with the energy signatures. The mock bond is using their signatures as a sort of shield around our own. It's incredible."

"As interestin' as I think this all is, I think we should focus on the fact that Aj still won' agree to come with us. Her or the younglings." Jazz cut in.

"Aren't you the one who is supposed to convince her?" Ratchet replied dryly.

Jazz let out a scoff, "Right. Convince the most hard helmed human on Earth to jump universes. Why the frag haven' I got that done yet?"

"You should speak with her Optimus. She will listen to you." Prowl said, but there was disapproval in his voice. It made sense that he still wasn't entirely for this plan. He had been one of the original mechs to vote no, but things had changed. Not only because of the discovery of this mysterious mock bond, but because with each passing Earth hour they all found it harder and harder to imagine saying goodbye. Optimus supposed the mock bond had something to do with that.

Ratchet let out a huff, "The younglings will come happily. I'm tempted to just throw the insufferable femme over my shoulder and drag her with us."

"Ratchet." Optimus warned lightly.

"I'm joking." Ratchet replied, but Optimus knew it hadn't all been a joke to the medic. He continued, "It would be for her own good though. She's lasted this long on a miracle alone. Are we really even considering leaving her here to test that miracle any longer?"

Optimus didn't have an answer for that.

* * *

 

Aubrey had a lot of really cute clothes. The question was, of those cute clothes which was I going to be able to pull off? There really was no need to dress up for this elementary school play, but I wanted to look presentable. There would be tons of parents and teachers there and I didn't want to look like some trashy Aunt from New York that didn't realize jeans came without the holes. I knew already that there were a few rumors floating around town about why Aubrey was gone and why I was here of all people. Some of them were kindhearted and went along the lines of 'Aubrey's loving sister took a break from medical school to spend time with her niece and nephews' where others sounded more like 'Aubrey lied about medical school to cover up the fact her sister is actually a criminal and that's why the Sheriff is always hanging around there'. It was a bit disappointing that the second was more true than the first.

"Aha." I mumbled when I found a white, long sleeve dress shirt to go over the tight, black leggings I was already wearing. Quickly, I tugged it on then grabbed the dark gray, knitted scarf hanging on Aubrey's door. I styled it loosely around my neck then began to run my hands through my hair to calm the wavy locks.

There was a knock on the bedroom door and a muffled voice, "You in there?"

"Yeah, come on in." I yelled back and double-checked the light makeup I had already applied earlier. The door opened a few seconds later and Josh stood in the bathroom doorway. "Hey there, charming."

"Hi to yourself. Tyler and Taylor with Rosie?" He leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed. He wore a light blue button up shirt and dark jeans with his usual black leather jacket over that. On his belt was his badge, despite the fact that his shift was over.

"Yeah, she picked the twins up from school." I tousled my hair one last time and turned to look at him with my hands on my hips and a bright smile on my face, "So? How do I look? Like a soccer mom?"

Josh laughed, "Sure. A very cute soccer mom that kicks ass."

"I'm serious." I said and pushed by him to sit on the bed where my socks were lying. "I'm trying to look like someone who is capable of caring for three young children."

Josh shook his head and offered a hand for me to take when I finished putting my socks on, "You are capable of taking care of the kids. Who else would be able to treat them so well, keep them safe, and handle a small army of warring Cybertronians?"

I took his hand and he pulled me back to my feet, "Still. I'm finding myself actually caring what these strangers think of me and that feels…weird." A sigh slipped my lips, "I've never cared what people thought of me before, but it just feels like…like if I'm able to convince these people that I do have my shit together, it really does prove that I've done something right. You know?"

"I get it." Josh nodded, "I think it's silly because you don't need some strangers confirmation, but I do get what you mean."

I lifted my hand to lightly tap his cheek, "Thanks, prince charming. You're a doll."

"Yeah, well, I kinda wanna talk to you about something tonight." He cleared his throat, "After the play though."

"Why after?"

He pushed me towards the door, "Because if we don't leave now then we'll be late."

"Shit, you're right." I replied then grabbed my small purse off the dresser top to wrap around my shoulders. The two of us moved down the hall until we reached the top of the stairs. Most of the mechs were standing in the foyer with their holoforms on and ready to go. I paused and let my eyes glance over all of them.

Josh nudged me and some of the mechs glanced up to look at me, "What's wrong?"

"Look at them." I said and lifted a hand to rest on the side of my face. "They're stupidly gorgeous. Everyone at the school is going to think I'm some kind of pimp."

Josh let out a bark of laughter and Skywarp spoke up, "What the frag is a pimp?"

"Google it." Thundercracker replied with a level tone.

I sucked in a deep breath and began to go through roll call. There was so many of them and I didn't want to lose track of one, "Ok, so Bee, Blue, and Barricade are with Granny and they'll meet us at the school with Taylor and Tyler."

"Barricade went with Rosie?" Josh questioned with a look of bewilderment.

I nodded, "He listens to her a lot better than he listens to me. I think it's just to spite me."

"It is." Skywarp grinned.

"Grimlock is having tons of fun outside and Megsy is getting his beauty sleep." I thought aloud, "Are we sure it's ok to leave Megatron alone? What if he gets worse or something?"

Ratchet shook his head, "We're close enough that I am able to constantly monitor him. He's fine."

"Ok, good." I nodded, "Now, the hard part. Seats and fitting all the alt modes in."

"Do we have to take our actual bodies? Why can't we just leave them here?" Sideswipe crossed his arms.

"Yes, you do. We're going to have a fun little get together at Abramo's new restaurant. He opened a new location in a small town next door and it's the opening night." I said with a nod, "He saved us a table. We're guests of honor." My eyes darted to Josh, "How many people can fit in your car? Did you bring the Sheriff car or…?"

Josh shook his head, "No, I brought my jeep. It'll fit four and me."

"Four. Ok. I can seat five. Soundwave doesn't really need a seat on his own so we just need one person to bite the bullet and ride in the trunk as his alt mode."

Optimus cleared his throat, "We've already come to a conclusion on seat arrangement and who will deactivate their holoform for the trip there. We also moved our alt modes to the vehicles."

"Oh awesome. Good planning, OP, that's why you get the big bucks." I nodded and Josh looked slightly impressed as well. Considering Josh brought his jeep, most alt modes were probably in the bed of my truck. I'm sure they were smart enough to throw a tarp over themselves.

Prowl shook his head, "Being Prime is not a paid position."

"It's jus' a sayin', Prowler." Jazz grinned and ignored the look Prowl shot him at the usage of that silly nickname.

Josh clapped his hands, "So who's gonna turn off their holoform?"

"That would be I." Starscream sneered.

I smiled in his direction, "Aw, way to take one for the team, Starscream."

"It's hardly a sacrifice." Starscream scoffed, "Being in this pathetic form is such a waste of programming and time."

At that he deactivated his holoform and he fizzled out of existence. I chuckled and motioned toward the air he had been standing in, "Such a team player, that guy." Soundwave strolled into the room from the kitchen and I knelt down to greet him, "Hey, buddy." Soundwave nodded his head in return and stepped onto the hand I offered him. I let him stand in the opening of my somewhat shallow purse.

"So let's get going, yeah?" Josh made his way to the front door and held it open. The mechs began to file out and I heard Sideswipe loudly yell that 'shotgun' was his. I rolled my eyes and exited last so I could lock up the house. My hand lingered on the doorknob and I briefly let my mind worry about Megatron one last time. It just felt wrong to leave him here. Obviously, we couldn't tow him behind Josh's jeep to watch the show, but still…

"Aj, you comin'?"

I turned to see Jazz waiting on the porch steps for me. I gave him a reassuring smile, "Course. Let's go. Are you riding with me?"

"You know it, sweetspark." He let one of his arms drape around my shoulders as the two of us headed for the truck. It looked like Thundercracker, Skywarp, Prowl, and Optimus were going to ride in the green jeep with Josh. I slid into the driver's side and set my purse in my lap while taking Soundwave out so he could sit comfortably on the shoulder rest of my seat.

Sideswipe hadn't gotten 'shotgun' entirely, instead Ratchet sat in the passenger seat and Sideswipe sat in the middle right beside me with a wide, happy grin. Wheeljack was sitting behind me, Jazz sat in the middle, and Sunstreaker sat behind Ratchet. A slow grin spread across my lips at how ridiculous this all looked. Small, little me driving this truck filled with human looking mechs who all stood tall and handsome.

"Are we going to leave anytime soon?" Sunstreaker grumpily questioned from the back with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, yeah." I chuckled and threw the truck into reverse, "Just let me enjoy the moment, yellow pages."

"Oh, frag it." Wheeljack sighed as Sideswipe whipped around in his seat to declare, "That's 33!"

"We can count, Sides." Jazz said dryly.

"Can you _stop_ counting?" Sunstreaker took a moment to glare at everyone in the car. Ratchet barked out for Sideswipe to turn back around and leave the back seat alone as I chuckled to myself.

* * *

 

The school was jam packed with parents and family. Josh and I had to park a little out of the way, but it wasn't too long of a walk to the front of the school. As our rather large group entered the school we got looks from nearly every person we passed. Not that I blamed any of them. I would eyeball our odd collection of people too. We looked like some sort of gang or something.

"Aj!"

I, along with some of the mechs beside me, turned to see Taylor full on sprinting in my direction with Bumblebee's holoform jogging behind her. I grinned and moved forward to catch her when she jumped into my arms, "Hey there, sweetie."

"Granny and Barricade got us seats in the auditorium. Tyler and me were showing Blue and Bee our classroom. Right, Bee?" Taylor bounced in my arms excitedly.

Bumblebee nodded with a smile, "That's right." He turned to the other mechs, "Our seats are off to the right middle if you wanna head in."

Most of the mechs, including Josh, went off to find Granny. Taylor squirmed and I set her down in response. She grabbed Sunstreaker's hand, "Come look at my classroom, Sunstreaker, my art's hanging on the wall!"

Sunstreaker let the little girl drag him down the hall. I glanced over at Bumblebee who was frowning with his arms crossed and chuckled in response. The younger mech's eyes glanced over at me curiously.

"You'll always be her favorite, Bee." He gave me a sheepish smile in response. "Are you gonna head in?"

"Yeah, I am." Bumblebee nodded, "Why?"

I took off my purse carefully so I wouldn't accidentally jostle poor Soundwave around, "Can you take this to where we're sitting? Soundwave is in it."

"Oh, ok." Bumblebee said and carefully took the purse from me before heading toward the auditorium. I turned to see what mechs had stuck around and realized it was just Jazz and Sideswipe, but the two of them were staring at each other and I wondered if it was a comm conversation or something.

I cleared my throat and they snapped their attention to me, "Everything ok, you guys?"

"Everything's perfect, babe." Sideswipe grinned at me and then shared the same grin with Jazz who didn't look to eager to return the happy look.

"Well, we should probably-"

"Oh my God. Aimee is that you?"

The smile fell off my face and I could feel my soul cringe in response to the voice. Jazz and Sideswipe looked over my shoulder in question and I just lightly shook my head and mumbled to myself, "Please tell me my luck isn't that bad."

"It is you, isn't it?" Hannah's voice spoke up again and I slowly turned around to see her. She wore a light purple blouse with white skinny jeans and her hair was loosely curled around her shoulder. She wore a bright grin, "I didn't recognize you without the ratty jeans and messy hair. Though from this view I guess I recognize your hair now."

I bit back the urge to just straight up lunge at her and punch her white, pearly teeth down her throat. Instead, I pasted on a bright smile as well, "Well I 100% recognize you, Hannah. Who else would reek of such desperation?"

Hannah let out a fake, cheerful laugh and took a few steps closer, "I forgot how funny you were, Aimee."

"What are you doing here anyways? I know for a fact that you don't have a kid."

"I'm here to watch the little girl I babysit on weekends."

"Someone trusts you around children? You're kidding, right?"

She ignored my comment and took this moment to notice the two mechs who were stepping forward to stand beside me. "Who are these handsome strangers?" She offered her hand to Jazz first, "My name is Hannah. I'm an old friend of Aimee. We go way back."

"Nice to meet ya, ma'am." Jazz shook her hand, but I took notice that his voice wasn't as cheerful as it could have been. I was momentarily proud of him automatically taking my side, but I was distracted by the familiar grin that stretched across his lips, "I'm Jace. Aimee's fiancée."

"Fiancée?" Hannah gasped, "You didn't tell me you were getting married, Aimee."

I forced a tight smile and slowly turned my head to look at Jazz who was just having the time of his life based on his face splitting smile. I nodded, "Yupp. We are getting married. I didn't tell you because I loathe you with my entire being."

"Such a kidder." Hannah chuckled and turned to Sideswipe who had been uncharacteristically silent during this entire exchange. "And you are?"

Sideswipe let a bright smile grow on his features, but it didn't reach his eyes entirely, "I'm Scott. You said you were Hannah?"

"Yes, I did." She nodded enthusiastically with a slight tilt of her head. I didn't bother hiding the roll of my eyes at her behavior.

"My brother mentioned you before. Steven? The two of you met in an art store." Sideswipe said.

Hannah's big brown eyes lit up in recognition, "I do remember him. He never told me he had such a good looking brother though?"

A slow smirk crossed Sideswipe's lips, "Steve never mentioned how pretty you were either."

Hannah let out a giggle and I swear I gagged a little at his words. Was Sideswipe flirting with her? Honest to God, flirting? I let my look of disgust dart from my mech friend to arch enemy. On one hand I wanted to save poor Sideswipe from this spawn of satan he was talking to, but on the other hand I wanted to get as far away from this scene as possible. Especially before I did something I would live to regret.

"Fiancé, lover man, let's go sit." I blurted and hooked my arm through Jazz's. Hannah didn't pay me a second glance and instead took a step closer to Sideswipe who did have the decency to glance at me. I gave him a look of confusion before letting Jazz drag me away.

He chuckled as our distance from the two grew, "Fiancé, lover man?"

"I panicked." I admitted then nudged him in the chest with the elbow closest to him, "What was up with that? Your fiancée?"

"Someone from the lunch party could be 'ere. Gotta stick to the story, right?" Jazz questioned with a growing look of amusement. I didn't bother pointing out that at the lunch party we had just been an un-engaged couple.

I let out a small laugh and shook my head, "You and Taylor are gonna be the death of me." The two of us entered the auditorium and crossed the room where we could see the others sitting, "If the two of you really keep that up though, I'm gonna start expecting a real ring."

"Oh yeah?" Jazz replied.

"Yeah. A big one." I joked, "A diamond the size of a fucking golf ball."

"What is with you and your language today?" Ratchet snapped from the end of our saved row.

I scoffed, "How did you even hear that? Nosy medic."

The entire row was filled with our group. Granny was sitting on the opposite end, my purse containing Soundwave in her lap, talking to Optimus with Barricade sitting on her other side. The mech looked extremely displeased with his arms crossed tightly and slouched in his chair, but he wasn't making a scene so I had no complaints. Next to Optimus was Tyler, Bluestreak, Bumblebee, and Taylor. Sunstreaker was sitting on the other side of Taylor silently with his arms crossed as well, but he looked bored rather than angry. There was an empty seat beside him, obviously reserved for his red, idiot of a brother, then next to the empty seat was Skywarp, Starscream, and Thundercracker. The fact that Sideswipe and Skywarp were going to have to sit beside each other seemed like a horrible idea, but I figured I'd deal with that a bit later. Next to Thundercracker was Josh, the two were talking about something, then came Prowl, Wheeljack, Ratchet, and two empty seats that I assumed were saved for me and Jazz.

I sat down beside Ratchet and Jazz took the last empty seat on my other side. Ratchet nodded his head, "How is your hip?"

"Sore as he… _ck_." I caught myself from cussing in front of Ratchet again. "But I guess that's what forced physical therapy will do to you."

He grunted as Jazz snickered and rested his arm on the back of my chair. Wheeljack leaned forward in his seat to smile at me, "I wanted to commend you, Aj, for your ability to think of so many nicknames for Sunstreaker. It truly is impressive."

"When did you guys start betting on that anyway?" I asked with a shake of my head.

"Hmm, it was 'round the time you got to the eighth nickname or so." Jazz answered. "Right?"

"That's correct." Prowl chimed in from the other side of Wheeljack.

Wow, they had it running for a while then. Most of the time I hadn't even known about it either. I leaned back in my seat and Jazz shifted his arm so I'd be more comfortable, "How many did y'all think I'd get?"

"I guessed 32 and Ratchet guessed 30." Wheeljack grinned.

I turned to Jazz who shook his head, "Nah, little lady, I'm still in the runnin' so I can't say. Rules are rules."

"Can I ask who else is still in the running?"

Ratchet paused before replying, "Let's see, Sideswipe is still in, Jazz, Prowl, and Optimus."

I chuckled, "Well whoever wins this thing better give me a cut of whatever the hell it is they win."

The mechs chuckled and even Ratchet let my curse slip away without reprimand. A minute or two passed before a teacher came out on stage and announced that the play would be starting in five minutes. I leaned forward, as Jazz and Ratchet continued in their conversation, and glanced down the row to see Sideswipe was still missing. Had Hannah devoured his soul and left his body to rot in the hall? That was silly of me to think. I'm sure she could only do that to human men and not Cybertronians.

Sunstreaker was talking to Taylor about something and didn't look too concerned about his brother. I leaned back in my seat for a moment before twisting my lips and standing up.

"Where are you going?" Ratchet asked and I noticed that I gained the attention of some of the other mechs in the row.

"Bathroom. Is that ok or do I need to raise my hand and ask permission?"

"Insufferable…" Ratchet mumbled under his breath at me. I gave him a bright grin before walking away from the row. Sassing Ratchet was nearly as fun as coming up with new nicknames for Sunstreaker. Both new hobbies of mine were probably going to get me killed one day though.

I left the auditorium and glanced around the halls looking for a familiar holoform or for Hannah. They weren't in the main section of the hallway so I went to the right side to peek down the more empty, smaller hall. When I didn't spot them there I went to the opposite side only to find the same result. I let out an unhappy huff of air. This was Peter's night and I wanted all the mechs there supporting him. It would mean the absolute world to him.

If Barricade could bring himself to sit there and support the kid then Sideswipe sure as hell could. I turned to check a different area when the sound of something shuffling made me pause in confusion. I glanced around until I realized the shuffling sound was coming from a closet a bit further down the hall. Was that…? No. No. It couldn't be. Slowly, I walked over to the closet and put my hand on the handle. Before I could talk myself out of it, I pulled open the door to look inside.

Honestly, I would've been less surprised to see a lion prowling around the small supply closet. In fact, I sort of wished there was a lion here to put me out of my misery, because what I was seeing was not going to be unseen.

Hannah was sitting on a counter off to the side with her legs wrapped around Sideswipe's waist. Her hands were buried in his hair and his were wrapped around her as their faces were smashed together. I could feel my face scrunch up in disgust. Sideswipe pulled away and for a brief moment he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Could you close the door?" Hannah had the gall to ask. "We're busy."

"You're seriously making out with her?" I gasped. Oh God, I was going to be sick. At least they had their clothes on, right? That train of thought made everything worse. "For crying out loud, Sides."

"Wait, babe-" I turned on my heel and left the area. Hannah's voice could still be faintly heard, "Did you just call her babe?"

"Aj, seriously, wait!" Sideswipe called after me. I forced myself to stop and turn around to look at him. He jogged to a stop in front of me. His dark hair was a mess and there was traces of lipstick smeared across his own lips, "Are you mad?"

I scoffed and began to turn around again when he grabbed my arm and made me stay. He shook his head, "It was just a kiss. Like we always talk about? A kiss doesn't mean slag. I just wanted to see what it was like to kiss a human like-"

"You didn't kiss a human, Sides." I argued, "You kissed a hell beast!"

Hannah chose this moment to walk by the two of us while straightening her hair with her hands. She smirked at me and flashed a 'call me' sign before disappearing into the auditorium.

I cringed again as the thought of them flashed across my mind, "Ew, Sides. Just…. _ew_!"

"If you're not mad then you're what? Are you…wait." Sideswipe's eyes narrowed in confusion briefly before a slow smile spread across his lips, "Are you jealous?"

"Wha- What the hell would I be jealous for?" I replied with a shake of my head. That didn't even make any sense. Did he think I was jealous because he was kissing someone and I wasn't? Kissing was hella fun, but I had enough self-control to know that I shouldn't be engaging in random make out sessions for fun these days. Not while I was responsible for three young kids. Besides, if I wanted to make out with someone I was more than capable of getting a guy. "And who said I wasn't mad? I am kinda mad, Sideswipe. We're here to support Peter, not goof off and experiment in supply closets."

Sideswipe scoffed and crossed his arms, "Says the femme, no I'm sorry, the _sweetspark_ who's gonna get married to Jazz."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I cried back. He opened his mouth to argue more, but I began to shush him with a shake of my head. "Forget it, just forget it. Lord knows I wish I could. Wipe the lipstick from your face and come watch Peter's damn play. Slag head."

At that, I turned on my heel and quickly rushed back to the auditorium. There were no kids on the stage yet, but the lights were dimmed and the curtain was drawn back to reveal the Olympus set. I took my seat and Jazz leaned over toward me to whisper, "You ok, sweetspark?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just mentally scarred for life. No biggie." I gave him a smile before focusing on the stage. Sideswipe discreetly entered a few seconds later right before the first wave of kids walked on stage.

* * *

 

Cybertron didn't really have theater or plays like humans did. It was a piece of culture that was unique to Earth. Cybertron had stories, of course, and performers, but it was still vastly different from what the humans considered acting. To be honest, Jazz didn't initially get the concept of acting. What was the point of pretending to be someone else for just entertainment? In his line of business, there were a lot of times when he had to pretend to be someone else, and though it could be pretty fun sometimes the life or death consequences of it prevented it from being seen as entertainment. To him at least.

However, Jazz did enjoy some of the television shows that aired and he could understand the topic a little better. Watching a bunch of younglings act poorly on stage sounded like it wouldn't be the most fun thing in the universe, but he found himself smiling at times throughout the play and he also felt a swell of pride towards Peter. The little human was the best on stage without a doubt in his processors. Admittedly, he was probably a little biased, but Peter was the only youngling who didn't fumble through what he was supposed to say.

As the play ended, he rose with all the others in the room to applaud the small actors on stage who bowed to the crowd out of sync. Aj bounced lightly beside him and raised her fingers to her lips to let out a loud whistle of celebration. Jazz couldn't help but glance over at her with a small smile. There was so much that made sense to him now. Ever since Ratchet told him and the other officers about the mock bond, as they were calling it, it just clicked in Jazz's processors. No wonder he found it so easy to trust this organic femme, why he craved her presence. It was a fragging bond. A fake bond, but still. It was real enough to make Jazz's spark spin when she was around.

Rosie, Taylor, Tyler, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Barricade left the group to go find Peter. Barricade's holoform was marching near the front with Rosie and the glare on his features was enough to clear a path through the crowd of excited sires and carriers.

"You guys head to the cars. We'll meet you there!" Aj said before rushing off with Prowl and Wheeljack after the group that had just left so she could see Peter as well. Jazz knew he'd get to talk to the youngling soon enough so he began to walk out with the other mechs and Josh.

"It's 5:35 now, and the drive to Abramo's new place is gonna be around thirty minutes long." Josh said. The sheriff began to say more, but the gladiator twins who were arguing near the back distracted Jazz. Sunstreaker punched his brother in the side before shoving his servos into his pockets and marching ahead with the others. Jazz slowed down until he had the same pace as Sideswipe.

Sideswipe gave Jazz a questioning look, "What?"

"Jus' wanna talk is all, mech. Heard you had a little fun before the play started."

The mech groaned in annoyance, "Are you gonna give me the third degree too? Sunny already yelled at me. Wait, how do you even know?"

"Aj mentioned it when Pete was offstage. She said she wasn't mad at you. Not really."

A look of relief crossed the mech's human face, "Oh thank Primus. You know the whole thing wasn't even my idea. She asked, and I figured why not?"

"Course you did." Jazz replied, "Was she jealous?"

"Who?"

"Aj, you glitch." Jazz sighed. He just wanted answers. A clue on whether or not the humans were feeling the effects of the mock bond too.

Sideswipe shrugged, "That's what I asked her. Which was a weird thing for me to ask her and a weird thing for you to ask me." The two of them were out of the building now, but Sideswipe was still rambling his thoughts aloud, "I mean, I kind of wanted her to be jealous, but I don't see why. She's a human. That's weird, right?"

At one point it would've been weird, but now? Not so much. Only Jazz, Optimus, Prowl, Wheeljack, and Ratchet knew about the mock bond, which is probably why it still seemed weird to Sideswipe. Cybertronians were so reliant on energy signatures when it came to any relationship. It's why befriending humans in the first place was easy. Their signatures were close enough to allow a relationship to occur, but was different enough for the Cybertronians to see them as different. The mock bond changed everything though. Typical bonds only formed between Cybertronians so the fact that bond effects were occurring between them and their human hosts blurred that human-cybertronian line.

Sideswipe didn't seem to notice Jazz's inner turmoil. He shrugged, "Whatever. Humans are terrible kissers anyway."

Jazz couldn't help but bark out a laugh, "You kissed one human, Sideswipe. One."

"Are you saying Aj wasn't terrible at it?" Sideswipe grinned impishly. Jazz could tell the mech was just prodding and didn't expect anything from him. That reason only was why Jazz felt more than inclined to actually give him something.

He pulled the sunglasses out of his coat pocket and slipped them over his optics, "Aj easily made my top three best kissers."

Sideswipe optics widened, "You're fragging kidding me."

"Nope." Jazz replied and picked up his pace slightly and made a beeline for the familiar truck he rode in.

"What place did she come in? You can't just say that and ignore me. Jazz? _Jazz_!"

* * *

 

The town Abramo was opening his new restaurant in was a good thirty minutes away, but the trip was well worth it in my opinion. He had bought a cute little building in the downtown area where most of the town's foot traffic was. The outside was made of different sized stones and bricks and there was an outdoor eating area with metal tables and matching metal seats. A dark green fabric awning was built over the double wooden front doors and the center of the front doors was made of frosted glass with Abramo's name written in black cursive.

Granny and Josh's cars had made it here before us and they were already inside. I would've beaten them both, but I had taken a wrong turn a few miles back. I blamed Ratchet's passenger seat driving.

"Ok, so Abramo can be a little much sometimes, but he's a really great guy." I explained as we made our way to the front, "I already told him that you guys couldn't eat anything. I said you were on some BS military diet experiment thing."

"Good cover. I'm sure no one will see through that." Sunstreaker replied.

"No one asked for your opinion, Sass-streaker." I bit back. Sideswipe gave his brother a large grin from over my head that I ignored. I also ignored Sunstreaker who was now threatening to maul his brother and Ratchet who was yelling at them to shut up.

The front doors swung open before I could get anywhere near the doorknob and Abramo stepped out with a broad grin. The fact that he still looked exactly like he did when I first met him at 16 was crazy to me. The lower half of his round face was covered in a thick gray beard and mustache and his matching hair was slicked back neatly. He even had his signature tweed coat on over a white wife beater with suspenders and khaki pants.

 _"Benvenuto! Benvenuto_!" Abramo cheered merrily as he came forward to wrap me up in a hug. "Welcome, little one. Why does it take you so long to come see me?"

"I'm sorry, Abramo." I said as he pulled away. "Oh, these are my friends."

"I already met some inside." Abramo nodded, "Good men. I am Abramo."

"This is Jace, Scott, and Steven." I pointed to Jazz and the twins who said their quick greetings. I turned to the others and realized I hadn't ever thought about their possible human names before, "Um and this is…Jack." Wheeljack grinned and shook Abramo's hand. "And finally, this is…uh, Ryan."

Sunstreaker rolled his eyes at me and I stuck my tongue out at him as Ratchet greeted Abramo who then welcomed them all in with open arms. They began to make their way inside, but I paused so I could talk to Abramo a little more right here. I had seen him the last time I went to pick up food from his place for the kids, but that had been weeks ago.

Sideswipe didn't go in like the others though. Instead he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and began to speak fluent Italian to Abramo. My eyes widened in surprise and Abramo looked just as shocked. Where as my shock lingered, Abramo's quickly turned to amusement. He let out a loud laugh before diving head first into a full on Italian conversation as I stood there dumbly.

My eyes darted between them repeatedly, but the Italian I knew ended at 'hello' so there was no possible way for me to pick up on anything they were saying.

" _Lei mi piace_." Sideswipe tightened his arm around me and gave me a slight shake as he said this.

" _A chi non piace la mia patatina_?" Abramo laughed in response.

"Patatina!" I spoke up in recognition, "I do recognize that word."

Abramo laughed again in amusement, "You have good taste in friends, _patatina_. Come in and eat. It's on the house."

The older man waved his finger at Sideswipe with a smile before heading inside. Sideswipe and I didn't follow him in, "What was that all about?"

"I was just saying hi." Sideswipe smirked, "Do you know what _patatina_ means?"

"Nah, I just recognized him saying it. He always calls me that."

"He always calls you that, but you never thought to ask what it means?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "No. Why? Is he calling me an asshole or something?"

Sideswipe chuckled, "It's a term of endearment aimed toward children." His smirk turned to a real smile, "It means ' _little potato'."_

My jaw fell open, "He's been calling me a potato since I was 16?" I paused before nodding, "You know, that actually isn't super surprising." Sideswipe laughed again and I nudged him with my elbow, "So were you really speaking Italian or were you doing that translation software BS."

"I wouldn't really call that software BS, but no I wasn't using it. Italian was one of the languages I first learned when I came to Earth in our universe." Sideswipe shrugged as the two of us made our way indoors, "Italian, English, German, Korean, Russian, and Spanish."

"That seems like a really random collection of languages to first learn." I chuckled.

"They were the ones that sounded coolest to me. Plus, they had the best curse words."

I rolled my eyes at his last comment, but his grin only widened. The inside of Abramo's new place was just as cozy and cute as I imagined it to be. It was a large room sectioned off into different seating areas. Decoration wise, and even layout wise in some ways was very similar to the one back home. There was a bar off to the left with the entrance to the kitchen there as well. Booths and tables filled the room and to the far left was a small stage area where a band could play.

The entire room was packed with people and it took me a few seconds to locate the people I knew. I pointed across the room, "There's our group, Sides."

"Right." Sideswipe led the way through the crowd and stopped about halfway to turn around and look back at me, "Hey, I'm sorry. Jazz said you weren't mad anymore and I can tell you aren't, but I still wanna say sorry."

A warm smile grew on my lips, "It's ok, Sides, really. Besides, I'm sorry too." He didn't say anything and I continued, "I'm sorry your first kiss with a human was Hannah fragging Cox."

Sideswipe laughed and continued toward the others with me by his side, "Yeah, it wasn't that great admittedly."

"Aj!" Taylor stood up in her seat and Granny was quick to tell her to sit back down. Our group was sitting in the back corner right now in one of those huge, circular booths. Even then not everyone could fit. At the table right now were Granny, Peter, Taylor, Tyler, and all the autobots minus Sideswipe who stood beside me. Sunstreaker, Jazz, and Wheeljack couldn't fit in the booth due to a lack of room, but they had pulled up chairs to sit on the outside. Right next to this large booth was a normal sized booth where Barricade and the trine was along with Josh. Thundercracker didn't fit in the booth though so he sat on the outside in a loose chair.

I glanced around, "Where's Soundwave?"

"He's here!" Peter chirped and it was then that I noticed the mech sitting in Peter's lap. The boy was still wearing his Zeus costume just without the fake beard. There was a huge, bright grin on his face that filled my chest with warmth. It was so great to see him so happy.

Granny spoke up, "I already ordered for you, Aimee Jane, but I didn't know what you wanted to drink."

"I'll probably head to the bar and grab something." I shrugged.

Josh stood up and stepped around Thundercracker, "I'll go with you. I could use a strong drink, plus I was hoping we could talk now?"

"Oh, right!" I nodded remembered what he said to me earlier, "You want anything, Granny?"

She shook her head, "I'm fine, sweetheart."

Tyler shot his hand up, "I want something, Aj!"

"They're getting alcohol, Tyler." Peter explained and Tyler sunk in his seat unhappily.

I chuckled, "I'll get you something, kid."

 _"You'll what?_ " Ratchet snapped out of the conversation he was having with the mechs beside him to glare at me. I stuck my tongue out at him before grabbing Josh's arm and rushing away. Abramo had this slushy drink for kids served in a plastic margarita glass that I knew the kids would love.

Josh and I made our way through the thick crowd to get to the bar, which was packed with people. The bartender, a young college kid named Justin, was going down the bar taking orders so the two of us just waited patiently.

"So what did you need to talk about?" I asked.

Josh cleared his throat, "I, uh, don't really know how to say this."

My eyes widened slightly at this statement, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Better than alright, actually." Josh chuckled with a hesitant smile. He rubbed the back of his neck, "A few weeks ago, I applied for the Detective position, and I just heard back from them this morning. I got it. I'm going to be a Detective."

"Seriously?" I questioned, "Congrats! I mean, isn't Detective kind of a lower position than Sheriff though?"

"Yes and no? I'll be getting paid more, but that's because…it's because the job is in Atlanta."

I blinked in surprise and tried to find words to speak, "Like…Georgia? Atlanta, Georgia?"

Josh nodded, "Yeah. They offered me a position, and… I love being Sheriff here. I really do. It's my home and the people here are great, but it's- the job is boring." He shrugged, "I love this town, but I was so bored with my life."

"Josh…"

"And then you came back." He grinned and shook his head, "You came back with your parade of Cybertronian friends and I remembered that- that life doesn't have to be boring." He pressed his lips together, "For the first time in a while, I'm excited about my career."

The look on Josh's face said everything. There was a light in his eyes and excitement written across his features. He would make a damn good detective and Atlanta would be lucky to have him. Atlanta would have him. There was a lump in my throat as I realized what this meant. I was so focused on the fact that I would maybe have to say goodbye to all the mechs, that I didn't even realize I'd have to say goodbye to Josh one day.

I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him tightly. He returned the hug without hesitance and I let out a sad chuckle, "When do you go?"

"I'm supposed to be there by next Monday."

I pulled away with wide eyes, "That soon?"

Josh nodded, "Yeah. That soon." The bartender finally came around to us and Josh turned to address his question of what we wanted, "Yeah, I'll take a Budweiser and she'll have…do you want beer or something else?"

"I'll just take a beer." I nodded.

"Alright, she'll have a Corona Extra." Josh finished and waited for Justin to get the beers. Justin opened both bottles before handing it over. "Thanks, man."

Josh turned and handed me my beer, "You still have shitty taste in beer."

"Says the guy drinking a Budweiser." I joked.

He raised his bottle, "This is a classic."

I lifted my own bottle in a toast motion, "To your new job. I'm proud of you, charming."

Josh chuckled and clinked his bottle against mine before we both took a sip. He cleared his throat again, "I wouldn't have ever been able to do it without you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned and looked around for a waitress or waiter I could talk to. I wanted to order those slushies, but Justin looked too busy to bother with that.

"Do you know how terrifying it is to apply for a job out of state? A detective job, nonetheless? When it comes to making my own life decisions, I'm not brave like you." He shrugged.

I choked on my beer and Josh clapped me on the back, "Me? Brave? You're kidding right?"

"You packed up everything you owned the day after high school graduation and moved to New York City, Aj. A place where you knew no one. You say what you believe, consequences be damned." Josh chuckled, "You don't let anything stop you."

I shook my head, "I think you're confusing bravery with stupidity, charming."

"You're brave enough to make a choice. To do something." Josh replied, "I've always admired that about you. Always."

I bit down on my lower lip, "I'm really going to miss you."

"Hey, I'll miss you too. Besides, I'll always be your Prince Charming. No matter where I am, and where you are. Right?"

"Damn right." I replied, but I knew my voice still sounded bittersweet. A waitress came by and I quickly made the order. Blue raspberry for Tyler, sour green apple for Peter, and strawberry for Taylor. I knew these kids' preferences by heart now. Josh pointed out the table they were supposed to go to and we started to make our way away from the bar. I bumped into him with my shoulder, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Have you ever wondered what our life would be like if I said yes to you for prom? If I had stayed in Alabama and not gotten mixed up with the shitstorm up north?" I asked.

Josh took a small sip of his beer, "Yeah, I used to think about it a lot honestly. I started thinking about it again when you first came back, but to be honest…I'm glad it didn't happen."

"How come?"

"You went through a lot of horrible stuff, and I wish more than anything that you didn't have to deal with all that, but without it…you wouldn't be you." Josh admitted, "If you had stayed and we had gotten married-"

I laughed, "Married? Who said I would've married you?"

Josh scoffed, "Please, you resisted my charm through high school, but you wouldn't have lasted much longer than that. I would've won you over eventually." I looped one of my arm through his and leaned against him as we slowly continued to walk. He wasn't wrong. "Anyways, marriage, 2.5 kids, a house with a white picket fence…all that would've made you someone else. Maybe I would've liked that someone else, but I never would've met this you."

"That couldn't be the worst thing." I joked.

"I think it would've been a tragedy." He replied, "Because the person with me right now, every aspect of who you are, is pretty fucking great."

I planted my feet to the ground and forced him to come to a stop. He gave me a curious look, but instead I just pushed myself up on my toes to plant a kiss on his cheek, "Thanks, Josh. Really. Thanks."

He gave me a small smile and nod. Loud, familiar laughter made me glance around to see our group enjoying themselves. Even Barricade seemed not as tense or annoyed anymore. Josh walked up to the table just as the waitress brought out the drinks I ordered for the kids. Tyler was bouncing in his seat excitedly as Josh helped get them from the waitress to the kids.

Did I want to say bye to Josh? Hell no. However, sometimes goodbyes weren't painful. It seemed like they'd always be sad, but this goodbye also felt good. Maybe it was because I knew how good it would be for him. He'd get the adventure he always wanted since we were dumb high schoolers. He'd meet a pretty woman and treat her like an absolute princess. Josh would get the life he more than deserved, and if the only way that would happen is by me saying goodbye then I'd happily do so.

* * *

 

The atmosphere of the small, cozy restaurant seemed to grow warmer as time went by. Cheerful conversations and laughter filled the room while the smell of amazing, home cooked styled meals wafted through the air. It was only a little after eight now, but Rosie was already feeling drained. A part of her craved her soft bed back home, but the other more dominant half of her didn't want to miss a moment of this night. She'd stay up to midnight if need be.

Rosie continued making her way toward the bar through the crowds of people. The bar itself wasn't crowded anymore now that waiters and waitresses were constantly moving about the room bringing drinks to people and keeping glasses from going dry. Abramo was never one to cheap out on good alcohol.

She came to a stop at the dark mahogany bar and took a seat on one of the dark red bar stools. She glanced over her shoulder briefly to look for familiar faces and when she felt satisfied that they were far enough away in the party, she turned back around a dug around her purse for a bottle of pills. With habitual movements, she popped one in her mouth and swallowed it dry just as the bartender left a couple to her far left to greet her.

"Good evening, ma'am. What can I get for you?" He asked. Rosie knew all the people that worked at Abramo's original restaurant, which is why she knew this young man was a new employee. His name tag read 'Justin' and she tried to tie the name to his face in her memory so if she saw him again she'd be able to greet him properly.

"Is there anyway you can get me some coffee, son? I'm afraid if I don't get some soon I'll be out like a light." Rosie chuckled with a warm smile stretched across her lips.

"Well, I'm really not supposed to leave the bar, but…" Justin paused before rubbing the back of his neck with a small nod, "Do you take it black?"

"Just some sugar." Rosie nodded and watched as he turned to head into the kitchen. Admittedly, there was fantastic thing about being over the hill and that was the fact that it made it harder for people to say no to her requests.

A small sigh of content slipped from her lips. Rosie could hardly believe she was here enjoying a party with Aimee Jane, Abramo, and the kids all in the same room, but words couldn't describe how much she loved it. The fact that Aimee Jane was back in Alabama, safe and sound, was a miracle in itself. Rosie couldn't count the number of hours she spent praying and worrying about the young woman.

"Rosie?"

The older woman turned her head to see Optimus Prime's holoform standing by her side. It seemed somewhat out of place for him to be wearing such a nice suit around the house, but here he blended in perfectly. Rosie's smile grew, "Optimus Prime." A few people a couple seats away glanced at her curiously. She lowered her voice with a chuckle, "I guess I shouldn't call you that here, hmm?"

"I suppose not." He chuckled back in his deep voice. "Do you mind if I sit beside you?"

"Of course not. I'd be delighted."

Optimus took a seat beside her and seconds later Justin came back out with a large teacup sitting on a saucer. He set it in front of her and she wrapped her hands around the warm object, "Thank you so much. I'll be sure to let Abramo know what a help you were."

Justin beamed at the praise and turned to Optimus, "And would you like anything, sir?"

"I am fine. Thank you." Optimus replied kindly. Justin gave a quick, firm smile before moving down the bar to check on the rest of the guests.

Rosie raised the cup to her lips and blew on the hot liquid before taking a small, cautious sip. Her nose scrunched up when too much touched her tongue and she quickly set it back down before turning to look at the mech beside her, "It's perfect you came. You're just the mech I wanted to speak to."

"I am?" He questioned with a single raised eyebrow. It made him seem so human that Rosie could hardly believe he was an alien for a brief moment. "About what?"

"I hear that Jaz- Oh, I'm sorry, Jace is trying to convince a few people to make the grand trip with you back home." Rosie caught herself before she could use the Cybertronian name she was so used to. They were in such a public place. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally draw attention to their strange conversation. "Is that true?"

Optimus' lips pressed together in a line and he heaved a sigh before nodding, "That is true. Did Aj tell you?"

"She asked my opinion. I told her I had to think about it some more. Get all the facts." Rosie shrugged her shoulders. "Who all are you tryin' to convince?"

"Aj, the younglings, and their carrier." Optimus didn't seem to bother with making their conversation seem more normal. "We would never willingly separate younglings from their carrier."

Rosie had caught on to quite a few Cybertronian terms and facts, which is why she knew carrier was the same as a mother. Context clues seemed to give it away too. Her shoulders stiffened slightly at what he said though.

"And yet you have no problem separating Aimee Jane from me."

In all honesty, Rosie didn't even really mean to say the words out loud. It was more of a personal thought that just slipped out. Optimus lightly set his hand on her shoulder, "We would love nothing more than to take you as well. Joshua too. I personally see the two of you as friends and have treasured the time we shared." He shook his head, "However…"

"No, it's fine." Rosie waved off his concern, "I didn't mean to say that. It's silly really. I'm not even her real mother."

Optimus paused briefly, "Bumblebee lost both his carrier and sire in the war before he ever truly got to know them. Two soldiers of mine, Ironhide and Chromia, cared for him and still do to this day." He gave her a firm smile, "Never in a thousand lifetimes would I ever consider Chromia to not be his carrier."

Rosie smiled warmly and turned in her seat to look across the room. Her eyes landed on the beautiful woman with short, wavy hair who was laughing beside Wheeljack and Sunstreaker while watching the kids who were close by. She shook her head, "She's an amazing young woman, you know?"

"I am very aware."

Rosie chuckled, "She's grown so much since I first met her, but…she still has this look in her eyes. Even now, when things are going so great for her and everyone… She has scars. She has scars on her heart and it keeps her scared. She's scared to really open up to people." She turned back around to take a hasty sip of her now warm coffee. "That fact that she let you lot into her life was nearly as surprisin' as the fact that y'all even exist."

There was another pause of silence between the two of them, but Rosie could feel tension in this one. She glanced over at Optimus curiously and saw a look of contemplation on his face. He was obviously mentally debating something. She just didn't know what.

"You see", Optimus finally began to speak, "Ratchet believes it might have something to do with something he noticed a few Earth days ago. A bond."

"What?"

"He thinks a part of the reason why it was so easy for her to see us as…friends, was because she could feel a bond of sorts." Optimus further explained.

Rosie nodded, "She mentioned that before. Something about guardians and her giving off Ratchet's signal?"

"That's accurate information, but it's not what I'm talking about now."

"There's another bond?"

Optimus shook his head, "What you just described isn't considered a true bond in our terms. It's not as permanent. It can be turned on or off as need be because it's just a shift in energy readings. A true bond can't be simply shut off because a true bond changes our sparks. It's almost physical in a sense. We've been calling this one a mock bond. It feels like an actual bond would, but without the tangible presence in our sparks." Optimus sighed, "We've all been showing signs of experiencing a bond, but we didn't really notice until Ratchet noticed that the younglings and Aj weren't just giving off our signals, but we were also slightly giving off theirs meaning that there is some sort of connection there."

"Humans don't have sparks though so how could a bond, even a mock one, form?"

"We think their energy signatures are acting as sparks. What we don't know, is if this is because their signatures are so unique or because we were giving off so much radiation in the beginning." Optimus glanced around the room as well, "Now, as our bodies upgrade, we have more control over the radiation given off, but when we first arrived, all the radiation off our sparks was essentially dumped onto Aj and the younglings."

Rosie's eyes widened, "That isn't dangerous is it?"

Optimus shook his head, "Ratchet doesn't think so."

"That doesn't sound awfully convincing…"

He nodded, "I know, but Ratchet does seem fairly certain and I trust him on this." He paused before continuing, "Since this initial bond of sorts was formed, the fact that we can control the radiation we give off doesn't help. The longer we stay here the stronger this mock bond grows."

"Does Aimee Jane know any of this?"

"No. Only my officers and myself know. I should tell her, but Aj has the tendency to…excessively worry about these things. I didn't want to alarm her."

Rosie couldn't help but let out a scoff, "Now that is an understatement." She gulped down some more coffee before asking a question, "Who exactly is the bond between?"

"All of us." Optimus admitted, "It differs greatly on the amount of time spent together, but we believe everyone is feeling the effects of an initial bond formation. In fact, Aj mentioned something today and we think we know why Barricade and Megatron became ill. The bonds are acting as some form of…barrier. It's keeping our systems from glitching and viruses from forming. The weaker the bonds, the less protection."

Rosie nodded, "In that case, I figured Barricade would've had it worse."

"There were…other variables in Megatron's case." Optimus replied, but his tone suggested that he had nothing else to add to that statement. Rosie wasn't going to pry either. This was a topic that she obviously had no reason to be a part of.

She continued with her questions, "You said they can feel it?"

"Not in the way we can. To us it's fairly obvious, but humans aren't accustomed to feeling bonds. We actually have no idea how it would work on their side, if it'll be anything like a normal bond." Optimus shrugged, "This is new territory. It's a new form of bond that none of us were even aware was possible."

Rosie pressed her lips together, "What happens if you go home without them? What happens to the bond?"

"For us, it will…be unpleasant." Optimus admitted.

"Will the bond break?"

Optimus shook his head, "Bond breaks are severe and only occur if one side of the bond dies. Wheeljack thinks the bond will just gradually fade because of the distance. It will never go away though. It will just linger, like an ache."

"Is that why you want to take them with you?" Rosie asked with steel in her voice, "To avoid pain?"

"Not at all." Optimus replied without hesitation, "With the situation as it is here, they would be in danger regardless of the universe. If they were with us though, it gives us the opportunity to protect them. To make sure no harm befalls them." He let out a soft, sad chuckle, "And we just do not want to say goodbye. Not yet."

Rosie nodded lightly. The answer appeased her for now, but she hadn't decided on how she felt about it entirely. This whole situation seemed like one big mess. She turned in her seat again to scan the room. Abramo had pulled Sideswipe into a conversation and the two were near the front chatting happily and probably in Italian. Wheeljack and Sunstreaker were still over by Aimee Jane, but now the three of them were talking to Taylor and Peter as well. Tyler was at a different table playing a game with Bluestreak and a few other kids who were here at the party. Rosie spotted Bumblebee and Jazz talking as they both headed towards where Aimee Jane, Taylor, and Peter were. Even further across the room Prowl, Thundercracker, Starscream, and Josh were talking to each other along with a few others Rosie didn't know. She had recently seen Skywarp bouncing from conversation to conversation around the room, but she couldn't immediately spot him now. Finally, Ratchet looked like he was heading toward Aimee Jane as well.

She couldn't help but look back at Aimee Jane again to admire the bright smile on her features. It couldn't be argued that the mechs weren't good for her. At the end of the day, regardless of anything else, Rosie wanted her to be happy. She wanted her to not be scared of living life to the fullest. More than that, Rosie wanted Aimee Jane to feel safe. Isn't that all a mother, even a foster one, could ask for?

* * *

 

"What time is it? Hand me my phone so I can check." I pointed across the table to my purse.

Without moving to grab my purse, or even looking up from the cards in his hand, Ratchet replied, "It's 8:23."

"Show off." I mumbled and glanced back down at my own hand of cards. The kids were across the room playing a collection of board games and other things with some other kids who had come to Abramo's opening party. Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Prowl were over there with them so I wasn't too worried about keeping an eye on them. Granny was still at the bar talking with Optimus and now Jazz was over there as well.

Sideswipe had found a deck of cards, so now him, his brother, Ratchet, Starscream, Barricade, and I were playing a round of Texas Hold'em. Skywarp was still making his way around the room talking to anyone who would listen long enough. It had worried me at first, but Skywarp seemed to be controlling himself rather well. Thundercracker, Josh, and Wheeljack were around here somewhere too.

"Shit, the kids need to go to sleep soon." I mumbled, "Tomorrow's still a school day."

"Just let them skip." Sideswipe shrugged and Ratchet was quick to slap him up side the head. I chuckled and set my cards down saying I folded. Rather than sticking around to see who won this round, I stood up to leave. Luckily, we were sitting at a normal table rather than a booth right now so I didn't have to crawl over anyone.

Sunstreaker huffed, "Where are you going?"

"Will you slaggers just play. She's a grown femme." Starscream scoffed and motioned for Ratchet to make his decision.

"I just wanna talk to Abramo one last time before we start getting ready to go." I shrugged and winked at Sunstreaker, "Good grief, Charlie Brown. Don't worry so much."

Sunstreaker rolled his eyes and I hurried away to find Abramo. It was a little pathetic how proud I was of that nickname. It was getting harder and harder to come up with them. At this point, I'd start googling 'yellow stuff' to try and get ideas. There were tons of different yellow birds, right? Maybe I'd start there.

Despite, the restaurant not being that big and Abramo being an easy person to spot, I had a bit trouble finding him. When I didn't see him after rounding the room once, I figured he must be back in the kitchen. Back home, I'd have no problem walking into the back kitchen to find him, but for some reason it felt weird here. I guess it was because everything was just so new.

I stumbled forward as someone bumped into my rather roughly. My body bumped into the table in front of me, and I turned to see who had run into me so rudely only to come face to face with a guy in a suit I didn't know. He had dark green eyes and was frowning rather profusely. I expected him to yell at me to watch where I was going, which would be BS considering he ran into me, but instead he pulled a disposable phone out of his pocket and set it on the empty table I stood by. I glanced from the phone back to the man who turned and left abruptly.

"What the hell…?" I mumbled just as the phone began to buzz against the dark wood. Curiously, I picked it up and opened it to see there was one unread message from an unknown number. A horrible feeling built up in my chest as nausea washed over me. I had a feeling what this was all about. It's not like there were many different scenarios to consider. I opened the text shakily.

_'Come outside, pet.'_

In that moment, it felt like all the blood in my body had solidified. The room was beginning to tilt as fear creeped through my system. Was Boss here? In front of the restaurant filled with the people I loved most in the world?

My hand tightened around the phone as I rushed toward the front doors. If he was here, I wanted him to focus on me and not the people in this building. As I stepped outside, the cold night air bit at my skin. Earlier, I had shed the scarf around my neck because of the warmth of the room, but now I wished I had it. There was no one outside, but I stayed on edge as I waited for someone to come sliding out of the shadows or something. The phone buzzed again.

 _'See that car to your left?_ ' I glanced up from the text to see a dark sedan parked on the curb. The man behind the wheel was the same one who handed me the phone and there was another guy in the passenger seat beside him. I leveled a glare at both of them before looking back at the text I didn't finish reading. _'They are armed and well prepared to crash your little get together.'_ My wide eyes shot up again as my heart began to beat faster in alarm. They slowly raised their hands to show two rather large guns. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to keep reading. _'Get in the Uber I ordered for you alone. If you try anything funny they'll step inside and open fire. I'll see you soon, pet.'_

I didn't see an Uber around here, but I'm sure it was on its way. The anger I wanted to feel was buried underneath layers and layer of fear and panic. The mechs were in there sure, and I had no doubt that they could easily handle two human assholes like those guys. Hell, I knew for a fact that Josh was armed right now. I saw the gun in its holster under his leather jacket. The problem was that it only took one bullet to end a life. Sure, my friends could beat the shit out of those two and stop them, but how many innocent people would be hurt before they did?

A small red car pulled up to the restaurant. My own truck, and Josh and Granny's vehicles, were down a little ways from here. I wondered if the mechs true bodies were paying any attention to me right now or if they were too preoccupied with what was happening inside to notice me. Regardless, I couldn't bring any of them along. Boss did say he wanted to see me alone. It was time I finished this for good. I snapped the phone in my hand in half, glared at the two men in the car for a moment longer, then tossed the broken device to the ground before walking to the car Boss had ordered for me.

The car ride was awkward, and that was my own entire fault. The Uber driver was friendly and upbeat at first, but I ignored every single word he tried to say to me. The only reason I didn't even try to speak was because I feared if I opened my mouth I would snap at the poor guy. He stopped trying to talk to me after about ten minutes and I didn't blame him. I also hoped Boss was planning on paying him because I had no money whatsoever.

Another twenty minutes passed and I wondered if the mechs and them had noticed my absence. I'm sure they did, but I hadn't brought my phone with me either which means I had no way to contact them and they had no way to contact me.

As the car pulled up to the familiar house, my heart felt like it was being constricted in my chest. It was home. The Uber driver had driven me home. Boss was in our home.

"Did someone already pay you?" I asked.

"Uh, yes ma'am. He did so electronically. Is everything ok here?"

"Peachy keen." I replied and pushed the door open, "Now get the hell out of here."

I didn't wait for the car to drive away. Instead, I marched right up to the front door that was hanging ajar. Someone had kicked it in. As if I didn't have enough to worry about with him being here, I suddenly realized I had a very bomb looking object sitting in my garage and a sleeping Cybertronian in my bed upstairs.

Cautiously, I stepped in and immediately heard rustling in the kitchen. I took in a sharp breath and stepped through the foyer into the kitchen area where someone was digging through the fridge.

"By all means, help yourself." I snapped. The fridge door slammed shut to reveal the same low life who had come months earlier. Joey, who wore a dark blazer over a black t-shirt, pulled a gun out from under his jacket to aim in my direction. My shoulders tensed and the urge to run away came to mind, not that I could run very far from a bullet.

Joey chuckled, "What? You got nothing to say now, Small Fry?"

"What can I say?" I replied, "Having a low life henchman point a gun at me always leaves me speechless."

He sneered and closed the space between us. Before I could move, he raised the gun and hit me across the face with it. I stumbled back and fell to the ground clutching my now bleeding nose. My eyes clenched shut with concentration as I focused on not letting out a cry of pain. The last thing I wanted was to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had the upper hand.

"Can you control yourself for five minutes, Joey?"

My eyes snapped open and I rubbed my forearm against my face trying to wipe away the blood. It ruined Aubrey's dress shirt and probably only smeared the red liquid over my skin. Footsteps coming down the last few steps and then he turned the corner. His bleach blond hair was slicked back and his narrow jaw line was clean-shaven. A smile spread across his harsh features as his hazel eyes locked onto me. Boss always wore the nicest clothes, and tonight was no different. His suit looked expensive, as in more than I could afford in a lifetime expensive.

"Aj, how nice for you to finally join us." He cooed with a chuckle, "We do have quite the handful of questions for you."

"Why are you here?" I spat and pushed myself off the ground to stand firm. Joey stepped forward with a glare, but I didn't tear my eyes away from Boss whose smile only grew. "I sent you your damn money! I'm clear!"

Boss shook his head and slowly walked around me. I turned as he went so my back was never to him. He took a seat at the dining room table. The same dining room table the kids had sat at this morning eating their breakfast. I was going to be fucking sick.

He crossed his legs and leaned against the back of his seat, "First off, did you really think you could just send me some lump sum and walk away?" His smile turned harsh and his voice grew hard, "You stupid bitch. I own you and everything you are."

"No. No, you don't." I replied. Rather than focusing on the fear, I focused on the anger. Anger was good for me. It kept me alive this long. "I'm not something to be owned, damn it. I'm a person!"

Joey growled from behind me, "Watch your tone."

Boss scoffed, "We aren't having this conversation now." He cleared his throat, "I want to know about the rather curious object lying in a bedroom upstairs. What the fuck is that about?"

"It's a toy. It belongs to the kids." I lied without hesitance.

"Some toy." Boss laughed and grinned at Joey, "As I kid, I played with-"

"What?" I interrupted him, "Sticks and stones and your pet dinosaur, you old piece of shit."

Boss' features hardened and his eyes snapped to Joey. I heard Joey take a few steps forward and spun around just in time to duck under the fist aimed for the back of my head. I used my right leg to send a front kick right into his stomach knocking him back into the fridge. My left hip didn't hurt as much thanks to Ratchet's exercises, but any fighting style movement was impossible with it being tired at like it was right now. That never stopped me before though.

"Joey." Boss warned as the pissed off man took another step toward me.

"Come on, Boss. Let me fuck the little bitch up." Joey snapped.

Boss sighed, "I'll give you two minutes."

Joey grinned and tucked the gun into his waistband. I sucked in a breath of air just as he lunged for me. I ducked away from him, but wasn't quick enough in getting out of his reach. He grabbed me by the forearm and roughly threw me to the ground in front of the fridge. I tried to shove myself back, but he jumped on top me. Quickly, before he could pin me down, I rolled my hips back and forth to make him lose his balance and swiped my nails across his face. The ends of my nails tore skin and he let out a howl of pain as he stumbled back and off of me.

I jumped back to my feet, now standing between the island counter and the actual kitchen counter, as he got to his own feet with one hand clutching his face. Four nail marks went from his cheekbone to jawline.

"That's it." Joey reached for his gun apparently sick of even trying to fight with me anymore. In a moment of inspiration, I reached back with my right hand to grab the microwave handle door. He closed the space between us just as I ripped the microwave door off the hinges and slammed it into the side of Joey's stupid head. He crumpled to the ground, the gun flying from his hand across the tile floor toward the archway. I threw the door aside, mentally thanking Wheeljack for never fixing it, then walked over to where he was lying on the ground groaning. With clenched teeth, I sent two cross down punches into his nose and watched as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. An unconscious Joey was my favorite type.

It took a second for me to catch my breath, but rather than looking over to Boss I rushed across the room to grab the fallen gun.

"Don't even think about it." Boss spoke up. I glanced over to see he had pulled his own gun out from his coat pocket and had it aimed in my direction. My hope deflated as I sighed. He motioned for me to come over and sit beside him. "Why did it have to come to this, pet?" Boss moved his chair closer to me and set one hand on my knee while the other hand kept the gun trained on me. His fingers rubbed against my leggings and I could feel my skin crawling in disgust at his touch, "I don't want to hurt you. I care very much about you, you know?"

I scoffed, "You have a funny way of showing it."

"I've never had a woman like you fighting for me before. What you can do, it's incredible, Aj." He nodded, "I'm just trying to give your life reason."

"I just want my life back."

"Don't you get it?" He cried and dug his fingers into my skin making me flinch in pain, "Without me, without my ring, your life is nothing! You are nothing!"

I shook my head firmly, "No, I'm not."

He sneered and brought his hand up to backhand me across the face. He hit me hard enough that I fell sideways out of the chair and onto the floor. Before I could get up, he stood up and came over to me. Boss dug his knee into my stomach, pining me to the floor, "You come here and what? Grow a fucking backbone? Get these silly ideas in your head that you can survive without me or New York? Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I'm Aimee Jane Bradshaw." I grunted out while trying to push his knee out of my abdomen, "And I am not nothing."

"You are my Small Fry and you are worthless. You are a waste of space, a waste of valuable oxygen, and the only way your life has any meaning is if you are working for me." He leaned forward and spat down at me. "Now I will give you one last chance to apologize and come home nicely."

He had leaned forward just enough to put his face in my range. Rather than using my hands to try and push him off me, I swung out with my right hand and slammed my fist into the side of his face knocking him off me. He fell to the ground and I jumped on top of him. I pummeled my fist into his face three more times before he buried the gun into my stomach. Feeling the cold, metal through my dress shirt made me stop cold. Boss's face was bloody and swollen and he looked angrier than I had ever seen him before.

"Get up or I will fill you with lead." He snapped. Slowly, I stood up off him and he scrambled up. Boss spit out blood onto the kitchen floor then turned and slammed the gun into my face sending me back down with stars in my vision. "I should kill you right now. Leave you dead in the kitchen and wait for you precious kids to come home."

My eyes snapped up to him in a glare, "You even fucking think about them and I'll rip your throat out."

He pressed the end of the gun to the middle of my forehead, but I didn't lower my glare. If he thought I was going to beg to him, he was dead wrong. Everything was cut short at the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. For a moment, I worried Boss had another henchman here, but the look of surprise on his face meant that thought was wrong.

"Who the fuck-?" Boss stepped back, but the gun was still aimed at me. My eyes darted to the side in time to see a large man step into the kitchen archway. He was probably the tallest and biggest guy I had seen in person, easily standing over six and a half feet tall with the muscles of a body builder. His dark hair was long, maybe shoulder length, and pushed back messily out of his face. A dark beard covered his entire jawline and around his mouth. He wore a tight black shirt with a matching black overcoat and black ripped jeans. "Who the fuck is this?"

The guy's dark eyes darted from Boss to me, and his lips twitched up in a smirk. He took a step forward and I could see the tint of red in his dark, brown eyes. My jaw fell slack, "Megatron?"

"Mega-? I don't give a damn." Boss lifted his gun to the holoform and fired once.

"No!" I screamed and my arm shot out instinctively as if that could do anything. Megatron flinched back as the bullet hit him in the right side of his chest, but there was no sign of pain across his features. He blinked and took another step forward.

Boss' eyes widened and he fired two more shots that did nothing. He began to hyperventilate, "What the fuck are you?"

Megatron was right beside us now and he reached out to wrap his hand around Boss' throat. I stood up quickly, "Wait, don't do this. You can't kill him."

"And why can I not?" Megatron asked as he lifted Boss off the ground while also squeezing his hand tighter. Boss struggled for breath and dropped the gun to try and pull the hand at his throat away.

"You'll- You'll get in trouble?" I tried but Megatron didn't stop. His eyes darted over to me though. "I don't know. He's a dickhead, but we can't kill him, ok? I'm calling the police."

"Stay there, _kestuz_." Megatron replied and I narrowed my eyes. What the hell had he just called me? My thoughts were interrupted as Megatron dropped Boss only to slam his fist into his face instead. I jumped back in alarm as Megatron continued to beat the shit out of the guy. Maybe a good person would've stopped the holoform, but I never claimed to be a good person. As long as Megatron didn't kill him, I suppose.

Boss was now lying on the ground shaking in his own puddle of blood. Megatron bent over to pick up the gun Boss had dropped and turned to me. I raised my hands slightly in surrender and took a step back. There was something off about Megatron right now, and I didn't know what it exactly was. He wasn't being himself. Then again, maybe he was finally being himself and this was just the first time I was seeing it.

"Put it down, Megatron." I said with as much strength as I could, "We don't need that."

He glanced at the gun then rotated it in his hands so the handle was facing me. "Take the weapon from me." I didn't move and he forced the metal gun into my hands. My fingers wrapped around it so it wouldn't just fall to the floor again, but the gun felt odd in my hands. I had never fired a weapon before. I had nothing against them, but in my life there really was no need for it. I did all my fighting with my hands. Megatron walked around so he stood behind me. He set his hand on top of my left one and slowly moved it over to the gun so I griped it with both hands. He then set his hands on my elbows and pushed them up so the gun was raised, "Kill him."

"What?" I turned my head to look at him, but he didn't let me move my body away, "Megatron-"

"He is the useless one. A worthless sack of organic elements." Megatron said in a cool tone. The entire time he had been down here there was no emotion in anything he had said. It was all cool and calculated. Something was so very wrong. Was it the virus? He leaned closer so his mouth was by my ear, "End his life, kestuz." There was that word again. "Show him what you are worth. Show him how strong you are."

My eyes darted to Boss who had sat up and was now staring at me lifelessly. God, I hated this man so much. How many times had I daydreamed about him getting run over my trucks, and trains, and stampeding elephants? There was no goodness in him. He was evil down to his core and nothing good would ever come from him. I wanted to kill him. I did. Would it even be wrong? He was evil right? I'd be doing the world a favor by putting a bullet in his head. Most people would call it self-defense. The only witness here right now was sick Megatron who was egging me on.

"I…" I mumbled, "I won't kill him." I forced my arms down and turned to face Megatron who looked more than displeased. "That's not who I am. That's not who I want to be. We'll call the police. Josh. We'll call Josh and they'll arrest him. They'll throw him in jail to rot or maybe they'll kill him, I don't care. I refuse to lower myself to his level though."

The sound of Boss laughing made my shoulders tense. Slowly, I turned around to see him grinning ear to ear. His teeth were covered in blood, "People like me don't stay behind bars, pet." The words were sharp and amused, "I have the best lawyers money can buy. They'll get me out with a slap on the wrists and when I do get out, it's inevitable, I'm not going to come and kill you. No, that would be too easy." Boss' grin turned to a sneer, "I'm going to come for those fucking brats. I'm going to come when you least expect it, when your guard is down. I'll sneak into their bedroom as they sleep and gut them right there in their bed. I'll make them choke on their own blood. I'll-"

Three loud gunshots and Boss was on his back dead. A bullet in his face, a bullet in his chest, and a bullet in his gut. My ears were ringing and it took me a moment before I realized it had been me. I had pulled the trigger. At his words, my arms had lifted and acted on their own accord. I had just killed Boss. I had just killed the man of my nightmares. The man who threatened my kids. A second passed before bile started to rise in my throat. I dropped the gun and sprinted to sink just in time to vomit everything I had eaten for dinner. I had just killed somebody. I had just ended a life. Me.

"I knew you could do it, _kestuz_." Megatron hummed from a few feet behind me. I stuck my head under the faucet to try and get the taste of bile out of my mouth. I didn't want to turn around and see Boss' dead body lying next to the kitchen table. I'd get sick all over again.

I shut the water off and that's when I noticed my shaking hands. It was happening again. The tremors. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to calm myself down. Nothing was working though. I was coming apart at the seams. I needed…I needed someone. I needed fucking anyone. I just didn't want to be alone.

Another gun shot, snapped me out of my daze, I spun around to see Joey sitting up with his gun in hand leaning against the far wall. He had fired a round straight at Megatron, but it did nothing of course.

"Joey, don't-" I stepped around the island counter, but he didn't listen. He fired two more times to no avail, and then suddenly turned the gun toward me. Before I could react the gun went off again and I felt a pinch on the left side of my abdomen. The pinch immediately spiraled into mind numbing pain as I crumpled to the ground with a cry of pain. Heat blossomed in my stomach as I pressed my hand against the area to try and push the pain away. Blood seeped through my fingers staining my white shirt red. Another scream of pain tore through me. This was nothing like the movies. Nothing was fading, colors remained, and I wasn't seeing flashes of my past. There was just pain. Nothing but heat and pain.

I heard another gunshot and the sound of a body hitting the floor, but I couldn't focus on that. Megatron walked back over and knelt beside me as tears leaked down my face, I grasped at him but he didn't react, "Meg-Meg, help. Please- I can't-" I bit back another cry of pain.

He shook his head, "This is a shame. I had such high hopes."

Without another word, his holoform disappeared in a whisper of smoke and suddenly I was alone. I was lying on the kitchen floor, bleeding out, and my only company were Joey and Boss' dead bodies. A cry racked my body and I couldn't tell if this was from the immense pain or just despair. I was going to die here on the kitchen floor all alone. Forget saying goodbye to the people I loved, I would never even get that opportunity.

I didn't want to die. I didn't want to die. For the first time in years, it felt like I really had something to live for. This wasn't fucking fair.

"Help." I tried to cry out, but my voice was shaky and weak. Anger wasn't helping me here. It could do nothing. "P-Please."

What if the kids came home and saw me? Oh God, please no. They couldn't see me like this. They couldn't see me dead like this. Pathetically, I tried to push myself up to do something, anything, but I collapsed back down in sobs. The sound of a soft hum floating through the air made me freeze in confusion. The pain began to ebb away and for a brief second I thought I was already dead.

 _"Playmate, come out and play with me._ " A familiar voice sung. I turned my head tiredly to see a woman with long dirty blonde hair stood at the stove. She had on a flowery dress that I had seen before a million times. It was her favorite dress to wear.

"M-Mom?" I stuttered.

She slowly turned around and the smile on her face was the one I knew so very well. She let out a soft chuckle and walked over to where I was lying, "Well isn't this just a mess, Aimee."

"Mom." I sobbed out. " _Mom_."

"It's almost time for dinner. You should get yourself cleaned up." She replied. There was something wrong with her voice though. There was something off and I couldn't help but shy away from her touch.

"You're _not_ her." I snapped, "I want my mom!"

She sighed, "I'm close enough, aren't I?"

A wide smile spread across her features as she dipped her fingers against my own blood covered hands. I couldn't feel my wound anymore. Was that bad? I just felt so weak. She started to draw something against the tile floor in my blood, "I figured I'd give you some company. You didn't want to be alone right?"

"Who the fuck are you?" I snapped.

"That isn't important." She replied airily. "What is important is your role."

I shook my head and tried to push myself away as she dipped her fingers into my wound again for more blood, "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone in our family has a role to play, Aimee." She lifted her hand once she finished drawing and wiped away the excess blood onto her dress, "This has always been your role. You have to die."

"W-What?" I stuttered.

She tilted her head toward what she drew, "You aren't the hero of this story, Aimee. So quit trying to be. Your role is to die. It's what you were born for, honey."

I glanced down at the floor to see the symbol she had drawn in blood. It was the same one I found in the house next door and in my closet upstairs. The one with Cybertronian words. I began to hyperventilate at the sight of it. My eyes snapped back up to her and she shrugged, "Are you ready you go?"

"No." I shook my head, "I don't want to die."

_"Aj!? Aj! Open your optics!"_

"It's time, Aimee." She hummed.

_"Frag it, femme! Wake up!"_

The woman posing as my mother set her hands over my eyes and clouded me in darkness. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to die. I couldn't. I couldn't leave the kids, the mechs, Granny, Josh.

_"Aj! Please!"_

I couldn't leave Aubrey.

Light flickered in the darkness and my eyes suddenly focused on two faces hovering over mine.

"There we go. Keep your optics open. Stay with us." Sunstreaker's deep voice yelled. "Ratchet, fragging do something!"

"The others are almost here. So are the authorities." Ratchet spoke up. They were here. I wasn't alone. My lips twitched up in a smile. Ratchet grunted, "This is going to hurt, but I have to do it, Aj. Stay with us."

He pressed his hands hard against my abdomen. I shook my head and he spoke up again, "Bear the pain a while longer."

"It-It doesn't hurt." I mumbled and shook my head, "I don't feel it."

Ratchet's holoform's face froze in fear and I felt someone's hands tighten around my shoulders. Were those Sunstreaker's hands? Why were they the only ones here? Where were the others? How…?

"I'm really tired." I mumbled as my eyes began to droop. Sunstreaker shook me and Ratchet was yelling something, but it was getting hard to hear. "I just…need a nap."

I was in darkness again, but I didn't know why. Was I supposed to be fighting something? What was going on? I was just so damn tired.

_"Playmate, come out and play with me…"_


	29. Bear

* * *

_"Hello, 911? I need the police right away. This guy took my teddy bear!" –John Bennett (Ted)_

* * *

 

The surrounding room was on the small side, but it was the type of small that seemed welcoming and cozy rather than tight and jam-packed. There was a light blue door in the corner that led to the even tinier, sterile bathroom and a heavy, wooden door on the far right that led out into the white, pristine hallway. An old, box TV hung from the ceiling in the corner playing a television show in a foreign language, but the volume was so low that it could barely be heard anyways. The wall to the left had one window hidden behind a thick, royal blue curtain. The steady beeping of a heart monitor echoed through the room.

"Josh, what are you trying to say?"

The words came out unsteady and barely comprehendible. The fact that they managed to escape her windpipe was a miracle because it felt like a rock was lodged in the dead center of her throat. She could hardly breathe and the once steady heart rate that filled the room was beginning to pick up speed.

There were words coming from the phone held up to her ear, but she found that she couldn't connect them into a working sentence. It was like all the words were coming out in jumbled, fractured mess.

Shot. Hospital. _Coma_.

Her grip loosened until the phone fell into her lap then slipped off the bed and onto the floor with a crack. As the words began to finally click, a nurse rushed into the room with a worried look. Her eyes darted from the machines and back.

"Ma'am, I need you to calm down." She said in a heavily accented version of English. "Please-"

"Where is Wes?" She blurted and began to try and rip the cords and tubes from her arm. "I need him here, _now_."

"You will hurt your arm further. Please remain still and-"

She tried to push herself off the bed despite the nurse's protests. Worry and fear clouded her mind, " _Where_ is he? I need to talk to him now. I need to speak with my _husband_!"

* * *

 

When I woke up, my first realization was that I felt no pain. There were no bumps or aches or soreness. In fact, I didn't feel a damn thing. Was my body even there anymore? Maybe it was a blessing that I was so numb. The numbness felt pretty amazing and that was the first clue that something wasn't exactly right. Shouldn't I be hurting? Something in the back of my mind was telling me that I should be hurting, but I couldn't wrap my hands around the thought. It kept drifting away. Hell, all my thoughts did.

My eyes drifted across the room, but everything was a blur and I was already feeling drowsy again. Footsteps and a voice cut through the room, but I couldn't focus on it immediately.

"-it's nice you're up." A woman said, "-can get your… they'll be here…ok?"

Finally, I managed to understand a single thought and that single thought was that I was drugged up to my ears. So many drugs. So drugged. Shit. The thought floated away and I struggled to find it again.

" _Drugs_." I mumbled and I wasn't entirely sure if the word actually came out or not.

"..orphine, honey." The woman replied meaning my word had managed to come out. "…need more?"

I began to shake my head back and forth as a groan escaped my throat, "No. _None_." The woman began to argue, something about pain and grief, but I wouldn't let her speak. "No drugs. No…N-N-Nooo. No 'agging drugs. None. _Shit_."

There was more arguing, but I was fading and I was fading fast. Suddenly, I couldn't remember why I had been upset. The numbness felt so good and I was tired as hell. My drowsy eyes drooped and I was gone.

* * *

 

My eyes slowly began to open, but it took a few seconds for anything around me to come into focus. It was like I was in a haze and none of my thoughts were anywhere close to coherent. Where the hell was I? What was even-

As I twisted slightly a jarring pain made me immediately remember what was happening. Panicked, I began to look around expecting…I don't even know what. The room was painted an off shade of white and there was a large wooden door off to the side that was cracked open to reveal a bathroom. The wall to my left had a long row of windows that went from one side to the other and the view told me I was on an upper level floor considering I couldn't see the ground or any trees from the angle I was lying in. The wall to my right was made of glass and the middle was a sliding glass door that was shut. People walked up and down the hall and I could see a desk off to the side where various nurses were standing.

I was in a hospital. Joey shot me and now I was in a hospital.

The middle of my body burned with pain and I suddenly remembered the hazy drug conversation I had at one point. They must have listened because I could feel my body again and all the pain that came with it. They had probably put me on every pain drug known to man. It was understandable why they did so, but despite the pain I now felt I was more than relieved that I was off them. Never have I ever reacted well to strong pain medications. Sometimes the pain was preferred. Pain I could get used to.

My eyes glanced from the machines beside my bed hooked up to my arms then down to my legs where I suddenly realized there was a weight lying on top of my ankles. When realizing I wasn't the only one lying on this bed, I blinked repeatedly expecting the visitor to vanish. I was obviously hallucinating right now as an after effect of the drugs because there was no way a living, breathing puppy was lying on the blankets covering my ankles fast asleep. Hospitals and dogs don't mix. Right?

"…the hell?" I mumbled in a voice that sounded more like a croak. My dry throat caused a round of coughing that shook my upper body and made the pain in my abdomen grow. A loud groan of pain erupted from me and I couldn't bite it back. After the waves of pain, and nausea from the pain, faded away I turned my attention to my stomach. Curiously, I pushed the sheets off my torso and towards my waist. I was wearing a hospital gown, which would've been hard to pull up considering my body was weighing down the edges so instead I settled for resting my hand over the lower left side of my abdomen. My fingers brushed against the edges of the thick gauze that sat over my skin and under the gown.

Movement at my feet made me glance up again to see the puppy had sat up and was now staring me down. It was probably the cutest dog I had ever seen, but that didn't change the fact that I was 90% sure this was still some sort of hallucination. It was a rather large puppy, which meant it was probably on the older side of the whole ' _puppy_ ' classification. It's fur reminded me a lot of the classic German Shepard look with a black base and patches of tan, but this puppy also had sections of white fur around its chest, paws, and down it's nose. It didn't have the same shape of a German Shepard either, and its ears were the small, cute floppy kind.

The dog's eyes were probably the most noticeable feature about it though. One eye, the eye to my left, was a vibrant, ice blue color while the other, the eye to my right, was a golden tan.

"Are you- Are you _real_?" I asked aloud. Never mind the fact that I was asking said question to a dog. If this really were a hallucination maybe it would reply.

The puppy did not reply though, much to my relief, instead its tail began to wag excitedly as its small pink tongue hung out of its mouth. It pushed itself up and began to make its way over my legs and to my chest. Its paws didn't press against my wound and instead it kept going up until it was able to reach my face and excitedly lick my cheek. The movement caused more pain, but I bit my lip and bore through it. I'd have to for the next few hours. Eventually, I'd adjust and get used to it, but for now I'd just have to suffer.

The sliding door opened and I glanced over to see a nurse step in. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she looked young. Her brown eyes glanced from me to the dog. So she saw it too?

"I'm glad you're up again." She smiled and I recognized her voice. She must have been the nurse from earlier, "How do you feel? I had the doctors take you off the medicine as requested, but if the pain is too much we can-"

I shook my head and wrestled the dog away from my face, "No, I'm- I'm good. What is- The dog?"

"Oh, right." The nurse chuckled, "Ms. Teller will be here in a few minutes. She's in charge of the canine portion of our animal therapy program."

I glanced down at the dog in my arms who was happily staring at me. The nurse was moving by the machines, checking something, and she looked over at me again, "I'll notify your family that you're finally awake."

"My-My family." I mumbled and my eyes widened, "Wait, finally woke up? How long have I been sleeping? A day?"

The nurse shook her head, "It's Monday morning. You came in Wednesday night-"

" _What_?" I whispered in disbelief. Four days? I was out for _four day_ s? My mind froze and the dog took this chance to wrestle out of my arms and bounce back up to continue licking my face. If I had been out for four days… "My kids. Peter and Taylor and Tyler, I-"

The nurse gave me a reassuring smile, "They're fine. They all left for school already. You just missed them." She nodded, "They're just the sweetest kids, and they were so worried about you."

I laid in my bed filled with shock as the dog happily slobbered all over my features. The nurse took this moment to slip out before I could ask any more questions or even ask for her name. A minute or so passed before a new woman walked in wearing a formal business suit. Her hair was down and framed her rather sharp features.

"Good morning, Ms. Bradshaw." She greeted, "It's nice to see you finally awake. My name is Ms. Evelyn Teller and I'm the president of the canine division of this hospital's new animal therapy program."

With a sigh, I wrestled the dog away from my face again, "That's a real thing?"

"Of course. Animals have been proven to decrease depression in patients and improve morale across the board." Ms. Teller said with a wave of her hands. She came closer in and set her purse down by the bed, "Your family said you'd prefer a dog over a cat." By family, they must have meant Sideswipe. He was the only one who knew how much I had wanted a dog once upon a time ago. "Iron Pup has really opened up to you. It's uncharacteristic of him."

I blinked in surprise, "I'm sorry. What did you just call him?"

"Iron Pup." She replied with ease and then after a moment she sighed, "He was one of the puppies named by a class of 2nd graders. It isn't even the worst."

"Well, cool." I shrugged and flinched at the movement. The pain was making me downright miserable, but I had to tough it out. "Do you want Iron Pup back now? Consider me all moraled up."

Ms. Teller chuckled, "Do you not want him around?"

I glanced down at the puppy in my arms before looking back at her, "Look, I'm just…not in the mood. Everything kind of hurts right now and…"

"Of course." She nodded and reached out to take him. The moment her hands touched his side he began to growl and when she actually lifted him off my chest he exploded in a round of yapping, baby barks and loud whining. Iron Pup squirmed until she was forced to set him back down and try to adjust her grip. The moment he was down though, he crawled down to the bed on my left and curled up next to my side. "I um…perhaps I should go get Polly. She's the handler for all the younger dogs."

I waved my hand at her, "Forget about it. If the little guy wants to stay that bad, just let him."

Ms. Teller began to go into a spiel of apologies, but my attention was focused on the nurse from earlier walking into the hallway from a different door with a very familiar face tagging along. Josh gave her a firm smile and nod that she returned happily before he turned and locked eyes with me. Relief flooded his features as he let out a sigh. I lifted my hand to offer him a pathetic wave.

"Oh." Ms. Teller interrupted herself and my eyes snapped to her. She smiled, "I see you have a visitor. I'll just go now, and I'll send Polly by later to talk to you about Iron Pup."

"Sure." I nodded and she left. My eyes darted back down to the dog who seemed content by my side. "No offense, but", I spoke and he looked up at me happily, "Iron Pup is a _really_ goofy name."

He tilted his head and his tongue flopped out. I chuckled and immediately regretted the motion as pain flared across my abdomen. Seconds later Josh came in and hurried toward my bed. His hand found my arm as he gave it a squeeze, "Holy shit. How do you feel?"

"Like I got shot in the abdomen." I replied with a forced grin.

Josh let out a chuckle as he shook his head, "Maybe we can not joke about that this soon?"

"Well apparently it's been four days, charming." I sighed. A moment passed before it clicked in my mind, "Four days! It's Monday! Why the hell are you here? Shouldn't you be in Atlanta?"

Josh scoffed, "Turns out, my new boss doesn't mind me staying back a little longer on account of my best friend being _gut shot_ in her house. I wanted to wait for you. To make sure you were ok."

"I'm fine." I said, "You should go. I don't want you to lose this opportunity."

"Oh, shut up." He argued, "I'm not going to lose anything. Including, you."

A small smile lit my features at his words. Having Josh here made everything feel like it was going to be ok. As much as I wanted him to go out and live his life, I'd admit it was a relief to know he stuck around to make sure I was ok. That and he was there for Granny and the kids. I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to hide the pain I felt, "How are Granny and the kids? They didn't come home did they? I didn't want them to see…"

"They're fine. That is something we need to talk about though." Josh replied and I could feel the color in my face disappear. My mind hadn't thought back to the incident since I woke up and I would personally rather pretend it never happened. He shook his head, "Just listen first, ok?" I nodded and he took a seat in the chair closest to my bed. He readjusted his position before beginning, "First things first, I want you to know that everything is ok. The case won't close until you give your testimony, but so far everyone is looking at it as self-defense, which I know it was."

Was it? Was it self-defense? Boss was already down for the count when I shot him that many times. Maybe the argument for self-preservation for my future could be made, but even then I felt there was too much rage to consider it that. Too much bad blood. No one could tell me I had no choice. I did have a choice, and I made it.

"I need to hear what happened from you though. Officially."

Josh didn't let his gaze waver from mine and it shook me to my core. I glanced down at the dog curled up beside me and let my shaky hand rest on his soft fur. He nuzzled my side and I had to admit the little thing actually did make me feel a little better. Even with his dumb name.

"Hey." Josh spoke up and I glanced back at him to see a soft look on his features. He reached for me and set his hand on my forearm, "It's ok."

My gaze drifted past him to see three more familiar faces at the nurse station. Ratchet, Optimus, and Sunstreaker were talking to an older woman sitting behind the desk. Sunstreaker was the first to glance over to my room and I caught his glance. The look on his face went from irritated to surprised then to relieved. I offered him a small smile and he nudged Ratchet in the side who looked over, while Optimus followed his gaze as well, both older mechs noticed me with wide eyes of their own that slowly melted into smiles.

Josh turned around and nodded, "They must have come up on their own. I asked Nurse Jones to give us a minute or two alone."

"Based on the look Ratchet is giving me, I doubt he's gonna give you any time alone with me." I mumbled and ignored the glare the medic was already starting to shoot at me as all three rushed over. The older woman was hurrying after them shouting that they couldn't all come in at the same time, but they ignored her entirely.

Josh quickly stood up to meet them all at the door. He flashed her his badge which was still connected to his belt, "I need them all here for a little while. Is that alright, ma'am?"

The nurse huffed, "Don't take too long."

Josh nodded with a smile and the mechs hurried in. Optimus lingered back at the door to talk to Josh, Sunstreaker leaned against the back wall, and Ratchet didn't hesitate in coming straight up to my bed, "What the _frag_ were you thinking, youngling?!"

"I'll tell you what, I _wasn't_ thinking that I was gonna get shot." I replied cheekily and resisted the urge to groan in pain.

Ratchet scoffed, "If you weren't lying in berth injured, I'd offline you right here and right now." He glanced at the machines and then back at me, "Where is your pain medication? The dosage should be increased."

"She denied the medicine." Josh spoke up and Optimus and Sunstreaker both looked surprised at this news. Ratchet, on the other hand, looked livid.

"Tattletale." I sighed.

Ratchet shook his head, "Why? Just- _why_?"

"It makes me all hazy." I shrugged and closed my eyes as another wave of pain washed over me. "I don't react well to it."

Ratchet leaned closer to me, "You were in surgery four Earth days ago. That bullet tore through your internal organs and caused _massive_ internal bleeding. You _need_ to be on that medicine. The pain is too great."

I shook my head, "Pain I can handle, Ratch. Just give me a few hours to adjust."

He looked like he wanted to argue further, but suddenly decided against it. Ratchet glanced at the machines one last time before moving across the room to stand next to Sunstreaker. My eyes widened in surprise. Since when did I ever win arguments again him?

"Aj", Optimus spoke up making me glance his way, "We need to discuss what happened." That sinking feeling filled me again. The Autobot leader cleared his throat, "Nobody blames you for what happened, for what you had to do."

I shifted in bed and thought back to that night, "What happened on your end? How did I get to the hospital?"

"What do you remember?" Josh moved back to his chair and pulled out a small notebook and pen. Optimus stood behind him with his hands on the chair.

A sigh escaped me as I thought back as far as I could. Most of that night was easy to remember, but things began to get blurry after Megatron's holoform shot Joey. However, I was able to recall the fact that Megatron abandoned me as I was lying on the floor bleeding, "Getting shot is really the last thing I remember."

"You don't remember Ratchet or me showing up?" Sunstreaker asked.

My eyes narrowed in thought, but nothing came to mind. I shook my head, "No. It's all blurry."

Optimus lifted one hand to press against his mouth in thought. He came closer and sat down on the edge of my bed. Iron Pup lifted his head at the movement, but settled again. He cleared his throat, "Before I tell you what happened on our end that night, it's best if I tell you something I should have shared before that night." I lifted a single eyebrow in curiosity and the mech continued, "You know about bonds, correct?"

"Like sparkmate bonds and stuff like that?" I questioned and he nodded, "Yeah, I remember. Why?"

Optimus continued, "We have discovered a…new type of bond. It's unlike the other bonds we are capable of having, and it was formed entirely on accident. This bond is shared between us and you and the younglings."

Something clicked in my mind and I found myself slowly nodding, "The spark radiation. It was a lot worse in the beginning wasn't it? Worse than we thought?"

Ratchet nodded from his spot, "The mock bond began to form, but then once your energy signatures began to change slightly it only increased."

" _Mock bond_?"

"The bond feels like the type we would share with another Cybertronian, but it differs greatly in how it is classified. It doesn't fit under any of the typical bonds we usually have." Optimus answered. "This is the first known bond between Cybertronians and organics. We don't believe it will cause any of you harm, but we also don't know how the bond will feel for you and the younglings."

I nodded, "What does it feel like for you?"

"It's changing. Growing stronger in an order similar to the updates. Still though it is just a shadow of what a true bond usually is." Ratchet huffed in annoyance. I glanced over at Josh who looked like he had heard something like this before. They must have told him while I was in my little coma.

Optimus spoke up, "That leads into what happened that night." He glanced at the mechs at the wall before looking back to me, "It took us about ten minutes before we realized you were missing. Your absence was noted, but Abramo had stepped out and we assumed you were with him. For that, we apologize."

" _None_ of that night is any of y'all's fault." I said firmly. "That night is on _me_."

Sunstreaker scoffed to himself and the room collectively ignored him. Optimus continued, "Sunstreaker was the one who realized you were gone, and this was because of the bond. It's weak, but the recent…update, for lack of a better term, allows us to somewhat feel emotions over the bond."

My eyes drifted over to Sunstreaker who was staring at me. His arms were crossed and his jaw was locked. I bit my lower lip nervously, "What did you feel?"

"Anger." Sunstreaker replied.

Ratchet shook his head, "The emotion has to be extremely strong for it to register over the bond."

"Well, I was pretty pissed." I mumbled and scratched behind Iron Pup's ear. He had fallen asleep at my side. "What happened then?"

"Sunstreaker ran out to the truck." Optimus said.

"Without telling _us_ anything, mind you." Ratchet snapped with a glare in Sunstreaker's direction.

Optimus nodded, "He was going to go find you. While he was out, two men entered the building with automatic weapons." My eyes widened in surprise as I suddenly remembered the men that Boss had positioned outside the restaurant. I should've known better than to believe Boss when he said they weren't going to do anything as long as I came to him. How stupid was I? Optimus ignored my panic, "Sideswipe snuck Ratchet out the back to go with Sunstreaker, but he remained behind to help us neutralize the human threats."

"Oh God." I used one hand to cover my face as nausea swept over me. I couldn't tell if that was from the pain or just the thought of the kids being in that much danger. "Shit, I-" The hand covering my face began to shake so I forced myself to ball it up in a fist and press it against my leg.

"It wasn't your fault." Josh said softly.

I scoffed and tried my best to bite back the tears that threatened to make an appearance, " _Not my fault_? They wouldn't have been there is it wasn't-" My voice cracked and I was forced to stop talking. Optimus motioned toward a pitcher of water on the dresser across the room, but I shook my head and cleared my throat, "What happened? Was anyone hurt?"

"Nobody was injured." Josh answered, "We took care of them. The problem was, it took us too long to do it. They had us pinned at first and none of us could risk getting to them without them opening fire. It took us twenty minutes to get them down."

"The kids?" I mumbled.

Optimus nodded, "They are perfectly fine. Nothing happened to them."

Yeah, nothing except being scarred for life. It wasn't everyday two mad men with large guns burst into a room and threatened everyone. They didn't need to see that. They shouldn't have had to go through that.

"Sunstreaker had moved our alt modes to a different vehicle before leaving so our holoforms wouldn't lose form and we would stay there to help." Optimus shook his head, "Ratchet moved his back and the two of them left to find you."

I nodded, "How did you know where I was? Was it just a blind guess?"

Sunstreaker grunted in acknowledgement and ignored the glare Ratchet shot him again. Ratchet sighed and looked back to me, "Now what happened on your end?"

The question made me squirm slightly. Iron Pup readjusted his position before falling back asleep. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat, "Isn't it obvious?"

"Aimee." Josh began calmly.

" _Obvious_?" Ratchet snapped in a harsh tone, "Nothing is obvious except the fact you being online right now is a _fragging_ _miracle_!" My eyes snapped to him as his face twisted in hurt and anger, "You _off_ -…Youngling, you _died_ two times in my arms." The words made it feel like ice had filled my veins, and the fact that he used the word 'died' rather than 'offlined' made it seem that much more real. I opened my mouth to say something, but Ratchet didn't stop. "We come in to see you lying in a _puddle_ of your own _blood_! Two dead bodies around you… It's a _Primus damned miracle_ I managed to bring you back the times I did. Then we nearly lost you again in surgery."

The room was painfully quiet and everyone was avoiding looking at Ratchet or I. The medic scoffed and tore his gaze away from me. I couldn't tear my own eyes away from him though. His tense shoulders or the look of frustration on his features. I let my nails rake against Iron Pup's fur as I tried to find the words to say. My mind still couldn't wrap around the fact that I had died. I had been dead. Maybe it had only been for moments at a time, but…

"One of the guys with the guns", I began in a shaky voice. All eyes shot back to me, but I refused to look at any of them. Out of the corner of my eye though, I could see Josh begin writing. "He gave me a phone. Boss was on the other end sending me texts. He said if I didn't come home to see him, he'd send in the two guys to kill everyone in the building. I got in an Uber that Boss sent my way."

"The Uber driver, was he a part of the attack?" Josh questioned. Sunstreaker shot him a glare. Probably because the question cut into my own story, but it wasn't Josh's fault. He was just doing what he had to do.

I shook my head, "No. He dropped me off and left." My head fell back slightly to rest on the pillow as my eyes drifted up to the ceiling, "I came in and saw Joey at the fridge. He had a gun. I mouthed off at him, he hit me, and then Boss came in." That part of the night was the easiest thing to remember in the world. "It went downhill from there. We argued, I ended up fighting Joey. I used…" A soft chuckled escaped my lips, "I used the broken microwave door to knock Joey out. He didn't see that coming. Anyways, he was out like a light and I went to grab his gun, but Boss pulled out one of his own." Josh was scribbling against the paper like crazy. I paused to give him time to catch up. "We talked some after that."

"What did he say?" Josh asked.

"Same old, same old. I'm worthless, he owns me, blah, blah, blah." I sighed and sat back up with a grimace. It took nearly everything in me to ignore the burning sensation running across my entire abdomen. "Argued some more. I pissed him off and we fought. I got in a few good hits, but he still had that damn gun. He pinned me down on the ground and had it leveled at my head. That's when…" My words trailed off as I thought back to Megatron's terrifying holoform strolling into the room. The dark look in his eyes was damn near haunting.

Optimus spoke up, "Aj?"

I glanced at him before nodding, "That's when Megatron came in."

The three mechs and Josh looked taken aback at my words. Sunstreaker opened his mouth, but Josh cut him off, "Keep going, Aj."

"Not much left. Megatron's holoform came in and Boss shot at him, but Megatron didn't even blink at the bullets. He beat the shit out of Boss, took the gun, and then gave it to me. He told me to shoot Boss. I said no at first, but…" I bit my lower lip briefly and focused on the pain. The pain was a good distraction. "Boss started threatening the kids. I didn't even think I just… I killed him." I took in a shaky breath, "Then I threw up in the sink, Joey woke up and started shooting at us. One of the bullets hit me. Megatron crossed the room, shot Joey, and then fucking abandoned me on the kitchen floor. That's it."

Josh finished writing and shoved the notebook in his jacket pocket. The room was quiet in thought, but I couldn't tell what any of them were thinking. Ratchet shook his head, "Megatron couldn't have been there."

My eyes widened before quickly narrowing as I understood his words, "What the hell does that mean? It was Megatron and his creepy as shit holoform. Do you think I'm _lying_?"

"No one is saying that." Optimus said firmly, "It's just-"

"Megatron woke up from stasis two Earth days ago." Sunstreaker finished Optimus' statement.

Two Earth days ago I was still in a coma. That couldn't be right. I shook my head, "He was…He was faking or something then! He was _there_! He put the damn gun in my hands!"

The machines beside me were going crazy as my heart rate skyrocketed. Ratchet came forward, telling me to calm down, and I only listened because the anger and panic was making the pain worse. I sighed and leaned back in my bed to take a steadying breath.

"We'll bring Megatron up here. Talk about it all together." Optimus replied firmly. "We should let you get some rest."

I nodded numbly and didn't say anything else. The mechs were speaking to themselves now, but I ignored them entirely. Not out of anger or spite, but just because I had nothing left to say. What more was there?

Josh, Ratchet, and Optimus said quick goodbyes before leaving the room while Sunstreaker took the seat by my bed. I had heard Optimus give him the order to stay and keep an eye on me. It seemed like a waste of time though. What exactly was he keeping an eye on me for?

"It likes you."

I glanced over to see Sunstreaker staring at Iron Pup, "Yeah, I guess."

"Sides had the femme bring them in. It was supposed to be a different one to stay with you, but when that one saw you it lost its processors." Sunstreaker scoffed, "Wouldn't leave your side."

"Really?" I asked and glanced back down at the puppy, "He's cute. Tell Sideswipe I said thanks."

"You can later when you see him." Sunstreaker mumbled.

"Why isn't he here?"

"You're in intensive care." The mech replied, "Only two people are allowed back at a time. That's why that old femme was freaking out."

I looked back at him, "Why are you here?" Sunstreaker caught my gaze and his features softened, but he didn't answer. I twisted my lips, "Where is everyone else?"

"Downstairs." He shrugged and crossed his arms, "We've been taking turns waiting here for you. Rosie is downstairs right now too. She'll probably be up soon to see you." It was silent for a minute before Sunstreaker cleared his throat, "Do you…want to talk about it?"

I blinked in surprise, "Are you asking me to talk about it? Really, Sunstreaker?" I scoffed, "I just talked about it. Is it really that interesting of a story that you want to hear it twice?"

"Not that." He shook his head, "You killed someone." My shoulders tensed in response. "That's not just something you brush off."

My jaw clenched as I glared at him, "Yeah, you would know all about that, wouldn't you, Gladiator?"

Sunstreaker didn't look angry that I called him what I did. He leaned forward with the same stern look, "Yeah, I do. Which is why I'm asking what I am. This was your first time taking a life. It doesn't just go away, you don't just forget about it."

I shook my head, "I'm tired. Gonna try and take a nap."

He leaned back in his seat, but I shifted in bed so I was facing away from him with Iron Pup curled up in my arms. I shut my eyes tightly and willed myself to fall into unconsciousness. Blank darkness would be easier than dealing with this.

* * *

 

"He couldn't fake being in stasis." Ratchet said firmly as he stood in the elevator with Optimus and Josh. He shook his helm, "Even if he tried, the readings from my scans would be entirely different. I'd be able to tell."

Josh sighed, "She isn't lying. I don't know what the hell happened, but she believes what she's saying."

Optimus glanced at him, "We never stated otherwise." The elevator doors opened and they stepped out as others began to go in. "We need to speak with Megatron himself."

"Let me know what he says." Josh said, "I have to head to the scene and then back to the station and get her statement in."

"What are you going to say?" Ratchet questioned. He knew, and he knew that Optimus knew as well, that Josh couldn't say what Aj had said upstairs. It wouldn't add up and it would have everyone on the search for someone who didn't exist. Whether Megatron was there or not was still a debate, but regardless no one would be able to pin anything on him.

Josh shrugged and began to walk off, "Whatever I have to. She was protecting herself and the kids. That's not debatable. I'll make her statement match."

Optimus and Ratchet watched as the young human mech turned and began to walk out into the lobby where the exit would be. Ratchet glanced at Optimus who returned the look before sighing and heading in the opposite direction. He followed the leader towards a back waiting room where Rosie and some other mechs would be waiting. Ratchet wasn't entirely sure who would still be in the waiting room and who had switched out with the mechs back at the humans' home.

Rosie was the first to stand up when they entered the private waiting area. She was clutching her hands together against her chest, "Sideswipe says she's awake. I want to be up there now."

Ratchet glanced over at Sideswipe who was slouched over in the chair beside where Rosie had been sitting, "Did Sunstreaker tell you?"

Sideswipe nodded, "Yeah, but I could feel her too."

"What emotion is strong enough for you to feel right now?" Optimus asked.

"Guilt." Sideswipe answered softly.

"Of course." Ratchet scoffed. He glanced around to see Thundercracker and Skywarp sitting in chairs off to the side, and near the back of the room Jazz sat by himself with his arms resting on his knees. The mech didn't look up at the conversation, but Ratchet didn't have time to worry about him right now. His worries were otherwise preoccupied.

"Rosie", Optimus said, "We need you to call home and ask Megatron to come to the hospital."

No one seemed surprised at this request and Ratchet was sure this was because Sunstreaker had kept them updated through his twin brother. Thundercracker shook his head, "Megatron wasn't there."

"I want to hear that directly from him." Optimus replied firmly. His tone was that of a leader and it had finality to it.

Rosie nodded and began to dig through her bag, but she sighed and closed it, "I must have left it in my car. I'll run out."

"Jazz will accompany you." Optimus commented. Jazz glanced up slowly and didn't seem to pleased with the plan, but when Rosie turned around to look at him he gave her a firm smile. "Jazz?"

"It'd be my pleasure." He forced himself to stand, "Let's get goin', huh?"

Rosie nodded and the two of them left the waiting room to head out to the parking lot.

Jazz's holoform was leaning against the side of Rosie's car as the older femme sat in the driver's seat talking on the phone. The door was wide open and she sat with her legs outside the car.

"He says to bring Megatron here." She said in a tired voice. Jazz wondered how much recharge she had gotten over the last few days. If he had credits to bet at the moment, he'd put them all on ' _zero to little_ ' recharge. It was clear to see on her face. The usually cheerful femme was sluggish and worried when the younglings weren't around. She always managed to paste a smile on her face around them, but even then it never reached her optics. "Just come and drop him off."

Everyone had been staying at Rosie's house lately because Aj's sister's kitchen was still considered a crime scene. It was a tight fit, but it was only temporary. Luckily, Josh managed to keep prying eyes out of the top floor until they were able to lug Megatron's huge aft off Aj's berth. He had also hidden the portal device in the garage with Wheeljack's help. Where they had hid it was an entirely different question that Jazz wasn't sure he actually wanted the answer to. Grimlock ended up really liking the open land they had sent him to and had no problem with staying there a few extra days considering there was no chance in pit that the dinobot would fit inside Rosie's smaller house. Although, it did take several mechs to talk Grimlock out of storming to the hospital to visit the dinobot's favorite pet.

And on that thought, Jazz's distractions fell flat.

It seemed no matter what he tried to focus his processors on, all his thoughts would float right back to the human femme lying in a hospital bed upstairs. Jazz had visited Aj right after surgery once, but seeing her like that… He hadn't been upstairs since. Jazz just sat in the waiting room with the others. Prowl had questioned why he refused to go back to Rosie's house to get real rest, but the glare Jazz shot his close friend was enough to keep the questions at bay. Jazz wouldn't leave this pit of a place until Aj could walk out with him. He just couldn't find it in himself to go back upstairs. Even now when he knew she was awake and talking there was something keeping him tied down to the bottom floor.

"Alright, I'll see you soon. Thank you, Prowl." Rosie said and hung up the phone. She paused a moment before moving to set the device back into her purse. Jazz pushed himself off the car and put his servo on the door waiting for her to get up. Once she was clear, he shut the door and gave her a firm smile. Rosie offered him one of her own, "She's out of the woods now, you know? Now that's she's awake everythin' is fine. She'll only get better."

Jazz nodded, "The younglings sure will be happy to see 'er up."

A real smile lit the femme's features, "I know. I'm tempted to just pull them out of school right now."

"You know Aj wouldn' want that." He chuckled and the two of them slowly began to walk back toward the front. "Besides, Hatchet says she'll mostly be sleepin' off the pain now."

"I can't believe she refused medicine." Rosie scoffed then paused, " Well, I mean I _can_ believe that. It's very much like her, but when I get up there she is gonna get an earful."

Jazz chuckled and shoved his servos into his pockets. The parking lot was huge and Rosie's car was unfortunately near the back so it'd be a few solid kliks before they got to the front doors. That gave Jazz plenty of time to think. Plenty of time to wonder if there was something he could've done to prevent all of this. If only he had been paying more attention to where she was. If he had seen her slip out, he would've never let her go to the house alone. Pit, he wouldn't have let her go to the house at all.

Jazz and Rosie walked in a comfortable silence all the way back inside. The lobby was relatively crowded at the moment. Out of habit, Jazz glanced around the room in caution. Rosie followed his gaze curiously, and Jazz opened his mouth to explain that he wasn't looking for anything in particular and that it was just an old habit. However, Rosie spoke up before he could get a single word out.

"Oh my Lord, _Aubrey_?"

Jazz snapped his optics to see her staring at human femme standing at the front desk speaking to those who were behind it. She wore a loose gray shirt and plain jeans. Her hair went past her shoulders and was a dark blond color. An uneasy feeling formed where his tanks would be if he were in his bipedal mode.

" _Aubrey_?" Rosie called out louder this time and began to walk in her direction. The femme turned around with wide, dark blue optics and the first thing that crossed his processors was the fact that her optics looked the same as the twin younglings. He took in the rest of her features quickly. She had the same face shape as Aj, but all her features seemed so much softer and petite than the femme he had grown close to. Jazz narrowed his optics at the sling Aubrey's left arm was in and the fading bruise around her right optic and nose. "What are you doin' here? What happened to you?"

Aubrey rushed over and Jazz realized she was much taller than Aj was. She shook her helm sending her hair flying around her, "Aimee. Is she ok? Rosie, I-"

"She's fine, honey. She just woke up this mornin'." Rosie replied and lightly set her own servo on the side of Aubrey's arm. "What are you doin' here?"

"Josh called me and told me what happened. He said the surgery was successful but she fell into a coma and I-" A shaky sob slipped from Aubrey's lips. She covered her mouth and closed her optics in a calming manner. A moment passed before she dropped her servo and opened her optics, "She really is ok?"

"She's good." Jazz spoke up and Aubrey looked to him in surprise. It was as if she just noticed him, but that wasn't surprising. Aubrey was obviously frazzled.

Jazz had spoken to Aubrey over the phone often. In fact, he said a least a few words to her every time she called to talk to the kids or Aj. By these conversations alone, he got the sense that she was a good, responsible femme. That she had a good helm on her shoulders. Another thing he had started to get the sense of, was the fact that her voice was always so strong and never sounded weak or sick like he assumed it would. This face to face meeting just confirmed the thought that haunted his processors.

"Jace. Wow, it's nice to finally meet you." Aubrey nodded with a firm, forced smile, "Under these conditions though… I'm so sorry."

Jazz nodded, "Yeah."

Aubrey cleared her throat and glanced around, "The kids are in school right?" Rosie nodded and Aubrey leaned forward to suddenly hug her, "Thank you so much, Rosie. For helping Aimee take care of them." She glanced at him, "You too, Jace. You and the other soldiers."

"It was our pleasure." Jazz crossed his arms.

"Can we go up and see her?" Aubrey questioned.

Rosie smiled, "I was just heading there now. She'll be so excited to see you."

The two of them began to walk forward, but Jazz lightly grabbed Aubrey's free arm making her turn back to look at him. He held her gaze for a second before looking to Rosie, "You go on ahead, Rosie. We'll catch up."

"Oh, sure." She replied and turned to leave.

Jazz spoke up before she could leave entirely, "Don' tell Aj or the others that Aubrey is 'ere." Rosie's optics widened in confusion, but she just gave him a small nod before turning back around to go.

Aubrey watched her leave for a moment before turning to look at him with a mix of confusion and distrust on her features. He didn't say a word and instead led Aubrey off to the side where a few open seats were. He motioned for her to sit down before he took the seat right beside her.

"What is this about?" Aubrey pressed, "I want to see my sister."

"That ain't gonna happen." Jazz said firmly.

Aubrey looked hurt as she sat up straight, "Excuse me?"

Jazz turned to lock optics with her, "You 'eard me."

"I…Who do you think you are?" She demanded, "That is my little sister upstairs in bed hurt. You are not going to stop me from seeing her."

Aubrey pushed herself up, but Jazz didn't move to stand with her. He cleared his throat, "You lied to 'er." Aubrey tensed and didn't make a move to leave. "She thought you were sick, but you aren't are you?" She didn't reply and glanced away nervously. Jazz shoved himself up and leaned toward her, "You told 'er you had cancer. How could you do that? Do you know how easy it is for 'er to lose faith at this point?"

"I know." Aubrey whispered and let out a shaky sigh, "I know, but I had to. You don't understand, Jace."

"Damn right, I don't." He couldn't help but snap. The mech was trying his hardest to keep his calm, but he was at a breaking point. Aj had come so far since the day he met her. She had lowered her walls a significant amount and was being more open, but this would break her. To find out that her older sister had lied to her all this time? It didn't matter if Aj had kept secrets of her own. This would destroy any progress she had made.

"Is it that obvious?" Aubrey questioned.

When the mechs learned her sister had supposedly been sick with cancer they had done their research. Some out of care, some out of boredom and curiosity. Either way, Jazz knew what a cancer patient looked like after two months of chemotherapy. They didn't look like Aubrey. Pit, he didn't even know what to think about the random injuries she had right now.

Jazz shook his head, "What happened to you?"

Aubrey swallowed, "It's…difficult to explain." She paused, "Please, let me go see Aimee."

"No." He said firmly. "Not 'til she's out of that bed an' better. Finding out you lied to 'er? It isn't gonna end well. I want 'er healed 'fore she finds out you betrayed 'er _again_."

Aubrey hung her head and covered her face again. For a brief moment, Jazz felt bad for snapping at her. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his holoform's servo. To be fair, Aj had kept just as large of a secret, if not bigger, from Aubrey about who they were. Them meeting back up was just going to be a blowout in general.

"Aubrey." Jazz spoke softly.

"I _have_ to see her, Jace." Aubrey shook her head without meeting his gaze. Jazz began to argue, but her head snapped up, "I need to see my sister! I have to see her. You don't get it."

"Not 'til I get answers." Jazz replied, "You need to tell me what's happenin'. I can help you an' your sister both, but I need to know what is goin' on in your life." Aubrey shook her head as tears filled her optics. Jazz's own optics widened in surprise as the femme began to cry. "'Ey, now. Stop, it's ok."

"No it's not." Aubrey sobbed, "This is _my_ fault. This is my _entire fault_. They hurt her because of _me_."

* * *

 

Josh stood at the base of the stairs of the house he had been inside a dozen times. It felt strange to not see the mechs or kids wandering around. It felt even stranger to have them replaced with police officers and cleaning crews.

"We're heading back to the station." Officer Andrews said as he pulled the front door open with his partner. Josh gave them both a brief nod before looking back down at the notebook in his hands. There was so much on his mind, so much to do, but all he was really in the mood for was a nap. Being worried sick for four days straight will do that to a guy. He heaved a sigh and flipped through the pages to look at the words he had written earlier.

Megatron being at the scene changed the situation, but he couldn't exactly write in the report that a Cybertronian holoform was the reason why one of the men was dead. For the most part, he knew what he was going to say, but when he put in that final report he would officially no longer be sheriff. The case would be closed and he would no longer work for the town. It made everything seem so real. Josh had been so excited last week at the prospect of this new job, but now he was just worried about his childhood friend. Sure this Boss guy was dead, but what if his henchmen up North wanted retaliation?

"Sheriff?"

Josh looked up to see one of the cleaning crew women standing in front of him with a thick manila envelope. He nodded, "Are you finished?"

"Yes sir." She replied, "The scene is clean and the house is live in ready again. All you have to do is clear it through the main office." She lifted the envelope toward him, "These are the crime scene photos. I think one of your men left it on the kitchen table."

He took it from her, "Right, I was going to grab them. Thank you."

She went back into the kitchen where the rest of her crew was putting away their supplies. Josh shoved the notebook back into his pocket and pulled the envelope to make sure the bulk of the pictures were actually there. It all looked in place so he shut it tightly again and stuck it under his arm.

He jogged to the door and held it open for the crew who was now exiting. Josh's eyes glanced over their heads at the large white container in the neighbor's front yard. His eyes narrowed at the fact that it was still just sitting there. He made a mental note to call a few favors in to try and get it removed before he had to leave.

Josh's gaze drifted to a small white rental car parked by the curb across the street from the house. A man wearing a t-shirt and jeans leaned against the car with his arms crossed and his eyes focused on the house. Something seemed familiar about him, but hell if Josh was going to leave him standing outside Aj and the kid's house alone.

He jogged off the porch, closing the door behind him, and double checked his weapon without pulling it out. For all he knew, this could be one of Boss' guys. Josh wasn't taking any chances.

" _Hey_!" He barked out as he reached the street, but didn't stop there. Josh glanced both ways before crossing over. The man pushed himself off the car to straighten his posture. "Can I help you?"

The man was about an inch shorter than himself, but seemed bulkier muscle wise. He glanced down to the badge on Josh's belt before his gray eyes went back up to catch Josh's gaze, "You the sheriff here? Sheriff Thompson?"

"Yeah, I am." Josh nodded with a glare, "Listen, this is a closed off area. I'm going to need you to vacate the premises."

"That's gonna be a problem, sir." He replied with a shrug and crooked smile. He stuck one hand in his pocket then pointed to the house, "You see, that's _my_ house."

" _Excuse me_?" Josh blurted. The words tumbled through his mind as he took in the details of the man in front of him. His hair was shorter on the sides and only a bit longer on top. The longer bit was also unruly as if he just ran a hand through it this morning. There was a matching patch of hair under his lower lip, on his upper lip, and on his chin. The brown hair was a familiar shade and so were his features. It suddenly occurred to Josh that it might be easier to recognize this guy if he was de-aged back to about ten years old.

The guy stuck his hand out with a welcoming smile, "I'm Wes Williams."

* * *

 

Sunstreaker cleared his throat trying to get my attention, but I kept my eyes closed and continued to pretend like I was sleeping. The last thing I wanted was any sort of conversation right now so pretending like I was sleeping for the last hour seemed like a better plan.

"I know you're faking, dummy." Sunstreaker said, but his tone wasn't harsh. "Megatron and Optimus are here. They're at the front desk."

I opened my eyes but didn't look away from the wall, "Didn't they say I should get some well needed rest?" Iron Pup uncurled himself from my chest to lick my chin at my voice. "If I ask Ratchet to come guard me instead of you would he keep the visitors away?"

Sunstreaker scoffed, "Probably, but he'd also nag you to offlining."

"That's a fair point."

I heaved a heavy sigh and forced myself to sit up with a grimace. Sunstreaker quickly rose from his seat with an arm outstretched to help me, but I brushed his hand away with a shake of my head. The pain was starting to grow familiar and that made it easier to ignore. It was still a nuisance though.

My gaze drifted through the glass wall to the front desk where Optimus was speaking to that older nurse with a soft smile. He look tired and that seemed strange to me. Could holoforms show exhaustion? I thought back to the look Ratchet had earlier with me and realized he looked just as tired if not more so. At the slight movement beside Optimus, I looked away from the tall leader to the mech standing beside him and a tightness filled my chest as I slowly pushed myself up from reclining to sitting.

"Aj?" Sunstreaker pressed, but my eyes didn't move from the form standing beside Optimus.

The mech turned to look at me and I knew it had to be a holoform. It was uncharacteristically good-looking just like all the others with sharp, light brown eyes that seemed older than the face looked. He had an oval shape face with symmetrical features that were focused into a calm look of bored, nonchalance. His brown hair was a bit shorter than Optimus' holoform's hair and was messily styled. Also, his jaw line was clean shaven with no sight of any sort of beard. He wore a black button up shirt with a dark blazer over it and matching dress pants.

"Aj?" Sunstreaker snapped again and my focus shot to his look of worry, "What's wrong?" It was then that I noticed Iron Pup was quietly growling against my side. "Aj?"

Optimus walked toward the room with the other mech in tow and my teeth clenched together in anger. That wasn't Megatron. That wasn't the mech in the kitchen. This mech was tall and muscled, but not the way the mech in the kitchen was. Was this Soundwave? He was the only holoform I hadn't seen yet.

"Sorry to bother you again, Aj." Optimus spoke calmly as he stepped in with the other mech a step behind him, "It seemed better to get this over with sooner rather than later. Megatron-"

"Who the fuck is that?" I snapped making Optimus' eyes widen in surprise. I don't think I've ever snapped at Optimus like that before. Hell, the thought of talking to the respectable mech like this before this moment would've made me feel dirty and ashamed.

Sunstreaker shook his head, "It's Megatron, Aj. This is his holoform."

"No, it isn't." I argued and shook my head. Iron Pup began to bark, but considering his size it was a non-threatening yapping sound. "That isn't Megatron."

"Aj, I assure you-"

"That isn't the mech from the kitchen!" I screamed. The volume of my voice only seemed to surprise Optimus and Sunstreaker though.

The mech stepped forward, "Perhaps you should give the two of us a moment to talk alone." The voice was Megatron's. I couldn't deny that. My eyes shut tightly as I tried to think back to that night. I tried to recall the mech's voice whispering in my ear, but nothing came to mind. "Now would be a good time."

"Frag that." Sunstreaker growled and I slowly opened my eyes to see Sunstreaker's holoform glaring at the other. "If you think we're going to leave her in here alone with you then you're glitched."

Optimus paused then shook his head, "Let Megatron speak, Sunstreaker."

" _Prime_ -" Sunstreaker began to argue, but Optimus narrowed a tired glare at him.

"Don't make me make it an order."

Sunstreaker was tense, but he bit back any words he had with a short nod. I cleared my throat and scooped Iron Pup up in my hands, "Take the dog for a walk."

Iron Pup wasn't pleased with being set in Sunstreaker's arm and barked and whined up a storm just like when the woman earlier tried to take him. Sunstreaker glared down at the puppy, "Hey, be quiet."

Surprisingly, Iron Pup let out one last whine before giving up in the mech's arms. I watched Sunstreaker carry him out of the room. The mech that was supposedly Megatron slid the glass door shut behind Optimus who gave him one last stern look before turning to leave with Sunstreaker. He readjusted his collar before turning back around to sit in the chair by my bed.

"You aren't him. This doesn't make any sense. You can't be Megatron. I saw you that night and you didn't-" I rambled, but then stopped myself. "This is a trick." I narrowed a glare at him, "You changed your holoform. Admit it."

He shrugged, "I _am_ Megatron. Is that what you want me to admit?"

"I want you to admit that you were there!" I barked, "That you left me there to bleed to death!"

Megatron shifted in his seat before pulling his leg up so his ankle rested on his opposite knee. He leaned back in the seat, "I wasn't there. It wasn't me."

" _Liar_." I growled and my hands balled up in fists at my side, "You were there. That was you. You made me kill Boss."

Megatron narrowed his eyes, "You do realize the truth of the matter, do you not?" He leaned forward, "Even if I was there, Aj, even if it was me who put the gun in your hands…you pulled the trigger. _You_ killed the organic scum."

Nausea washed over me again and it took everything in me to not puke on the floor beside my bed. I sucked in shaky breaths trying to calm myself down. It felt like my world was tearing at the seams. Boss was a bad man. He was a terrible man. He hurt so many people and he was going to hurt even more. He deserved it. He deserved it.

"Is that why you're so concerned that I was there?" Megatron questioned, "Because you want another to pass the blame onto? Because honestly you should be more concerned by the fact that your organic processors are obviously malfunctioning."

I forced myself to look at him and his calm look made me pause. The more I looked at him the more I realized that this was the demeanor I expected from the Decepticon leader. The mech I saw that night reminded me of the Megatron I had first met. This Megatron seemed more like the one I had grown to know over the last two months. I swallowed the lump in my throat, "I wasn't hallucinating. I know what I saw. He was there, he was…"

My voice trailed away as I thought back to what I remembered of the mech. Was it a hallucination? It couldn't have been. Boss and Joey both saw him too. They both tried to kill him. He was real and he was there and he was down right terrifying the more I thought about it.

"Here I assumed you were one of the few humans that actually had a spine." Megatron scoffed, "At one point, I considered you strong." He glanced over me with a shake of his head and look of disappointment in his eyes, "Yet here you are breaking down over the offlining of your enemy. The disgusting Earth pest that caused you such turmoil and strife." Megatron tilted his head, "Do you miss him, Aj? Do you miss your _ring master_?"

Anger boiled under my skin as my eyebrows furrowed together, " _Fuck you_. Boss _deserved_ what he got. He deserved to _die_. He was evil and poison and he destroyed so many lives."

A smirk lit Megatron's features briefly, but he let it fall away again as silence filled the room. He rubbed the side of his jawline, "The Autobots are not clean." I scoffed with a shake of my head. The last thing I wanted to hear right now was a speech about how Decepticons were better than Autobots. He shot me a light glare before continuing, "We are at war. We have been for longer than you humans can even fathom, and that is something you seem to forget. The Autobots are not perfect beings. Even Optimus Prime has gotten his servos dirty with the energon of his enemies."

"Do you have a point?" I snapped.

"Do you know why Barricade hates you?"

I blinked in confusion, "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Do you know why?"

"At this point", I shrugged, "I've just been assuming his shitty attitude was a personality flaw and not anything personal."

Megatron chuckled, "It is personal."

I sighed, "Perfect."

He nodded, "Barricade detests anything he considers Autobot or aligned with Autobots. He has his own reasons for this and it isn't my place to tell his story, but that's why he has always butted helms with you." Megatron's tone was firm, "From the very beginning, even when my own opinion differed, he saw you as one of them."

I squirmed in my bed uncomfortably.

"Your decision to kill that organic does not diminish your newly found worth in their optics." He continued, "And it shouldn't diminish it in your own optics." My chest felt tight at his words, but he just kept going, "There will always be times where one cannot tell the difference between right and wrong. It could be clear to the people outside the situation, but when you are there…when you're neck deep in it…everything is muddled and nothing is ever clear."

Wasn't that the basis of everything nagging at the back of mind? A part of me knew what I did was right. It had to be. A bad man like him dying could never be considered wrong. However, it didn't change the fact that it was my hands that he died by. Like Megatron had said earlier, it was me who pulled the trigger. I killed Boss and something about that shook me to my core. I've done a lot of shitty stuff in my life, but murder? Even if it was a horrible human being, it was still murder and that made me question everything about myself. I wanted to be someone worthy of love. I wanted to be good so fucking bad. I wanted to be someone the kids could look up to and hope to be. Killing people, good or bad, didn't fit in that equation. It wasn't 'worthy' material.

"As someone from the outside, you can trust me when I say what you did was the right thing." Megatron said firmly, "And that is something even Optimus Prime would agree with me on."

I pressed my teeth together and clenched my jaw in attempt to keep the tears gathering in my eyes from falling over but it was useless. The tears began to drip down my cheeks and it took everything in me not to let out the loud sobs that threated to rack my body. My hands drifted up to cover my face as I continued to cry in front of the warlord.

It wasn't fair. Why did I even have to be put in these positions? I just wanted to be clean. I didn't want blood on my hands anymore, right or wrong. I was sick and tired of the violence, and the fact that I felt so at home in it.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and slowly tore my hands away to look at Megatron who was looking down at me with that same calm look he had on before. He gave my shoulder one firm squeeze, "Just so you're aware, I wouldn't have let you kill the pest because I would have given myself the pleasure of doing so." He pulled his hand away to dig in his blazer pocket. Megatron pulled my mother's necklace, the one Aubrey gave to me for Christmas, and the Autobot bracelet the mechs had given me. He set both of them into my hands and I briefly wondered how he had them. They had to have been taken off for surgery. "Also, I wouldn't have left you bleeding on the floor. I have more honor than that."

Megatron turned to leave and I rubbed the tears away from my face. As he pulled the door open I forced myself to speak up, "He called me something." He turned to give me a curious look. "The mystery mech who was definitely there. He called me something, but I don't know what it meant."

"What did he say?"

"It was…it sounded like you guys do when you try to speak Cybertronian in your holoforms." I recalled the hot breath on my ear as he spoke, "It sounded like, ' _keez-tooz_ '."

Megatron thought for a moment before shaking his head, "I don't recognize it. I don't think it's Cybertronian. You'd be better off asking the ex-gladiator."

I figured he meant Sideswipe and I nodded, "Ok. Thank you, Megatron. Just…thanks."

Megatron gave me one final nod before turning and leaving the room entirely. I watched him walk down the hall through the glass wall until he was out of my line of sight.

* * *

 

Sunstreaker sat in the waiting room with the organic dog sitting in his lap. Optimus, Ratchet, and Rosie were across the room. Wheeljack and Prowl were here as well now, they had come with Megatron who was still upstairs, and Thundercracker and Skywarp had been in here earlier, but they had left to explore the hospital. Sideswipe was sitting on Sunstreaker's right trying to get the organic creature to pay attention to him to no avail.

 _'Why doesn't this thing like me?_ ' Sideswipe huffed over their bond, ' _I'm the reason it met Aj in the first place!'_

Sunstreaker rolled his holoform's optics at his twin, but Sideswipe went back to cooing at the organic. Sunstreaker felt a familiar feeling of anger flare over his spark. It was gone as soon as it had come, but it left Sunstreaker tense. Sideswipe felt the same anger and shifted to stand, but Sunstreaker shook his head.

"She's angry." Wheeljack spoke up with a firm frown. Him and the twins were the only ones who could feel the emotions now, "Are you sure it was ok to leave her alone with him?"

"Yes."

Optimus' reply had only been one word, but that single word ended any argument of going back upstairs before it even started. Sunstreaker closed his optics and tried to mentally calm himself. He knew the femme was safe, and that would have to be enough.

Sunstreaker would normally be more upset at learning about this strange mock bond, but he couldn't find it in himself to be dismayed. Him and Sideswipe weren't the kind to welcome anything overly new, this definitely classifying as overly new, but if the fake bond hadn't been there then Aj would be offline and that wasn't something either twin liked to think about.

The yellow twin could still remember the boiling anger that washed over his spark as he sat in that restaurant. It was then when he knew something was wrong, but it wasn't just the anger that set him off. Despite what he told Aj upstairs, he felt a lot more over this pseudo bond than just anger. He felt overwhelming fear and panic. The emotion was easy to comprehend especially since only the strong emotions came over the bond. With real bonds, the Cybertronian felt every single thing. Even the smallest emotion was sent over to the mech or femme they were bonded with making if difficult to interpret each emotion or tag it to a certain side of the bond. However, nothing could match up to the absolute absence of all emotion. Sunstreaker was painfully aware that even though there were times where nothing came over the fake bond, it still had a presence on his spark.

When a bond was broken through offlining, it equaled immense pain. Sunstreaker heard it felt like having your spark slowly crushed. Pit, if something were to ever happen to Sideswipe he knew it would be the end of him and vice versa. That night though, when she offlined right in front of him and Ratchet he felt nothing. There was no pain or ache. In fact, there was only this gaping hole of _nothingness_. A hole he knew should've been filled. It didn't physically hurt him at all like a broken bond should. Somehow though this was worse. Mentally it fragged him up. It left him in a state of panic and distress.

Losing her terrified Sunstreaker, and Sunstreaker wasn't the kind to admit that things scared him at all.

The door opened making everyone look over to see Jazz and Josh standing there. Their shoulders were tense and Sunstreaker could sense that something was wrong.

"We have a problem." Jazz stated. He came over to sit in the middle of the room. Josh took a seat by Rosie and rubbed her back with his servo reassuringly.

"What is it?" Prowl pressed.

Jazz sighed and rubbed the top of his helm with his servo, "Earlier, Rosie an' I ran into Aubrey in the lobby." All optics widened at this news. Sunstreaker glanced over at Rosie who hadn't said anything and recognized the look of guilt on her features. Jazz didn't let them speak up quite yet. "She tried to go up an' see Aj, but I didn' let 'er."

"Why?" Optimus asked.

"'Cause she wasn' sick." Jazz replied. There was a tone of bitterness in his voice that the saboteur didn't even bother trying to hide. "She lied to Aj."

Rosie crossed her arms, "Why would Aubrey do that? She knows what that would do to Aimee Jane. After the history they have…"

"Exactly why I didn' wan' Aj seein' 'er." Jazz nodded, "Aj would lose it an' that's the last thing she needs while healin'."

Ratchet nodded in agreement, "Aubrey isn't going to see Aj until she is released from the hospital."

The mechs in the room all mumbled their acknowledgements. Sunstreaker leaned back in his seat bouncing emotions back and forth over his bond with his brother. Neither of them were pleased with the sister of their human.

"I was talkin' to 'er." Jazz sighed, "I get why she lied to Aj. Not sayin' I agree with her, but I can understand it."

Josh cleared his throat and Jazz nodded at him. He glanced around, "I called Aubrey and told her about Aj-"

"Why would you do that?" Sideswipe blurted in annoyance.

"Because I didn't know she was lying about being sick." Josh replied with a glare, "I didn't know she'd come running back, and she deserved to know her little sister was in the hospital in a coma." He shook his head with another sigh, "Another thing I didn't know was that she'd bring Wes with her."

Rosie's eyes widened, "What?"

"Yeah, I ran into him outside their house."

"Wes." Wheeljack mumbled, "Why is that designation so familiar?"

Prowl glanced at Rosie and Josh, "I believe it's the name of younglings' sire."

Rosie nodded despite the Cybertronian comparison, "Wes is the father to all three kids. I heard rumors around town that she was still seein' him, but I just… Well, I didn't actually believe them."

"Are the two of you familiar with him?" Optimus questioned.

Josh shook his head, "I only know what I heard from him today, which wasn't much."

"I only know what Aimee Jane has told me." Granny added, "And she isn't his biggest fan as I'm sure most of you are aware."

Josh scoffed, "You think she'd lose it seeing Aubrey? Her reaction to seeing Wes would be a _million_ times worse."

"Fantastic." Sideswipe threw his servo up in exasperation.

"What's the plan here then?" Wheeljack looked around the room.

Jazz glanced over at Optimus with a questioning look. The Prime paused in thought before giving him a quick nod of the helm. Jazz focused his gaze back around the room, "This stays between us. We don' mention Aubrey or Wes to Aj 'til she gets out."

"So we _lie_ to her?" Sunstreaker clenched his jaw. He was sure that the look on his holoform's face plates was enough to convey how much he didn't like this plan. "That sounds like a pit of a plan."

Jazz glared at him, "We have no other option. I'm protectin' 'er from hurtin' herself." Sunstreaker returned the glare, but didn't argue. He could see the looks around the room. Nobody like the plan, but they all considered it a necessary evil. He let out a scoff to show his contempt for it all and looked away in irritation. Jazz continued, "When she gets out we can go from there."

"What about the younglings?" Prowl brought up three more problems.

Jazz sighed, "Aubrey wants to see 'em, and she ain't budging on that."

"Wes too." Josh added with a nod.

"I say we let the younglings see Aj, spend time with 'er, and then when they leave we let Aubrey an' Wes see 'em." Jazz suggested, "Once we do that, it means they can't see Aj 'til she gets out too. I won't make 'em lie to her."

"Agreed." Ratchet seconded the plan.

Optimus glanced around and let his optics linger on Sunstreaker as he asked, "Do I need to put this to a formal vote?"

Sunstreaker clenched his jaw and refused to reply. Sideswipe sighed and shook his head, "No. We agree."

Sometimes you had to pick and choose what battles you go rushing into. This wasn't one the twins had a chance of winning.

"Good." Jazz stood back up, "I'm leavin' to keep an eye on 'em. Make sure they know the plan and agree to it."

Before anyone could argue, the third in command marched out of the room. Prowl rose and went after him, but nobody else batted an optic at the two of them. The organic in his lap began to whine unhappily so Sunstreaker rested his holoform's servo on top of the thing's helm to settle it down.

A klik later the two seekers came back into the tense room. They paused at the doorway and glanced around. Skywarp scoffed, "What the frag did we miss?"

"We need to talk to the two of you about…" Optimus began to say when his optics landed on Megatron's holoform who came up behind the two seekers. "What did she say?"

Megatron shut the door behind him as Thundercracker and Skywarp sat down. His optics danced around the room before landing back on Optimus. Sunstreaker glared at the mech who ignored him entirely. Megatron shook his head, "She knows I wasn't there now."

"What was the issue in the first place?" Ratchet snapped, "Why did she think you were?"

Megatron slowly stuck his servos into his pockets, "Because some mech was there. She's more than convinced of that."

Sunstreaker had never trusted this mech in his entire life. He especially didn't trust the mech now. Sideswipe voiced Sunstreaker's own thoughts, _'He's acting so strange. This isn't the Megatron we see in battle. What the pit? Optimus and the others see that right?'_

His optics danced over his teammates untrusting looks. Sunstreaker sent a wave of acknowledgment over the bond, ' _They see it.'_

_'Does he have some sort of plan? Is he going to try and hurt her?'_

Megatron cleared his throat, "Prime, we need to talk. Privately."

Optimus shook his helm, "About what, Megatron?"

"A problem." Megatron replied in a vague manner.

Sunstreaker's optics narrowed at the mech, _'I'll offline the glitch if he even looks at her wrong.'_

* * *

 

About half an hour had passed since Megatron left the room, but nobody I knew had come back up to see me. Although, I expected Granny to be up here relatively soon. I actually felt a little better after talking to Megatron. Something about what he said cleared up a conflict in my mind and the knot in my stomach had untangled itself. I still felt shitty, but that could just be the bullet wound and guilty conscious talking.

A knock at the sliding door startled me and made me glance over to see a teenage girl with strawberry blonde hair and large green eyes. I gave her a slight nod and she slid the door open with a smile, "Hi! It's so good to see you up!"

"Um, thanks. Do I know you?" I pressed curiously.

"My name is Polly. I'm in charge of the puppies in this hospital." She replied and I took in her navy collar shirt and khaki pants. They put a teenager in charge of the puppies? I guess it wasn't too big of a deal to keep track of a bunch of cute baby dogs. "Where is Iron Pup?"

I blinked, "Oh, a friend has him. I told him to…to walk Iron Pup."

Polly chuckled, "I bet it was Steven who took him right?" It took me a moment to remember Sunstreaker's holoform's name. I nodded and she sat down, "That puppy is so peculiar."

"Why is that and how did you know?"

"No one told you?"

"Told me?"

Polly shrugged, "Iron Pup was the grumpiest little puppy I've ever seen before. He was just a melancholy little guy. I brought him and a group of puppies up here for your friend Scott to pick from for you, and Iron Pup just came to life!" There was a brightness in Polly's eyes that showed her excitement toward the situation, "He was just so happy to see you and he refused to leave the room without you. In fact, any time we tried to pull him away he cried and barked up a storm. The only person that can get him away from you for a short amount of time is Steven for some reason."

"You're kidding me." I said in surprise.

"Not at all, ma'am." Polly giggled, "Iron Pup just fell head over heels for you. I'd ask if you met him before, but that doesn't seem likely since he was born here at the hospital from two of our other dogs."

To call the situation strange was an understatement. Why did the damn dog like me so much? It was flattering in a way, but still confusing as hell. I shook my head, "What kind of dog is he?"

"Oh, he's a Gerberian Shepsky."

I narrowed my eyes, "A-A what? Are you having a seizure?"

Polly laughed, "He's a mix between a German Shepard and a Husky. He's gorgeous isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's a handsome pup." I rubbed the back of my neck, "How old is he?"

"He's about three months old."

My eyes widened, "What? _Three_? I would've guess liked six or seven months. He's so big."

Polly nodded, "Oh yeah. Shepskies get big anyways, but Iron Pup was the biggest in the litter without a doubt and he's growing like a weed."

"Damn." I mumbled.

"Oh my Lord!" I glanced through the glass wall to see Granny standing at the desk with Josh. She was staring at me with tears in her eyes. Polly stood and quickly excused herself as Granny came rushing down the hall and into my room with Josh calmly beside her. "Aimee Jane!"

"Hey, Granny." I chuckled as she came to my bed and hugged me best she could. A flash of pain washed over me at the position, but I refused to voice it. The warmth of her hug was worth it.

"You scared the life out of me, child." Granny said with a sob hanging off her last word, "I thought we lost you."

"I'm _sorry_." I said quietly as she dropped down into the seat by my bed and held my hand tightly. Her tears were making me want to cry again. Nothing hurt worse than upsetting this woman. "I'm _so_ sorry."

"Don't you dare." She shook her head, "Don't you apologize for anythin'. I'm just so thankful that you're ok."

I gave her a smile, "Come on, Granny. You know me. Nothing keeps me down for too long."

She returned my smile with one of her own as she reached forward and set her hand against my cheek lovingly. I leaned into the touch with a slight nod of reassurance. Josh cleared his throat and I looked over at him with a smile of apology to him as well. I hadn't been in the best mindset last time he was here. I wondered if he could see a difference between me now and me an hour and a half ago.

"I put in the report. Everything is good to go and as soon as you're released you can head back home." Josh nodded.

"Thanks, man." I said sincerely. My eyes darted to Granny, "Hey, I don't wanna be a bother, but-"

"What do you need, sweetheart?" Granny asked quickly with her lips pressed together.

I chuckled, "These animals haven't brought me any solid food yet and I'm starving."

Granny glanced at Josh then smiled at me, "I'll get you somethin' good. Be back in jiffy."

The two of us watched Granny leave the room before we glanced back at each other. Josh nodded at me, "The nurse says they'll be moving you to a normal room sometime this afternoon. That means you gotta be able to leave soon, right?"

I shrugged, "Never actually went to Medical school, remember? I chose to live a life of being repeatedly punched in the face." Josh shook his head as if he didn't want to laugh at my little joke, but I could see the corner of his lips twitch up anyways. I cleared my throat, "Speaking of living lives though…I expect you gone by tomorrow, charming."

Josh's eyes widened, "What?"

"I owe you everything for being here taking care of me and the kids and Granny, but it's time for you to go." I smiled, "Go live your life, dude."

"There are a few things here that I think I need to see finished before I go. I don't want to leave you in a time of need." Josh replied firmly. He crossed his arms, "I need to know your safe mentally and physically."

I laughed, "If you wait until I'm mentally well I got bad news for you." Josh gave me a pointed look and I responded by lifting my hands in a mock position, "Regardless, there is always going to be something you need to see finished."

"Aj…" Josh sighed and pushed himself off the wall to come lean against my bed railing.

"I have an army of mechs watching my back. All of which are apparently bonded to me in some freakish way." I said. Although, I wondered if that was enough. I was kind of a hassle to deal with. "Get your ass to Atlanta and start living your own life."

Josh chuckled and tore his gaze away from me. He took in a deep breath before looking back up at me, "I think you should go with the mechs to their universe."

My eyes widened slightly, "Really?"

Josh nodded, "Yeah, I think it's the best option for you and the kids and…and Aubrey." There was something in his tone that made me feel like he wasn't mentioning something. It was hard for me to put my finger on, but it was there. "They're more than just other worldly visitors now. They're your family."

"You're not wrong." My voice was soft as I briefly thought about it. There was no doubt I considered all the mechs close. Even Barricade had wormed his way in somehow. He was like that uncle you only saw once a year on holidays that sat in the corner glaring and drinking alcohol. No one wanted to strike up a conversation with him, but he family all the same. Was it because of the weird bonds? I hadn't thought of it much since Optimus was talking about them with the others, but it was definitely something to think about. "What do you think about the bonds?"

Josh looked surprised and something told me he hadn't expected that question from me. He pushed his hands off the rails and shrugged, "It's…interesting, I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "You and the kids being bonded to them all or whatever sounds…honestly, it sounds weird as hell."

I chuckled, "Don't hold anything back, charming."

"They tried to explain it to me more. Apparently, they're able to talk and communicate and see over normal bonds with each other, but Ratchet said this mock bond wasn't entirely like that. He said it was a watered down version of a real bond meaning you would never be able to talk over it or see on the other side, but… they'd still be able to feel you. Strong emotions only, and as weird as that sounds it also sounds safe." Josh ran a hand through his hair, "If you didn't have this bond with them, Sunstreaker wouldn't have felt your anger. He never wouldn't have gotten out in time to get to you. Aj, you would've…" Josh refused to finish the sentence, but it was obvious where it was going. Without this freakish bond, I would more than likely be dead. Dead for good this time too.

"I know." I nodded. "So maybe the freakish bond is good."

"Anything that keeps you and the kids safe is good in my book." Josh smiled sincerely. "So just promise you'll think about it, ok? It's just my opinion, but I think we both know who's the smarter one in this relationship of ours."

I laughed, but the laughter ended in a grunt of pain. Josh stepped around in concern but I waved him off with a smile, "I promise, prince charming. As long as you promise to get the hell out of this little town."

"I was _never_ one to break a promise to _you_." Josh said softly. There was a pause of silence in the room, but it was a comfortable one. I grinned and lifted my hand with the pinky outstretched. Josh chuckled and stepped forward to hook his pinky finger with mine. I tilted our hands so our thumbs were pressed together with the pinkies still linked.

This was our final goodbye. I could feel it in the air around us, I could see it in his eyes, and at the thought of the finality of it I could feel my hand begin to shake. I was so happy for Josh, but there was a sadness in my chest I couldn't shake away. I forced a larger smile to bite back the tears.

Josh sighed and came closer with his hand still linked with mine. He took his free hand and lightly cupped my face. Josh pressed his lips to my forehead and let his lips linger there for a moment before he moved and rested his forehead on top of my own.

"This time, I won't be upset if you don't call for eight years. As long as you're safe." He whispered.

"Ok." I replied in a broken tone followed by a bittersweet chuckle, "You stay safe too, charming. Be safe out there. Find your princess, ok?"

He shook his head against mine with a laugh, "You'll _always_ be my princess, just like I'll always be your prince charming."

Josh pressed his lips against my cheek one final time before pulling away. We kept out hands linked until the final moment when he stepped away. He gave me a quick wink before turning on his heel and leaving the room. Granny was at the front desk checking in again with a tray of food. Josh stopped to talk to her and I watched as they embraced and she kissed him on the cheek. He nodded and glanced over his shoulder to give me one final smile. I gave him a small wave that he chuckled at before leaving my sight.

That sadness in my chest was still there, but there was this feeling of hope in my heart that overwhelmed any sadness I felt. It suddenly occurred to me that this one of the only goodbyes in my life that felt right and complete. It didn't leave me with a broken heart and jagged soul.

Granny came in and set the tray on my table. She began to roll it over so it hovered over my lap, "Josh just told me he's leaving tomorrow morning."

"I know. It's about damn time."

Granny smiled and set her hand on my head, "That was good of you to let him go." She pulled away and sat down, "He said he was going to pick up the kids and take them out for ice cream to say goodbye. They'll be a little late getting here."

I nodded and turned to focus my attention on the food in front of me. A couple seconds later a nurse came in to debrief me on how they'd move me to a new room, but my thoughts drifted to the kids. I wanted Josh to take his time with them, but damn was I eager to see them again.

* * *

 

The new room was much larger with a couch under the windowed wall to my left and the wall to the right was an actual wall with a closed wooden door. The rest of the layout was the same with a bathroom door nestled in the corner and an array of machines by my bedside. Now though, I was allowed to have guests hang out in my room and that was the best.

Granny was sitting in the chair closest to my side doing a crossroad puzzle. Ratchet was looking over my charts and machines as if something had changed in the last couple minutes, but I refused to call him on that lest I be scolded yet again. Optimus was sitting on the couch next to Prowl, Wheeljack, and Thundercracker. All four of them were watching the television in the corner, which was playing a cop show I wasn't familiar with. Skywarp was somewhere in the hospital, but I hadn't seen him in a while.

"Hey", I spoke up to the mechs on the couch, "How come Jazz hasn't come to see me yet?"

The mechs all looked like they were caught in the headlights of my question. Wheeljack and Thundercracker immediately looked back to the TV while Prowl and Optimus glanced at each other. Optimus gave the mech an odd look and Prowl sighed in response.

"Jazz is currently occupied with other matters." Prowl replied stiffly.

I raised an eyebrow at the excuse, "Yeah, ok, but literally every other mech has come to see me."

It was the truth. Bluestreak and Bumblebee had stopped by earlier in the day, but now that school was over they were waiting at Granny's house for Josh to drop the kids off when he was done taking them out for ice cream. Starscream, Barricade, and Soundwave even stopped by to see me. Barricade really only grunted in my direction, Starscream more or less asked me why I hadn't evaded the gunfire better, but Soundwave had been a good visitor. I had even gotten the chance to see his holoform that was just as stone faced as I imagined he'd be. The only two who hadn't visited me was Jazz and Grimlock, and only one of those mechs had a legitimate excuse for not seeing me.

A part of me was worried that Jazz was angry at me for some reason. It seemed unlikely, but he never liked me trying to fix the Boss problem on my own and this was probably the dumbest slip up I've had.

"I'm sure he'll come to see you soon, Aj." Optimus said reassuringly.

Wheeljack jumped in his seat and pointed to the screen while shaking Prowl's shoulder, "It _was_ the vehicle mechanic who committed the murder!"

"I told you it would be." Prowl replied, but his eyes darted back to the screen. "Why you didn't believe me is the real surprising statement."

Thundercracker rolled his eyes, but he continued to watch the show. I wasn't done with my interrogation, but a knocking at the door made me turn my gaze in the other direction. Everyone else was just as curious too, but when the door opened and Sideswipe poked his head in they went back to what they were doing.

Sideswipe pushed the door open further and Sunstreaker came in right behind him and in his arms was Iron Pup who began wagging his tail furiously at the sight of me. I grinned, " _My puppy_!"

"I think you mean ' _My Sideswipe_ '." Sideswipe held his arms out toward me, "Right?"

Sunstreaker pushed past him to set the dog in my arms. Iron Pup greeted me with a face full of kisses and I happily returned the love by petting him and cuddling him to my chest. Sideswipe scoffed, "Where's _my_ love?"

"Don't whine." Sunstreaker rolled his eyes and leaned against the back wall since the only open seat was beside Thundercracker.

I blew Sideswipe a kiss before returning my attention to the puppy that was quickly stealing my heart. It had only been a few hours, but I was already seriously attached to the cute animal in my lap. Granny chuckled, "That dog adores you, Aimee Jane."

"Well, why wouldn't he?" I joked, "I am pretty adorable."

"Adorably annoying." Sunstreaker spoke up. I smiled at the mech and slowly lifted my hand to flip him off. Granny and Ratchet both scolded me at the same time while others chuckled. Sunstreaker smirked at me in response.

"Do Cybertronians have dogs?" Granny questioned.

I nodded, "Yeah, Sides told me they did once."

"They're called Cyberhounds." Wheeljack nodded, "There are various types depending on region though."

"Did any of you ever have one?" I asked curiously.

The mechs in the room shook their heads no, but Thundercracker spoke up with his eyes still glued to the TV, "I had one as a youngling."

"What was he like?" Granny voiced the question hanging off my tongue.

The mech glanced over at us to realize all attention was on him. He shifted in his seat unhappily, but he looked like he didn't want to just ignore Granny and I. He sighed, "She was a Vos Chaser."

Wheeljack perked up in interest, "Oh really? Those were typically used by Enforcers and military weren't they?"

Thundercracker nodded, but I was the one to speak up, "Enforcers?"

"They were our cops." Sideswipe explained, "Prowl worked as one."

I glanced over at Prowl to see him lightly glaring at Sideswipe. He always seemed to be glaring at the mech though so it wasn't entirely startling.

Optimus spoke up, "I just received word that the younglings were dropped off at Rosie's residence. Bumblebee and Bluestreak will be driving them over."

I glanced over at the clock to see it was a little after four in the afternoon. Josh had them for about an hour. I turned back to Thundercracker, "So what was your dog-er, Cyberhound like?"

"She was a good Chaser." Thundercracker nodded, "Loyal to the end." He looked like he wanted to add something as his eyes darted to Iron Pup who was nuzzled up against my left side.

"What is it?" I pressed.

He turned to Wheeljack, "Do you know about the legend of the Hounds?"

Wheeljack looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened, "I do! I haven't thought about that legend in vorns." He smiled and leaned forward in his seat to face Granny and I, "Cyberhounds are one of the few…animal type creatures on Cybertron that have sparks. They're sparks are vastly different from ours though. There is an old story that said when a Cyberhound dies, it's spark doesn't return to any sort of Well like ours do."

"Where do they go then?" I asked.

"That's the legend." Wheeljack chuckled, "They say that a Cyberhound's spark is always reborn. That when a Cyberhound dies it is eventually reborn as a new Hound. Some even say that if the Cyberhound who died loved someone and was loyal to them with their entire being then the spark would travel the universe until it found a way to be with the mech or femme it had to leave. That way when it's reborn, they get to be with them again."

Granny chuckled and nudged me with her hand, "Maybe that pup was reborn again and was waitin' for you."

I laughed, "Yeah, except our dogs don't have sparks and I've never had a dog in my life."

"You never know." Granny shrugged.

The room returned to the rather calm state it had been in. Thundercracker excused himself, saying he was going to go try and find Skywarp, and Sunstreaker was quick to drop down on the couch comfortably. He was now doodling on the back of some papers he had found with a stolen pen. Sideswipe on the other hand was sitting on the side of my bed conversing with me and trying to convince Iron Pup to love him.

The door suddenly swung open and three very familiar voices began to call out to me. My eyes widened as face-splitting grin lit my face. I couldn't even open my mouth to call out their own names. Sideswipe scooped up Iron Pup who barked at him and then dropped him off into Sunstreaker's lap who glared at his twin.

Peter, Tyler, and Taylor sprinted over to the bed and didn't hesitate in reaching out for me. Tyler crawled onto the bed with Taylor to hug me tightly. Peter didn't jump onto my bed, but reached out for me and I pulled him closer so I could hug all three of them tightly.

My stomach was screaming at me to stop, but I wasn't going to let go of these kids for anything. They were all talking at once so I couldn't understand a single thing they asked. I just laughed in relief and held them closer. They were safe and whole. I believed it when the mechs and Rosie and Josh told me so, but seeing it for myself was so much better.

"Alright that's enough." Ratchet stepped forward to pull Taylor and Tyler off me. I glared at him and refused to let go of them. "You're going to tear your stitches!"

After a second I released them, and Ratchet set them further down on the bed so they were sitting on my legs. I pulled Peter up so he sat on the right side of my bed.

"Are you ok, Aj?" Peter questioned. He wore a look of worry on his features that matched the one on his younger siblings.

Taylor shook her head, "You wouldn't wake up! I tried to wake you up and Tyler did too, but you just kept sleeping, Aj!"

"I'm ok, guys. I'm ok." I nodded and bit back more tears. I was just a fucking waterfall today. "I'm peachy keen."

The kids laughed and I could see their worry leave as fast as it had come on. Tyler's laugh turned to a frown though, "Aj, Josh said he's going to leave tomorrow."

"Is Sheriff Thompson really gonna go?" Taylor whined. No matter how many times Josh and I told her she could just call him 'Josh' she never gave in. "I don't want him too."

I nodded, "I know. I don't want him to go either, but this is important to him. He's got a new job and it's a really good one, so we have to be happy for him."

The twins nodded and I glanced at Peter who bobbed his head up and down as well. I was so proud of my kids. They were so strong and good and I didn't deserve them or their love, yet here they were.

"So hey, did you meet my new puppy?" I asked and Taylor lit up like a match.

"We did! He's so cute, Aj! Can we keep him? Please?"

Sunstreaker stood up and brought Iron Pup back to my bed. He set him down by my side, but Iron Pup walked over to greet the twins. I gave Sunstreaker a smile and caught sight of the quick drawing on his spare sheet of paper. It looked like the outline of Sideswipe leaning against my bed and me lying in bed while I spoke to him. Sunstreaker rolled his eyes at my grin and went back to his seat.

"Wow, Bear is a lot nicer than he was before." Peter laughed as the dog licked Taylor's face and she giggled. Tyler scooped him up to cuddle him against his chest and the puppy didn't complain at all. Instead he turned his head and tried to lick Tyler as well.

"Bear?" I questioned.

Peter glanced at me with a sheepish smile, "We didn't like the name Iron Pup. Taylor said he looks like a little bear. That's what we've been calling him. Sorry."

I grinned and shook my head, "No, Pete. I like it." I turned my head to look at the dog who was standing between Taylor and Tyler who were cooing at him, "It suits him. _Bear_."

The moment I said the word, the puppy whipped around to look at me. He bounced over not caring that Ratchet was yelling at him to stop and cuddled by my side.

"Good boy, Bear." I scratched behind his ear. Bear hopped over me to greet Peter who picked him up and took him back down toward the twins who were calling him over. The kids played with the dog at the foot of my bed, and watching them do so filled me with this feeling of fullness. Nothing could ever be wrong when I was sitting in a room filled with people I loved. Even if the room was one in the hospital.


	30. Healing

* * *

_"Everything heals. Your heart heals. The mind heals. Wounds heal. Your happiness is always going to come back. Bad times don't last." – Unknown_

* * *

 

Ray's Pancake House was a family owned and run breakfast café. It served breakfast food all day long, along with other sorts of things, and according to Peter they had ' _the universe's greatest blueberry pancakes_ '. Bumblebee wasn't sure what regular blueberry pancakes would taste like, let alone the universe's greatest, but he would take Peter's word on it.

"They're still in there eating? The younglings are _super_ late for school. If we ever took them to school this late Rosie and Aj would have our helms." Bluestreak rambled from the driver's seat of the truck. Rosie's car was still back at the hospital with the others. "Does Jazz know that Aubrey and Wes are keeping the younglings out this long?"

Bumblebee's holoform shrugged, "I'm sure he does. As long as the younglings stay away from the hospital for now it's ok."

Jazz had asked Bumblebee to take on this scouting mission yesterday after the younglings left Aj at the hospital. He had never turned a mission down from his superior officer yet, and didn't plan to now. Besides, this was something he wanted to do. He wanted to keep an optic on the human younglings he had grown so attached to. The ones he had bonds with. That was the whole reason why Bluestreak tagged along.

The two mechs had kept their distance from the family unit, but stayed close enough to watch what was happening. Taylor and Tyler reacted extremely well to seeing their sire for what Bumblebee assumed was the first time. That didn't really surprise him though. Peter, however, apparently didn't feel the same way based on the emotions shown on his faceplates.

"Oh look, they're finally leaving." Bluestreak started the truck back up as the five of them exited the building. Wes was giving Taylor a piggyback ride as Tyler bounced happily in front of him, constantly looking back at his sire. Peter was walking beside Aubrey, his hand in hers, and she was speaking softly to him as he glared at Wes. "Peter still doesn't look very happy. Maybe Prowl or Wheeljack should've come. They'd know when to step in. Do you think Wheeljack and the twins can feel Peter's emotions? Is he upset enough for that?"

All Bumblebee knew was that it was probably a good thing Prowl or Wheeljack hadn't come. Personally, if Taylor looked half as upset as Peter did right now he wouldn't be sitting in this man made vehicle watching. He'd already be across the street pulling her away from the thing that upset her. Even if that thing was her sire.

It wasn't that he didn't care for Peter. He loved all the younglings and he loved Aj and Rosie and even Josh. The humans he spent so much time with had really grown on him. Taylor was different though. As much as he loved them all, Taylor was his charge. He'd never let anything hurt her whether it be mental, physical, or emotional. Maybe that was a big statement to make and an even bigger commitment to try and maintain, but Bumblebee would do slagging anything to uphold that line of thought.

Bluestreak drove the truck out of the place they had parked to follow the small white rental car with their younglings in it.

* * *

 

I flushed the toilet and began to peel the hospital gown off my body leaving me only in my undergarments. The dingy gown fell to the floor where I used my foot to kick it off to the side. The bathroom was small but sparkling clean. I expected no less from a hospital.

With a sigh, I shuffled over to the sink to look at myself in the mirror. Earlier, I had Granny braid back my hair so the greasy locks weren't so noticeable. It helped some, but damn could I use a good shower. My face looked fine from the few times I had been hit that night, but obviously that wasn't the injury I was concerned about. Carefully, I peeled off the gauze and threw it in the trashcan. On the left side of my abdomen there were staples over the entry wound and the skin around it had the fading remains of an ugly bruise. It was mostly that awful yellow with slight traces of purple here and there. According to Ratchet and my surgeon, most of the damage had been internal. My stomach and intestines were lucky enough to be missed by the flying piece of metal, but my liver? Not so much. That sucker bled like crazy and the surgeon said it was a miracle I survived. There was no exit wound. The surgeons managed to get the bullet out while fixing my liver.

There was a knock on the door followed by a couple cute barks. I glanced over my shoulder, "Bear? Did you learn how to knock?"

"Oh hush up. Rosie sent me with your clothes." Ratchet snapped from the other side. I chuckled and cracked the door open to get the clothes then shut it again so I could get dressed. Granny had just brought me a pair of sweatpants and a baggy tank top shirt. Bless that woman.

After changing, I didn't linger in the bathroom because I was eager to get back home. Bear was sitting in front of the door with his tongue hanging out and his tail beating against the tile floor.

"Aw, were you waiting for mama?" I cooed and carefully knelt down to pick him up. My face scrunched up at the movement and Ratchet scolded me from the couch. I cuddled Bear to my chest and glanced over at Ratchet who stood back up, "Don't worry, Ratchet. I love you too."

Ratchet rolled his eyes, but smirked slightly at my comment. I stepped forward and hugged him with my good side while holding Bear in my left arm. I didn't actually expect Ratchet to accept the hug, let along hug back, but he wrapped his arm around me and rested his head on top of mine.

"Don't do that again, youngling." His tone was soft, but firm.

I let out an amused scoff, "Trust me, I don't plan on it."

Ratchet pulled away and nodded toward my stomach, "Let me see your wound." Without hesitation I tugged up the left side of my shirt so he could look it over. "It looks alright."

"How would you know? You went to Cybertronian medical school."

"I've been studying a lot of human anatomy and healthcare since I arrived." Ratchet replied, "Even more so over the last four Earth days." He began to head for the door, "Someone will be by to help you down. I'm going to make sure your paperwork is all ready and that you can officially leave."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh come on, I'm not a cripple. I can get downstairs fine."

"Stay." Ratchet ordered and left the room.

I glanced down at Bear, "He's so bossy, isn't he?"

Bear just continued to squirm in my arms in an attempt to get closer to my face. As much as I loved kisses, I wasn't too keen on drying the slobber off my face at the moment so I kept him cuddled to my chest. The big puppy barely fit in my one arm. I'd bet that by time he was actually six months old, I wouldn't be able to carry him around.

A knock at the door made me glance over to see Sunstreaker. I grinned, "Are you here to take me home?"

"No." He ignored the frown I gave him and nodded toward Bear, "Polly wants him one last time before you take him home." The hospital let me buy Bear from them since it was obvious that the puppy wasn't going to leave my side. The teenage girl even gave me a discount and I only had to pay $50. Granny paid upfront, and despite her arguments I insisted that I'd pay her back eventually. "So let's go."

I set Bear down and motioned for him to stay before crossing the room to greet the mech. He gave me a curious look that I ignored while also trying to ignore the growing discomfort surrounding my giant new boo-boo.

"What are you doing?"

"Do you think you can take Bear to Polly?" I stopped a step in front of Sunstreaker.

He narrowed his eyes, "Why?"

"I just wanna sit for a few minutes before I leave." I shrugged. Sunstreaker looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he sighed and made a slight whistling noise in Bear's direction. Bear jumped up from his seated position and sloppily ran over to Sunstreaker who scooped him up with ease. Before Sunstreaker could pull away I pushed myself up and forward to press a quick kiss on his cheek, at the corner of his lips. "Thanks. For more than just taking care of Bear right now." I settled back on my heels as Sunstreaker's features softened, "Thanks for taking care of me too."

"Yeah." He replied with a bob of his head, "Someone will be here soon. Probably Prowl."

Sunstreaker turned to leave with Bear as I walked back into my room toward my bed. I let out a quiet groan and sat down on the edge of my bed facing the window. The pain wasn't so bad, but I was stiff and sore everywhere. It was understandable all things considering, but just being up and about for a few minutes made me wanna take an hour nap. Sleep was good for the body though, right? Maybe once I got home and washed up, I'd take nice long nap in my bed. Now that Megatron was awake I had my bed back to myself. It was about time.

My hand moved to hesitate over my wound. Of all my years fighting, this was by far the worst injury I've ever had. Not that it could even be compared to my other injuries. This was a bullet wound for crying out loud.

After so many years of being hit and getting back up I had started to feel complacent. Almost like I was invincible. Punch me in the face, crack my skull against the concrete, do your worst, but I'll get back up. Technically speaking, I had got back up from this injury. Look, here I was. However, it just wasn't the same. This should've been my end. If this had happened while I was in New York I'd be six feet under right now.

I lifted my shirt and glanced down at the bruised skin and staples. This was my new reminder that I was not invincible. In fact, I was far from it.

The sudden sound of someone clearing their throat startled me. I dropped the hem of my shirt and whipped my head around. Jazz's holoform stood a foot or so in my room with the door still wide open behind him. He didn't have his sunglasses on, but he had gotten pretty good at taking them off indoors after I told him it was a social no go. He looked uncomfortable to be standing in front of me and his shoulders were tense.

"I'm 'ere to take you home." His voice was soft and wary.

Slowly, I pushed myself off the bed. I had been expecting Prowl after what Sunstreaker said. His lack of words and the awkward silence in the room suddenly made me feel sick, "Is that it?"

"What?"

I leaned my hands against the bed rails on my side, "Is that it? Is that all you're gonna say?"

"What do you want me to say?" Jazz asked without an accent. He had broken eye contact with me and continued to refuse to meet my eye line even when I shifted and tried to catch his.

"I want you to yell at me for going after Boss like a moron." I blurted and his gaze shot to mine. "I want you to blame me for the gunmen. I want you to tell me why you didn't come to visit me."

Jazz covered his face with his hands briefly. He turned around and I thought he was going to leave the room. Instead, he shut the door softly and spun back around to face me. He quickly crossed the room, but forced himself to stop on the other side of the bed from me, "Don't say that."

"Say what? Jazz what-"

"I'm _not_ angry at you. I _don't_ blame you." Jazz shook his head, "Don't you ever think that. _Ever_. You hear me, Aj?" This time I was the one who wanted to look away, but the fire in his eyes kept me from diverting my gaze. "I didn't come because- I…" He snapped his jaw shut and wrapped his hands around the bed railing like I had done. "You should be angry at _me_."

The words were so sudden and sharp that it took me by surprise. For a second, the statement hadn't even registered in my mind. I blinked in surprise, "Why would I be angry at you?"

"I wasn't paying attention." He scoffed, "I wasn't there for you and you nearly offlined. _Primus_."

I shook my head and went halfway around the bed so I was closer to him, but still not in his reach, "Jazz, I don't blame you. There was no way you could've known I was out there making a bad decision."

"I should've."

" _Jazz_." I said firmly and he sighed. I let a soft smile grace my features in an attempt to comfort him, "If I was gonna be mad at you for anything, it'd be the fact that this is the first time I've seen you since I woke up." My smile turned to a smirk, "What the hell kind of fiancé doesn't visit me when I'm in the damn hospital?"

Jazz's eyes softened as he let out a chuckle, "Sweetspark…"

"Look, we're all made up now." I lifted my arms out toward him, "Do I get a _'Congrats for coming out of the coma_ ' hug, now?"

Jazz shook his head at the poorly made joke and pointed at me, "Too soon."

I shrugged with my arms still outstretched, "I'll try again in a couple days. Now get over here." Jazz came around the bed and let me wrap my arms around his neck tightly. His arms lightly wrapped around my own body, but I could tell he was hesitant. I rolled my eyes, "What kind of shitty hug is this?"

"I'm tryin' not to crush your wound, silly." Jazz chuckled.

I nodded, "Oh, that's smart. I didn't think of that."

He pulled back and kept his hands on sides of my hips, "That's why I do the thinkin'."

With a grin, I used one hand to shove at him lightly, "Oh hush and take me home. I'm ready for a nice warm shower."

"You got it, sweetspark." Jazz carefully wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me out of the room that I'd be happy to never step foot in again.

* * *

 

Megatron was once again using his holoform and though he'd never admit it to a living spark, he didn't mind the technology all that much. Granted, the usage of the holoform back in their own universe was a huge waste, but it actually came in handy here in this world. He currently sat on the front steps of the house with his elbows resting on his knees and one servo holding his helm up. His gaze was settled on nothing in particular and he couldn't help but revel in the calm around him. Not just around him, but in him as well. His processors were quiet and that was something he felt he hadn't experienced in a very, very long time.

With this calmness though came the knowledge that it wouldn't truly last. More than that, it meant there was a danger lurking around the corner. The noise, the flames, the anger in his mind couldn't just vanish into thin air. It was simply misplaced, hiding somewhere else, and Megatron had a good feeling where it had gone.

"Megatron?" Optimus voice cut through the air. He had heard the Prime come out onto the porch, felt his presence standing only a few feet behind him, but Megatron had chosen to not say a word. Not yet. "You _owe_ me answers. What you said at the hospital…it wasn't enough."

Megatron had been fairly vague at the hospital. He would admit to that. However, in his own defense, he wasn't entirely sure that his thoughts were correct. No need in causing a panic when one might not have even been needed.

"Where is your front liner? The red one?" Megatron asked without glancing back. He knew Sideswipe's name, knew it all too well, but he couldn't bring himself to say it aloud.

Optimus stepped closer, but rather than sitting he leaned against the wooden pillar that connected to the solid awning above them, "He is indoors prepping the house for Aj's arrival along with the others."

"Call him out here." Megatron cleared his throat and glanced over at his old friend. This moment would work out for the best. Sideswipe's temperamental twin was still at the hospital along with Ratchet, Jazz, and Aj. The red twin had a temper of his own of course, but it wasn't as quick to ignite as the other twin's. Besides, Megatron knew the red one was far too curious to get angry in the conversation that was to come.

Apparently, Optimus' own curiosity was enough for him to actually request the ex-gladiator come out. He must have felt the situation was safe enough to indulge in his own questions.

"You said Aj could be ill." Optimus spoke up with fire in his voice. Megatron couldn't help but chuckle to himself. These humans had accidentally become the most protected beings in the universe. Who else had both Autobots and Deceptions caring after them? Even Megatron could feel the weak bond situated on his spark. It was barely there, but with a bond it being there at all was a huge thing. " _Megatron_!"

The desperation was clear, but Megatron wasn't the next to speak. The front door swung open again and he could only assume that the front liner's holoform had stepped out. Sideswipe's own voice was tight, "Is everything alright, Prime?"

A small smirk grew on Megatron's features. He could hear the obedience in the mech's voice. The once energon-thirsty gladiator was asking for orders, was ready to jump into action and protect his beloved leader. Oh how far he had come. This mech was not the one Megatron saw in the rings once upon a time ago.

"How many transmissions did you receive asking for various translations?" Megatron asked as he slowly rose to his pedes. He turned to look at Sideswipe who stared back at him with wide optics. The curious look in his optics was buried under skepticism as he narrowed his gaze. He glanced at Optimus quickly as his body tensed for a fight.

"Why do _you_ want to know?"

"You received a transmission five orns before the attack on The Docks-"

Sideswipe bared his holoform's teeth, "How _dare_ you even fragging bring up that attack you-"

"It was sent from me." Megatron blurted and the tension fizzled away to pure confusion.

"What?" Sideswipe shook his head, "I never got a transmission from you, fragger."

"It was listed as an anonymous transmission from a mech in Gygax."

Sideswipe paused and hesitantly looked over at his leader in question. Optimus heaved a very human like sigh before nodding. Sideswipe rubbed the back of his neck, "I got a lot of transmissions. I was a slagging good linguist and even though I didn't take that career path, I still offered my services on the side. It made good credits. I don't remember specific messages though. It was a long time ago." Sideswipe glared at him, "Not to mention some _fragger_ blew up The Docks and nearly offlined me in the process. My memories all the way to nine orns prior are sketchy at best."

Megatron didn't bother apologizing. The red mech would never accept it and he doubted the mech even wanted to hear it from his lips. He continued on, "You should remember this one. It was most likely the only one you couldn't translate."

Sideswipe stiffened and Megatron could tell that the mech was running circles in his processors trying to grasp the information he wanted. After a brief moment, the mech slowly began to nod his helm, "I do remember that one…vaguely. I was looking into it more, trying to find an answer." Sideswipe crossed his arms over his chassis with a shrug, "Mostly to satisfy my own curiosity, but still… _frag_ , what was the word?"

At the start of this conversation, Megatron had sent a brief message to Soundwave for some sort of writing utensil, which was why he knew the Communications Officer was on his way out here now. Megatron took a step toward the door, "You and I both know that trying to give you the word in this language would be a waste of our time. I barely recognized it from Aj's lips."

"Aj is aware of this Cybertronian word as well?" Optimus questioned with a furrowed brow. The leader glanced over at Sideswipe who looked equally as confused and wary. Megatron had heard that Aj knew a few ancient Cybertronian terms. Despite both sides' best efforts, keeping secrets in a house this small was not possible.

"What are the other words she knew?"

Sideswipe hesitated to fill Megatron in on the missing information, but a brief nod from Optimus was all it took to get the mech talking. He shrugged, "She didn't know what the words meant or said, but she could write them out. Aj still won't tell me where she got the words from."

"And you didn't press her for that information?" Megatron interrupted to question Optimus' methods.

Optimus settled a light glare in his direction, but Sideswipe continued without pause, "The terms were old school Cybertronian. Not used in casual conversations today. They translated to magnanimity, birthright, and conscience."

The front door opened a crack and Soundwave, in his bipedal mode, stuck his arm out with a marker and paper in servo. Megatron grabbed it from him and the door shut again. The last thing they wanted was for some human neighbor to walk by and see the alien standing in the doorway.

"Write them for me. I want to see it." Megatron shoved the items into Sideswipe's chest. The mech grumbled under his breath, but took them. He rested the paper against the wooden railing and began to write with his left servo. After a nano-klik he handed the paper and marker back to Megatron with an expectant look.

Megatron's optics glanced over the familiar Cybertronian words. Though these words were ancient in a sense, they weren't old enough to stump him. In fact, most mechs would probably be able to translate these words. Minus a few such as Bluestreak or Bumblebee. The trouble was, he didn't understand the correlation between these words. They didn't connect in any sort of way or fashion and worse they didn't go hand in hand with the word Aj butchered in the hospital room.

"What word did you want me to translate?" Sideswipe demanded, "It's seriously bugging me that I can't remember."

Megatron glanced up at them before writing the word under the ones Sideswipe had written. Hearing it roughly spoken in English was enough to freeze his energon, but seeing it so plainly written out before him was even more chilling. The warlord could hear the word echoing in his processors and there wasn't much he wouldn't do to rid himself of those memories.

Sideswipe snatched the page out of Megatron's servo and ignored the glare sent his way. The mech's faceplates scrunched up in annoyance and confusion, "Yeah, I remember this word now. Frag. I still don't know what it means and any research I had done on it got blown away along with The Dock." The mech was too preoccupied digging through his processors to add acid in his voice when mentioning The Dock again. Sideswipe shook his head, "This is really, _really_ old Cybertronian. I went back through the datapads teaching our language almost as far back as it goes, but this word is something else entirely."

"How so?" Optimus asked.

Sideswipe flipped the paper around so he could show them and explain, "The basis of the word is Cybertronian. You can see that here." He used a single digit to point out the lower half of the word. "We still use that format when writing. The problem is this stuff", He moved his digit slightly higher to the upper part of the word. There were smaller symbols above the Cybertronian letters. "A lot of languages on Earth use something like this. They're accents, or diacritical marks, and they change the way the word is said. Cybertronian has no usage for these marks and I have no idea what it means."

"What is the importance of this word?" Optimus asked Megatron directly, "And why does Aj know it?"

"Aj said that the supposed holoform she met in the kitchen, the one she believed to be me, called her this. Like a term of endearment."

Optimus and Sideswipe glanced at each other again. Megatron knew the Autobots were scrambling to find out who the mysterious mech had been. All signs pointed to it being a holoform, but it didn't belong to any of those in the house. The only ones who could change the holoform program enough to alter the entire appearance were Wheeljack and Ratchet. Even Soundwave was unable to deviate to far from the original programming. From what Megatron had gathered, their biggest worry was that this world wasn't as void of Cybertronians as originally believed. Perhaps, somewhere out there Cybertron did exist in this universe and maybe a few citizens of the planet were hiding here on Earth. The newly discovered mock bonds were just bringing them out of the dark.

It was a theory that no one truly put much faith in. There was too much wrong with it. Too many faults. Megatron, for one, was positive it was incorrect but that was only because he had a very good idea who that mysterious holoform had belonged to.

The only questions Megatron had were how and why.

"All this would be solved if we just grabbed our humans and jumped through the fragging portal." Sideswipe muttered.

"You mean the portal that isn't functional?" Megatron sneered.

"Is Soundwave close to finding something?" Optimus asked with a weary tone in his voice. Megatron knew he only asked because the Autobot's own Engineer had hit dead end after dead end. The mech shook his head no, but to be honest he wasn't entirely sure where Soundwave was with progress.

Sideswipe nodded toward the house, "Sunstreaker sent word. They just left the hospital."

Optimus and Sideswipe moved back inside to continue what they were doing, but Megatron just sat back down on the front porch steps. He didn't know why he expected that meeting to give him any answers. Perhaps his faith in the red mech's skills were just too great. He couldn't help it though. The moment he saw the twins in the ring, so many hundreds of vorns ago, he knew they were unique mechs and not just because of the shared spark between them. He saw in them what he used to see in himself. It was why Megatron had spent so many credits to ensure their freedom. Even if they never knew whom the benefactor that paid off their gladiatorial debt was. He wanted to make sure that they could leave the Gladiatorial rings and make a true living. Maybe if someone had done the same for him back in his youth, he wouldn't be where he is now. He wouldn't be a used up puppet for destruction.

* * *

 

There were only a few times over the last couple months where I rode in Granny's car. It wasn't a personal vendetta against the vehicle, or anything like that, typically I just liked driving myself. Granny was way too slow of a driver for my taste, though she prefers the term 'cautious'. However, as I sat in the passenger seat of her small car with Jazz behind the wheel, Ratchet and Sunstreaker sitting in the backseat, I realized I didn't mind someone driving me around as long as they had the same driving habits as me.

As it turns out, Jazz has a lead a foot.

"Literally." I chuckled under my breath as I thought about the involuntary pun that had crossed my mind. The mechs in the backseat were too busy quietly arguing to pay me any mind, but Jazz glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. Bear was still sleeping soundly on my lap as I dragged my fingertips through his fur.

"Rosie said she had some errands to run in town. Took Prowler with 'er. Had a friend of 'ers pick 'em up an' drop 'em off." Jazz spoke up in my direction, "She'll be comin' 'round the house later to check up on you, drop Prowl off, an' pick up 'er car."

"Okie dokie." I smiled back. If I ignored my aching body and painfully, sore abdomen, then everything was just great. Boss was gone and I was alive. Sure, there were some whispering doubts lingering in the back of my mind. There was guilt still settled at the bottom of my gut too, but it was best if I just didn't think about those things. Megatron had been right. Granted, that was a thought I never thought I'd have, but what he said to me yesterday had really hit home. This was my new chance to be the person I always wanted to be. The good guy. The person that I would be proud to have the kids look up to. I didn't like the fact that this new person was being built from a base made of my worst enemy's blood, but considering how my life looked I probably shouldn't have expected any less.

My free hand, the one not buried in Bear's rolls of fat and fur, rose to touch the necklace around my neck. My fingers played with the heart charm absentmindedly, "Hey, maybe we can pick the kids up early today from school." I glanced back at the mechs behind me who had suddenly grown quiet, "We can all just gather up in the living room and watch movies or something."

"The younglings need the routine schedule that school classes give them." Ratchet argued, "It's been a rough few days for them as well."

My smile fell away as I nodded, "You're right. God, they were probably worried sick." I shook my head and bit my lower lip in frustration, "I can't believe I hurt them like this again. I promised them-"

"They were fine." Sunstreaker interrupted with a firm tone. I could see him shoot Ratchet as glare from the rear view mirror, "We kept them busy and calm."

"Thank you. I owe all of you so damn much."

"Language." Ratchet replied, but there was no heat in his tone.

I chuckled and sighed, "It's best the kids are at school right now anyways. There's so much I need to take care of."

I'm sure Granny and the mechs had taken care of the kids more than well enough, but I still wanted to make sure the house was still a home. Boss and Joey had gone through and broken who the hell knows what and then the clean up crew had gone through as well. Plus, poor Grimlock was still out living in the boondocks of Alabama. I missed my fire-breathing friend.

"Everythin' is already taken care of, sweetspark." Jazz said reassuringly.

"What do you mean?"

"We cleaned up anything that organic clean up crew didn't." Sunstreaker was leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed, "Those fragging pit scum tore up some of the rooms. There were some things we couldn't fix, but for the most part things are back in order."

Ratchet nodded, "Plus, the ongoing project in the garage is still intact and being worked upon as we speak."

"What about Grimlock?" I questioned.

"He's fine too. The mech's just gonna stay out in the wild a few days more." Jazz grinned.

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, "Why? Let him come home. He won't bother me at all."

"He likes it out there." Jazz replied in a way that didn't really leave me with a concrete answer. Technically, it was an answer, but something about the way he spoke made me feel like it was just an excuse. "Hey, I forget to tell you. You need to call Abramo-"

My eyes widened, "Oh my God! Abramo! Shit, I meant to call him this morning!"

I leaned forward to grab my bag where I knew my phone would be and hissed in discomfort when hot pain flashed across my side. Ratchet barked at me from the back, but I ignored him. Yesterday, I had talked to Abramo briefly, but I had promised to call him when I got discharged from the hospital.

The only number I had was to his restaurant, the one here in town, so I dialed it in and luckily he picked up after the third ring, "Hello, this is Abramo's. How may I help you?"

"Abramo? It's me, A-"

" _Patatina_! So good to hear from you! How do you feel?"

I chuckled, "I'm fine, Abramo. Sorry again for the mess we made on your opening night."

"No, no, no." Abramo said firmly, "I should be thanking you and your friends, _patatina_. Such heroism."

Abramo and I just a quick conversation, mostly me just checking in and him claiming that he was going to send me pounds and pounds of food, not that I argued against him for very long.

By time I was ending the call, Jazz was pulling into the driveway. I shoved the phone in to my bag, "Where is the truck?"

"We sent Blue and Bee out to check on Grimlock." Jazz answered with ease. My eyes darted from Jazz to Ratchet who was nodding his head from the backseat. I could see Sunstreaker out of the corner of my eye though and he didn't look overly happy. Before I could follow that line of questioning in my own mind, they were all getting out of the car and the sound of the doors opening and closing woke up the slumbering Bear.

"Hey, pup. We're home now." I cooed and rubbed behind his ears. My car door opened and I gave Ratchet a bright smile as he reached in and grabbed my bag that was sitting on the floorboard. "Thanks, Ratch."

"Jazz or Sunstreaker will carry you inside."

"Like hell they will." I scoffed. Bear jumped off my lap to the ground as Ratchet glared at me. "How am I supposed to heal if you guys keep babying me?"

Ratchet shook his head, "How are you supposed to heal if you fall and rip open all your staples, youngling?"

Sunstreaker held out his hand for me to take and ignored the heated look that Ratchet directed at him in response. I gave the mech a bright smile then used his hand as the leverage I needed to rise up out of the car. A slight grimace flashed over my features, but the pain wasn't as bad as I had anticipated it to be. Sunstreaker's shifted my hand to his other so he could loop his left arm through my right. As he did so, Jazz and Ratchet hovered closely as if they expected me to keel over at any moment.

"I'm fine." I laughed and brushed them away. Bear barked happily as he bounced around us. Apparently, my turtle pace wasn't fast enough for the puppy because he would follow behind me for a brief second before sprinting ahead only to jog back to his original spot.

The hardest part of my walk to the front door from the car was the small steps onto the porch. This must have been obvious to Sunstreaker who shifted so most of my weight was leaning up against him until we were settled on the porch floor.

"How do you feel?" Ratchet pressed.

"I walked ten feet, Ratchet. I'm fine."

Skywarp, who was in his holoform, pulled the front door open with a shit-eating grin pasted on his face, "Well, well, well, if it isn't my _favorite_ crippled organic." The words made me chuckle, but the Autobots around me didn't seem to be as amused by the statement as I was. Apparently, Skywarp's trine mate wasn't impressed either because a second later Thundercracker's holoform walked up and cupped the back of Skywarp's neck with a firm grip, "Hey, _ow_ , TC! What the _frag_?"

"Weren't you supposed to be heading to the garage?" Thundercracker pushed Skywarp forward.

Sunstreaker mumbled a curse and an insult under his breath in Skywarp's direction. Thundercracker's reprimanding look quickly switched to a dark glare that was now aimed at the Autobot who was serving as my makeshift crutch.

Skywarp, who was either oblivious to the tension or just plain ignoring it, cackled and shrugged, "I took a break to welcome the squishy home, TC." He turned back to smirk at me, "Welcome home, squishy."

"Thanks, Skywarp." I chuckled.

"All of you need to move your afts." Ratchet snapped to the mechs. He shoved my bag into Jazz's arm, making the saboteur stumble back in surprise, then shooed the seekers away from the door. "If she stays out here any longer she'll catch a cold."

I bit back the urge to remind Ratchet that I wasn't made of glass. With my luck, if I said anything of the sort I'd wake up tomorrow with the flu. Sunstreaker helped me through the doorway. I gave him a quick pat on the shoulder, shot a smile to Thundercracker, and then slowly made my way to the kitchen with Bear on my heels.

"You thirsty, boy?" I questioned and moved to grab a random bowl out of one of the higher cabinets. It'd hurt less to lift my arm up then to bend over.

Ratchet began to walk through the kitchen to the garage, but he stopped and pointed at me, "I'll give you a moment down here with the canine, but then you're going straight upstairs to rest-"

"Don't you mean shower?" Ratchet paused as if contemplating the answer. I rolled my eyes, "I am going to take a shower, Ratchet."

"Fine. Shower and then bed rest."

I gave him a quick thumbs up and moved to the sink to fill the bowl half way with water. In my bag was a small container of dog food that would last Bear for today, but I needed to go out and shop for the newest member of our strange, little family.

"Jazz can you pour some of the food in my bag into a bowl for Bear?" I asked.

"Sure thing, sweetspark."

Thundercracker took the bowl from my hand and set it down on the ground for the dog who immediately began to slurp up the water messily. I shot him another thankful look that he nodded at before heading to the garage where Skywarp had disappeared. My next plan of action was to just sit my ass down in a kitchen chair and take a breather, but my eyes glanced over the spotless kitchen. The floors were sparkling clean with nothing to outwardly see, but my eyes drifted to the spot where Joey's dead body had crumpled after the mystery holoform had shot him. Worse, my eyes couldn't help but dart to the spot in front of the dining table where Boss laid bleeding out. Bright red blood against the neutral floor.

A warm hand pressed against my shoulder and I jumped in shock. My heart was pounding in my throat, but my wide eyes landed on the worried look drawn on Optimus Prime's holoform's face. It took me a moment before I realized him, Wheeljack, and Sideswipe had entered the kitchen.

"Aj, are you alright?" Optimus asked in his deep, baritone voice.

"You didn't hear me call out to you?" Sideswipe pressed from over the Prime's shoulder. His face was crumpled in a panicked worry.

I shook my head and pasted on a smile that I was sure didn't reach my eyes, "Yeah, no. Sorry. I just….I guess I just zoned out for a second there."

"You should sit down. Standing for long periods of time could stress your injury." Wheeljack suggested. I nodded and Optimus kept one hand on my shoulder as he led me over to the chair at the head of the table. Luckily, it was the one furthest from that dreaded spot.

"Thanks, guys." I breathed out a sigh of relief and let my eyes glance over all of them. This was something I wanted to say to every mech, but I guess I'd have to settle for the ones who were in the room right now. "For everything. I- I don't know how to…" The words just didn't seem to want to form, and I was starting to think that no words could really express exactly what I wanted to say to them. "You guys are the family I missed for so long. I love all y'all."

"Yeah, we are pretty great, huh?" Sideswipe spoke up before anyone else could say a word. He was leaning against the back of the chair beside me with a grin. Sunstreaker, who was close at hand, reached over and whacked his brother across the head.

"The feelin' is mutual." Jazz commented from the island he was leaning against.

The kitchen began to fill a warmth that put my soul at ease as Optimus listed off the things they had accomplished here at the house while I was in the hospital. Half way through his speech there was a loud popping sound in the garage followed by the terrible sound of metal grinding against metal.

"What the hell was that?" I yelled as Wheeljack, Optimus, and Jazz were already out of the room heading for the garage.

"Stay here!" Sunstreaker barked at me before following after them with his twin.

It took every ounce of my self-control to listen to their order and remain seated. The noise had startled Bear as well and he had stopped eating to come lie between my feet. About thirty more seconds passed before I began to slowly stand up. Like hell I was going to sit in the kitchen not knowing what was going on.

I got halfway out of my seat when Thundercracker came in shaking his head, "Everything is fine. You can sit back down."

I dropped back into my seat rather ungracefully and raised an eyebrow at him, "Wanna explain what's happening? The garage isn't on fire, right?"

"There was a malfunction on the altered space bridge machine." Thundercracker crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter, "No one was injured and the only damage was to the machine itself."

I hummed in discontent, "Your one way ticket back home machine isn't looking too good, TC."

The seeker nodded his head solemnly and didn't say anything more. I didn't want to say goodbye to these guys, but I didn't want them to be stuck here with us forever. They had mechs and femmes back home that were missing them. Besides, they hid it well, but I could see the melancholy on their faces anytime the topic of home was brought up.

Suddenly, Soundwave walked into the kitchen in his bipedal mode. This was the first time I was seeing the mech in his updated state. In fact, the last time I saw his true form like this he was hiding in my purse.

"Hey Soundwave. You alright?"

"Affirmative."

I nodded with a small smile and tried to lighten the mood in the kitchen, "It's weird seeing you this tall considering you were in my purse just last week." Soundwave turned his head to face me completely as he took a step in my direction. "I mean, I didn't think about it back then, but damn were we lucky you didn't go through the update while we were at the play. Could you imagine how awkward that would've been?"

Soundwave tilted his head slightly and I felt a little awkward myself. Any facial expression he had was hidden behind the visor screen over his face. At least with Jazz I could see his cheeks, nose, and lips.

"Command: Continue speaking."

I blinked in surprise, "Er, _what_?" Thundercracker pushed off the counter in confusion, but Soundwave offered no further explanation. It was silent for a beat or two before I nodded, "Um, ok. I'm glad I'm back home finally. Hospitals are just the worst." I shrugged, "Although this time I came back with a cute puppy so I guess everything worked out in the end….if you don't count the whole 'was in a coma', 'had internal bleeding', 'scarred for the rest of my life' bit." I rubbed the back of my neck, "What I really need right now though is a shower. I wanna go upstairs, but I could barely get up the porch steps without Sunstreaker's help. These stairs would be the death of me I'm sure." It was silent again as I sighed, "Listen, I don't really know what else to-"

"Data gathering: Successful. New hypothesis: Soon to be confirmed." Soundwave turned on his heel and headed toward the living room area.

I bobbed my head once, "Nice talking to you…I guess." Thundercracker chuckled to himself and I turned my focus to him, "Hey, you wanna help me upstairs so I can wash this hospital stink off me?"

Thundercracker nodded, "Do you need me to walk beside you?"

"As much as I hate to admit it", I let out a grunt as I pushed myself up. Bear moved away from my feet and back to his food, "Ratchet's probably right. It'll be easier if you just carried me. That ok?"

His eyebrows raised slightly, "Carry you?" He slowly walked over to me. Thundercracker had his hands lifted slightly in caution, "Are you sure?"

"I trust you, TC." I chuckled.

He paused a moment before quickly reaching over and scooping me up into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck to balance us both out and he quickly made his way toward the kitchen exit. Bear barked once, but I sent him a few reassurances that calmed him down.

The seeker set him down at the top of the stairs carefully, "Are you alright? I didn't hurt you?"

"You carried me to the second floor, TC." I laughed, "You saved me from hurting." Jazz's voice filled the kitchen as he called out looking for me, "I'm upstairs!"

Ratchet and Jazz came around the corner and looked up at me and Thundercracker from the bottom, "Did you walk up the stairs, youngling? That's too much stress for your body!"

"TC carried me, Ratch." I replied, "Calm down before you blow a gasket."

I heard Thundercracker lightly chuckle before he made his way back downstairs as Ratchet and Jazz came up. The medic was still scolding me about the new rules I needed to follow to ensure my healing and a part of my mind was pushing for me to ask the mechs about what Soundwave might've been talking about, but the thought of taking a nice, hot shower was too distracting for me to really focus on anything else.

* * *

 

The painful ache from her left shoulder was beginning to radiate down her arm and toward her chest. The doctors said she'd be feeling this way a while longer, she wouldn't even be able to get rid of the sling for a few months at the least, but they had given her plenty of medicine to cope with.

"Hey, you ok? Your shoulder starting to bug you again?" Wes asked from the driver's seat of the rental car they had picked up from the airport. Aubrey glanced over at him to see the worry etched into his face. It seemed like he was always worried these days, but there was a lot of things to be worried about.

She gave him a soft smile, "It's fine. Just sore. I'll take some medicine when we get home." The pills were in her purse sitting by her feet, but taking the meds on a empty stomach would make her feel terrible the rest of the day. "Is everything alright with us being here? We weren't followed right?"

Wes sighed and ran a hand through his short hair, "Nick assured me that we weren't, but I still can't help but wonder…"

"If Nick says we're ok then I trust him." Aubrey tried to reassure her husband, "Besides, I want to stay as long as possible. Make sure Aimee is doing alright. Plus, the kids are so excited to see you."

A smile graced Wes' features, but it was bittersweet, "Not all of them." He sighed, "Not that I blame Pete for hating me."

Aubrey shook her head firmly, "He doesn't hate you."

"Well, I'm not exactly his favorite person in the world either."

Taylor and Tyler had been beside themselves with excitement to meet their father. They asked no questions or had any doubts. Both of them just opened their hearts to him completely as if he had been a part of their lives all this time. Peter though was a different story. Aubrey knew how upset Peter had been about Wes being away, but she never realized how big of an impact it had been on the boy. He had kept his resentment hidden well over the years.

"He'll come around. Just give him time." Aubrey reassured him again. A thought entered her mind and she sighed, "I just can't believe how many soldiers are staying at our place. Aimee only mentioned her boyfriend and a few other guys."

"You said the kids mentioned other guys too."

Aubrey nodded, "Yeah, but I didn't know they were all staying in our house. How does Aimee even know all those guys?"

"Hell if I know." Wes shrugged, "As soon as I get a chance though I'm having Nick do background searches on all of them."

Aubrey smiled at the idea. Having Nick look into all the mystery men that her kids had talked about all morning at breakfast was a great idea. It put her mind at ease, "I still don't get why Aimee didn't tell me though."

Wes didn't reply and it was then that she noticed the man beside her had grown tense as his hands clenched the steering wheel tightly. "What is it?"

Wes' eyes narrowed, "We're being followed. Have been since this morning, but… Isn't that our truck?"

Aubrey lifted her gaze to the side mirrors to try and spot the vehicle that had been tailing them according to Wes. The familiar vehicle came into her sight, it was far in the distance, and she nodded, "Yeah, it is. How did you even spot that?"

"I'm gonna lose them, then we're heading home to check on your sister. Sound good?" Wes replied. She nodded and gave him a tight-lipped smile. He hadn't answered her question, but it had been rhetorical anyways. She knew exactly how he spotted it. It was what he was trained for after all.

* * *

 

I was never the kind to take long showers. Back in New York when I was beyond broke, I couldn't afford long, hot showers. I had to keep my water bill down to a specific price. It helped that if I took a shower longer than ten minutes the water would turn ice cold, but that didn't happen here in this lovely, little home. Gradually, my shower time had gotten longer and longer, but today I took the prize in longest showers. The warm water felt so good on my muscles and the steam was heavenly. By time I got out, forty to fifty minutes must have gone by. What surprised me was the lack of a certain medic banging on the door questioning whether or not I had died in the shower.

After pulling on a pair of shorts and a comfortable sports bra, I began to carefully towel dry my hair moving my torso as little as possible. I didn't know if Ratchet wanted to put a bandage over my staples or not so I didn't bother with my shirt yet.

As I set my damp towel down on the counter I heard the sound of voices coming from downstairs. It sounded a lot like arguing which is why worry filled my core. The mechs had been really good about not fighting lately, but what if the stress of the broken machine in the garage had grown too much to handle? There was really nothing I could do right now to prevent a fight. Not without tearing something that shouldn't be torn at least.

A knock at the door made me jump in surprise, but Ratchet's voice was far from shocking, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure." I called back and he opened the door and quickly rushed in. The open door let in the sound of the argument a little more and I thought I heard a female voice drift up the stairs. "Is Granny here already?"

Ratchet ignored me and came closer to look at my staples. He let his holoform's fingers brush against the area around my wound apparently checking for something or another. I remained quiet as he did.

"I'm going to put some gauze over it for now. We'll change it as the day goes on, but soon you won't need it at all."

"You never answered my question." Ratchet hushed me and pulled gauze and tape out of the small black bag he had brought into the bathroom with him. The hospital had supplied us with it to care for my injuries. "Do you really need my mouth shut to tape a piece of cloth over a bullet wound on my torso?"

His only answer was to hush me again. I rolled my eyes and let him work. Despite the fact that gauze and tape weren't Cybertronian medical supplies in the slightest, I could see the professional rise up in him as he worked. His eyes were focused, his mouth set in a firm line, and his hands moved swiftly and with confidence.

"There. Don't tear it." He zipped back up the black bag and picked up my shirt to hand to me. It was the black one the kids had gotten me for Christmas. The one that read ' _Ratchet's Repair_ ' on it. I slipped it on with ease and gave the medic a bright smile that he didn't return. It was then that I noticed Ratchet wasn't just being his usual grumpy self. There was something wrong, something he was nervous about. He opened the bathroom door and immediately began to lead me to my room, "You need to lie down right now-"

_"Where is she?"_

I planted my feet to the ground at the sound of the very familiar female voice as my eyes widened in shock. Ratchet groaned and muttered something under his breath.

"Is that…?" I mumbled, but Ratchet didn't reply. I would recognize that voice anywhere. Was Aubrey here?

Ratchet shook his head, "Joshua called her the day you were admitted to the hospital. She came to see you, but-" I turned and rushed for the stairs, "Aj, _no_!"

Rather than stop and listen to the medic, I hurried down the stairs as fast as I could manage which granted wasn't entirely that quick. The voices were as clear as day now. Aubrey was arguing with Optimus and Jazz right now, but Sideswipe spoke up a time or too as well.

I whipped around the corner and the first thing I noticed was Aubrey. She stood by the dining table with frustration drawn onto her features. Her arm was in a sling and there were fading bruises around her right eye and part of her nose. Her eyes snapped to me, along with everyone else in the kitchen, and relief filled her eyes. Optimus and Jazz were standing by the island while Sunstreaker and Sideswipe leaned against the wall. I assumed all the other mechs were in the garage hiding out or working on the project.

I was already moving toward my injured older sister when I noticed the other figure in the room. I had no idea why I hadn't noticed him first. Maybe it was because I was too distracted by my sister's odd injures or maybe my head just still wasn't clear enough. Whatever the reason was, it was only now that I realized Wes Williams was standing in the same room as me. He was older than I last saw him, obviously, and it was evident he had aged. He was only three years older than Aubrey, but now I could see the years on his face. His brown hair was worn shorter than it used to be, but this was the same man that stole my sister from me, and now here he was standing by Aubrey with an arm draped around her shoulders lovingly.

"Hey Aimee." He gave me a firm smile, "Long time no see."

My feet had been taking me towards Aubrey, but the moment he spoke directly at me my direction changed. I lunged toward Wes, injury be damned, and sent a cross punch with my right hand as hard as I could into his nose. There was a loud crack as Wes went sprawling backwards into the dining table chairs and Aubrey let out a loud cry of surprise as she grabbed at his arms in worry.

I moved forward to hit him again with arms wrapped under my own and a pair of heavy hands pressed to the back of my neck.

"Let _go_ of me!" I yelled and thrashed in the arms.

A leg wrapped around my own to keep me from kicking. Sunstreaker's voice was suddenly at my ear, "You're going to hurt yourself. _Stop it_."

"Oh my God, _Wes_!"

"Get her away from him before she hurts herself!" Ratchet barked and Sunstreaker began to pull me back while keeping me in the nelson hold.

I continued to struggle against Sunstreaker who didn't even seem fazed by my attempts, "You fragging son of a bitch!"

Wes held a hand over his nose to try and stem the blood that was dripping down his face and onto his light blue t-shirt. His face was scrunched up in a mixture of annoyance and pain, but I watched as he quickly set his own broken nose right then and there as Aubrey rushed away to grab paper towels for him. It's a good thing the asshole knew how to reset a nose because as soon as I got away from Sunstreaker I was going to break it again.

"Here, hold this." Aubrey pressed the paper towel to his face. He gave her a smile with his blood covered lips and moved across the kitchen to the sink where he could clean himself up. I had stopped struggling against Sunstreaker, but only because my stomach was beginning to hurt. My sister whipped around to glare at me, "Aimee, what the heck was that? Why did you hit him?"

I let out a harsh laugh, "You really have to ask that, Aubs? _Really_?"

"It's my fault." Wes spoke up as he threw away the bloody paper towels. He had cleaned up his face, but his nose was already bruising, "I should've stayed in the car until you explained everything."

"You should've stayed the _fuck_ away from my slagging sister!" I barked at him with venom in my words. Anger burned in my veins to the point where it almost surprised me. How many times had I dreamed about punching the shit out of this guy? It had been my only dream for years. Seeing him in the flesh though, I never thought I was ever capable of being this angry. It was almost blinding, and anger was never an emotion that clouded my thought. It was supposed to make everything more clear.

Aubrey shook her head, "You don't understand, Aimee." There was frustration and desperation dripping from her voice, "Please just let us explain."

"Explain _what_?" I snapped, "That this low life scum bag decided to come waltzing back into your life just because you're sick? Does he think by paying your hospital bills it'll fix the fact that he abandoned his kids!? He-"

"I'm _not_ sick, Aimee." Aubrey blurted and the entire kitchen grew quiet. As my anger worked me up into that previous rant I had started struggling against Sunstreaker again, but her words stilled my entire body. Sunstreaker slowly released me, but continued to stand right behind me so I was still in reach.

"What?"

Aubrey shook her head and I could see the tears building up in her eyes, "Look at me. I don't have cancer. I'm sorry, Aimee." There were bruises on her face, but there was also color in her cheeks. Her eyes were still bright and the hair on her head was the natural, pretty shade of dirty blonde that she always had. She didn't look like someone who had been going through two months of cancer treatment. It was clear as day that there wasn't an ounce of sickness in her. If I really thought about it, maybe I should've noticed the way her voice never wavered during our phone calls. She never sounded sick, but I had never had any reason to doubt her. She took a step toward me, "Please, just let me-"

"Everybody get out." I said firmly.

"Sweetspark-"

" _Get out!_ " I screamed, but my voice cracked on the last syllable.

Optimus nodded, "We'll give the two of you a moment."

It only took a couple seconds for them all to leave out the front door. What were they going to do? Sit on the front porch? Even human Wes would still be able to hear the conversation there. Not to mention the mechs in the garage. I didn't really care about them hearing us though. I just needed room to breathe. This conversation would be easier if they weren't in here crowding around us. Plus, just seeing Wes walk out simmered some of my anger.

"Why aren't you sick?" I said between gritted teeth. My eyes were focused on her and her alone. "You said you were sick, Aubrey. You told me you had fucking cancer!"

"I know. I know. I'm so sorry." Aubrey shook her head as the tears pooled over onto her cheeks. She quickly swatted them away and tried to regain her composure. It seemed so strange to be standing here in the kitchen with her. Only two months ago we were having a conversation alone in the kitchen.

I ran a hand through my short, wet hair, "You lied to me?"

"I'm sorry-"

"Stop saying you're sorry!" I yelled, "Just tell me the truth!"

"Wes is an agent for a secret organization. He works for a subdivision of the CIA." Aubrey said.

I blinked and shook my head, "What? Is this another lie too?"

"No." She sighed, "I can't tell you more about his job. It's dangerous for you to know, but there were bad men coming after him. That's why he stayed away from the kids and left us in this safe house." She explained, "He had a chance to finally get them off our backs, but he needed me to serve as a witness. I've seen some of their faces before." Aubrey took another step toward me, "He didn't want me to come, said it was too dangerous, but I knew I had to if I ever wanted our lives to be normal. That's why I had you come down here, Aimee."

"Aubrey-"

"Nobody knows about this house, it isn't filed in any paperwork and Wes' boss told us no one would come looking for us in my hometown. Hiding in plain sight." She shrugged, "I had you come watch the kids because I thought you'd be safe in this house with them. I was afraid the men who were after us might try and hurt you to get me to not witness."

This information had my head spinning. It was too ridiculous to be an outright lie, but how the hell was I supposed to just believe and accept that? Wes was a secret agent on the run? What the ever-loving hell? I shook my head in disbelief, "So…what? Wes Williams is a super secret agent and he hasn't been around because he's trying to protect you from shit you shouldn't have been involved with in the first place?"

"It wasn't his fault that I got involved. The eight months he first came here, when we met, it was a waiting period before he was assigned to his final training division. Wes told me how dangerous things were with him, told me about how a terrorist organization that was coming after him because of his association with his CIA father, but we loved each other. Then I found out I was pregnant right before graduation…"

There were a lot of things I wanted to say. A joke about the secret agent apple not falling far from the secret agent tree, a disbelieving scoff at the irony of my innocent sister being involved with terrorists, or maybe some more yelling about how pissed I was. However, the thought that filled my mind, the words that hung off my tongue, involved the single decisions she made that had changed my entire life.

"Wait", I furrowed my eyebrows, "Did you know all that information when you left me?"

Aubrey nodded, "Of course, that's why I knew I had to go. I couldn't imagine my life without Wes and-"

"But you could imagine it without me?" I replied and it killed me to hear my voice break mid-sentence.

Her eyes widened and she quickly shook her head, "You know that's not what I meant, Aimee. I love you and all I wanted to do was protect you! I didn't want you involved in all of this! I was trying to save you."

"Well you did a bang up job, Aubrey!" I snapped with a cold, forced laugh, "Look at me!" I motioned toward myself with a sneer on my lips, "Look how saved I am!"

"Aimee-"

"No!" I yelled and her mouth snapped shut. "That- That decision you made, the one to leave me behind…the sacrifice you think you made for me…It _killed_ me, Aubrey!" I scoffed and ignored the hurt look that crossed her features. "You think you saved me, but all you did was _ruin_ me." There was a beat of silence and I watched as the hurt on Aubrey's face turn to shame. There was faint barking coming from the garage and it just occurred to me that Bear wasn't here. They must have moved him back there when Wes and Aubrey came and now he could hear me yelling. I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to bite back my anger. I wanted to separate myself from this situation. I didn't want to feel the pain every word brought.

"I just thought-"

I lifted my hand to point at her, "I'm not done." She nodded and I took one last shaky breath, "You remember that fighting ring around here, the one I told you about before Wes showed up? The one that you begged me to never be a part of? The one I avoided to please you?" She didn't answer and I felt the anger rise up again, "Do you remember!?"

Aubrey nodded and meekly replied, "Yes. I remember."

"I threw myself into it head first after you left. I was fighting there as often as they'd let me." I said and Aubrey's face fell. She closed her eyes tightly and covered her mouth with her free hand. "Do you know why, Aubrey?" This time I didn't let her answer, "Because the loneliness and pain was eating me alive, inside out. Sure, at school I had some friends. I had Josh. Eventually, I came around and I realized I had Granny too, but those always felt like quick fixes." I crossed my arms like a shield from her, "It made me feel better in the moment, but then I'd find myself alone again and the pain was back. It was only in that fighting ring that I felt like I was ok. I didn't have to pretend and smile for a crowd. It hurt less to physically bleed than try and deal with the damage you did to me." My arms fell back down and I just shrugged at her, "You broke me, Aubrey. Never mind that I spent my entire life protecting frail, little you-"

Aubrey's eyes snapped back open, "I was trying to fix that. I was trying to make it right." She let out a shaky breath and took a few steps toward me. "I was trying to be the protective big sister that I was supposed to be, Aimee. I always played the victim and you were constantly forced to be my shield. You've always been my hero."

"I not a fucking hero." I spat. "I've never been one."

"You are!" Aubrey insisted with desperation in her voice. She forced a smile and motioned toward me, "You keep telling me to look at how broken you are, but I only see a strong, independent woman. Maybe I did break you, and for that I am so sorry. You'll never understand how sorry I truly am, but look how far you've come! You picked yourself up, you graduated college, you're about to graduate medical school-"

A loud bitter laugh tumbled from my throat interrupting her words. I shrugged again with a scoff, "I'm not in medical school. I never even went to my First White Coat opening ceremony."

"What?" Aubrey breathed with a look of pure confusion on her features.

"You wanna know what I've been doing for the past four years? Because it sure as hell didn't have anything to do with medical training." I said. "I was in New York fighting in a larger, still illegal, fighting ring. This one was run by some scum bag monster I called Boss and I owed him a ridiculous amount of money. I didn't get shot because some random terrorists were trying to get to you or Wes. I got shot because Boss wanted me back up North, kicking ass and earning him money."

Aubrey didn't say anything for a few seconds. She just stared at me in shock. As if I had suddenly sprouted a second head. Finally, she shook her head, "Aimee…you lied to me."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh, "That's rich coming from _you_."

"Aimee!" Aubrey snapped with more fire and steel in her voice than I had ever heard before. "I trusted you with my _children_! How could you do that!? How could you put them in that kind of danger!?"

I narrowed my eyes at her in a glare, "Hold up, you just admitted that Mr. Superspy outside had them in danger the moment they were born!"

"Not _here_!" She yelled. "This house was safe. Nobody was going to ever find them here. We made sure to cover all our tracks. We had the right people making sure we never came up on anyone's radar." She shook her head, "You ruined that! By leading those men here, you ruined the safety of this house!"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh yeah, I guess I just ruin everything. My life, your house-"

"I'm serious, Aimee Jane!" Aubrey yelled again. "What if the kids had been here when that Boss guy showed up? What if he had hurt them?!"

I glared back at her, as my body tensed, "He didn't. I didn't let him! I never even gave him the opportunity!"

"But you did! You gave him that opportunity the moment you promised to stay here and watch them!" Aubrey replied, and there was a truth in her words that I couldn't bring myself to even try and argue against. My mind drifted back to the two men who held everyone in Abramo's hostage. The kids had been there. If I didn't have the mechs around, then the kids could've been hurt or worse. That would've been all my fault. Aubrey's voice filled the quiet kitchen again. She spoke in barely a whisper and there was so much regret hanging off her words that the sentence felt like a punch to the face. "I never should have left you with my kids."

Aubrey had lied. My older sister had lied straight to my face and that was something I didn't even think she was capable of doing. As pissed as I was about that, I couldn't help but compare the two of us. Who had her lie hurt? It hurt me, but I was pretty sure the list ended there. On the other hand, if you looked at who my lies had hurt the list would be infinitely longer. It'd probably just be easier to ask who haven't I hurt.

"Maybe you're right." I replied, but there was no anger or malice in my voice, just resignation, "Maybe you should've never sent me that plane ticket."

* * *

 

Wes was the kind of guy who was pretty good at handling stress. He prided himself on it and for his job it was a bit of a requirement. The organization he worked for didn't need agents in the field who broke at the first sign of things going wrong. However, even though it pained him to admit it to himself, he was pretty close to his breaking point right now. The Six Swords, the terrorist group that had been after his father until the day he died and was now after him, were in the wind. Wes knew they were out there looking and planning, but no one could get a solid lead on them and this bit of information had him constantly in a tense, paranoid position. He tried to hide it, but Aubrey had gotten good at sensing it years ago.

Not to mention he was now dealing with the blowback of his choices. He left after the twins were born because he had no other choice. He wanted his kids to live as normal of a life as possible, but more than that he wanted them and his wife to be safe. He'd give anything for that. Even though he stood behind his decision to leave six years ago, it didn't mean he liked the way his eldest son looked at him. Wes didn't blame Peter for hating him. He just wished he could somehow explain to the ten year old that his life left him with no other choice, that there was never a second of the day where he wasn't thinking about him, his siblings, or his mother.

Add that all together with the fact that Aubrey was now hurting both physically and emotionally, and Wes was an internal train wreck. He blamed himself for Aubrey getting hurt and being put in the hospital, and he also knew that the big fight occurring in the kitchen between the sisters was tied back to him. If Aubrey had never met him, if they had never fallen in love, then the sisters wouldn't be split on opposing sides like this. This emotional argument wasn't a fight that Wes could take care of for her though, as much as he wished he could. All he could do was wait on the front porch with the other soldiers and hope Aimee Jane Bradshaw's words didn't leave wounds too deep to heal.

Another thing that didn't help was the fact that some of the guys sitting on the porch with him were perfectly content with staring him down with an unblinking glare. Some random guys hating him were the least of his worries right now though.

Wes lifted his hand and let a finger brush against his sore nose. Years ago when Wes met Aubrey's little sister he was aware that she was a star athlete at the high school who dabbled in some kickboxing extracurricular, but he honestly didn't expect the short woman to have such a strong and well aimed punch. Aimee had lunged at him with the goal of breaking something and she succeeded with flying colors.

_"Aimee! I trusted you with my children!"_

The words could be faintly heard from inside. Both women weren't exactly trying to be quiet or discreet with their argument. This wasn't the first time he heard his soft-spoken wife get riled up, but it was still something that didn't happen often. In fact, the kids' safety was really one of the only topics that made Aubrey lose her cool.

Wes glanced away from the front door back over the men stuck outside with him. His training made connecting names to faces, and remembering them all, fairly easy, but the problem was that when the tense, awkward introductions had occurred mostly first names were used and running a background check with just the first name wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Even if they had a military file.

The brothers, Steven and Scott, were the furthest from him on the porch and stood tense as they leaned against the railing facing the wall that separated the outside world from the kitchen. Both of them were staring ahead at the wall, paying him no mind. The person he recognized as the commander of this strange unit, Owen he called himself, was not even on the porch. He stood at the base of the porch steps with his arms crossed and his head downward slightly. His bright blue eyes were closed as strands of his light brown, neatly combed back hair hung in his face a bit. Closest to him, leaning against the left spindle at the top of the porch steps was Ryan the medic. Wes assumed he was the medic since he was taking care of Aubrey's little sister. He was one of the two guys currently glaring at him. The other person glaring at him, the last person on the porch, was leaning against the opposite spindle of Ryan. There were sunglasses over his eyes, covering most of the heat of the glare, but this was the glare that felt the most dangerous right now. Sure, the medic was pissed, but this guy wasn't just angry. He looked strategic about the emotion he felt. He looked like someone that could actually cause damage.

This guy, Aimee's boyfriend according to Aubrey, was the only one he had a last name for, and it had been supplied to him from Aubrey who apparently got it from her friend, Rosie. The name Jace Saber had been sent out in a classified text message on a safe, disposable phone to Nick, his superior. He expected back all this guy's information within the next few minutes and hopefully there would be tie ins to the other men who supposedly worked with him.

Wes suddenly realized that things were too quiet. The argument had died down and there was nothing to be heard anymore. He hoped more than anything that it was because the sisters had come to resolution and everything was ok now.

The men around him tensed more than usual and stood straighter. Seconds later the front door swung open and Aimee stood there with a blank look on her face. Jace took a step toward her, but Scott was the first to speak up, "Babe…?"

Aimee ignored them entirely and crossed the porch to the stairs. She forced herself down them with a grimace on her lips and kept going across the lawn. Jace hurried after her and she whipped around in response with a cold glare of her own, "Stay the hell away from me."

"Sweetspark, you can't just run."

Her features softened, "I just…I just need to be _alone_."

Aimee shook her head sadly. Her eyes drifted over them and stopped at him. When Wes and her made eye contact he watched as her eyes hardened slightly and the resolve grew in her decision. She turned on her heel and continued across the lawn and down the street.

"You stay." Ryan barked at Jace then nodded toward Owen, "You need to follow her. She'll let you, but don't let her hurt herself."

It seemed odd to see a medic telling the commander what to do, but no one argued and Owen followed after her slowly, trying to keep his distance. Wes didn't bother with them anymore. He turned on his heel and jogged inside the house to see Aubrey using her good arm to lean against the island counter.

"Aubrey?" Wes came closer and set a hand on her lower back, "Hey, talk to me, baby. Are you ok? What happened?" She shook her head and turned to fold herself in his arms. Wes didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips to the side of her head. "Shh. It's alright. You're ok."

She pulled back a bit with a frown, "No, it's not. I burned the bridge between me and her. I didn't mean to, but she…she made me so mad. She put our kids in danger, Wes. I couldn't- I couldn't-"

"Why the pit did you say that to her!?" Wes turned to see the guys had come in after him, but the brothers were the ones who immediately rushed toward them. Steven, the one with tattoos all down his right arm rather than his left, was the one yelling at his wife. He stormed closer with a feral look in his eyes and growled out, "I asked you a question!"

Wes shoved himself in front of Aubrey and glared at the guy who was taller than him by a good amount, "Back the hell away from her."

"This is _her_ fault." Steven snapped at him. "She hurt Aj, _again_!" He let his gaze drift over Wes' shoulder to Aubrey, "You don't deserve a sister! _You don't deserve her_!"

A muffled sob slipped from Aubrey's lips and it took every ounce of self control to not start a physical fight. Scott heave a heavy sigh and pulled his brother back by the crook of his elbow, "Sunny, stop." Wes didn't have time to question the different name. Scott came closer and Wes tensed up in reaction. The man held his hands up in mock surrender before turning to look at Aubrey, "You need to go talk to her."

"She doesn't want to talk to me. I know my sister. The last time we fought like this we didn't talk for ten years."

Scott shook his head, "Then you don't know her at all."

"She's my sister! I've known her all my-"

" _I don't care_." Scott shrugged and kept the cool look on his face, "Sunny's right when he said you don't deserve her. Don't you get it? Aj would do _anything_ for you. No matter what you say, no matter what you do, at the end of the day she'd do anything you ask of her." He scoffed, "That's the kind of person she is. _Loyal_. _Loving_. She hides it all down deep under layers of sarcasm and bitterness and walls of defense, but once you get past that she'll never turn her back on you." Scott came a step closer and Wes didn't drop his glare, "You are the person she loves most in this universe. The only people who could even compete for that title are your kids."

Jace, who was leaning against the fridge, nodded, "They were never in any danger with Aj 'round. She'd die to protect them without even a second thought."

Wes glanced over his shoulder to see the broken realization on his wife's soft features. The regret that rang clear in her eyes. Scott spoke again, "You broke her once and it took her ten years to get back on track." Coldness seeped into Scott's voice as he continued, "Don't you dare fragging break her again."

"That sounds like a threat." Wes spat. Regardless, he'd always be on Aubrey's side and he didn't appreciate this guy indirectly threatening her. Even if it was to protect someone he cared for.

Aubrey set a hand on his shoulder and he turned back to face her. She shook her head, "He's right. I've been taking advantage of her since we were kids. She was always just so strong and stable."

"Hey", Wes said, "You left to protect her. You were looking out for your little sister, Aubrey."

Aubrey gave him a sad smile, "Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself." She leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before walking past him and the other guys. The brothers watched her go with a glare and Wes stared at them just in case they even thought about making a move against her.

His phone buzzing in his pocket distracted him. As soon as Aubrey was out of sight, he pulled the phone out and flipped it open to read the new text from Nick.

_'Jace Saber doesn't exist. No files anywhere. Not in the military.'_

A cold sense of dread filled his body as he shut the phone and slowly glanced up to look at Jace who was already staring at him. Wes jaw clenched tightly as he carefully stuck the phone back into his jean pocket. The corner of Jace's lip twitched up in his direction, but it wasn't a friendly gesture of good will. To Wes it looked more like the smirk of a predator.

* * *

 

The cozy neighborhood that Aubrey's house was situated in was a upper-middle class subdivision. It was the sunny kind of area where people had white picket fences, multiple cars, and a mat out front that read 'Welcome'. It was also the kind of neighborhood that was large enough to have a small strip of small shops right outside of it alongside an outdoor picnic area.

The strip consisted of a family owned cupcake shop, a pet groomer, and a pizzeria that was pick up and delivery only. I never really spent much time here, but occasionally a mech would walk the kids down here for cupcakes or to pick up pizza for dinner. Typically, it was Bumblebee or Bluestreak with the twins.

A part of me wondered why I hadn't come down here more often. It was only about a three-minute walk from the house and it was kind of peaceful. Hell, everything about this neighborhood had been peaceful up until I moved in. Now it held the contents of a crime scene behind it's pretty picket fence. It was just more proof that I didn't belong in this kind of life. No matter how much I wanted it, or to be with the kids, this kind of setting just wasn't designed for people like me.

"You know, you're about as subtle as a gun, OP." I said aloud from the tabletop I was sitting on.

"My intention was not to be discreet, and I believe that saying is in poor taste at the moment." Optimus replied from a few feet behind me. I was fully aware that Ratchet had sent the Autobot leader after me and I had to commend the medic on his clever tactics. I could argue and yell at a good number of mechs to leave me alone, but I don't think I'd ever be able to tell Optimus Prime to ' _fuck off_ ' for lack of a better term. "Are you-"

"Don't ask me if I'm ok." I blurted, though I wasn't sure if I said the words because I was tired of being asked that question or if I honestly just didn't know the answer. It was a toss up at this point.

I bounced my feet up and down against the wooden bench to try and gather heat. Luckily for me, today was one of the warmer days so being out in shorts and a t-shirt wasn't going to kill me. However, sitting in the shaded area I was in made my skin break out in goose bumps and the flip-flops I had thrown on in my hurry to get out of the house didn't help matters.

"I apologize." Optimus replied sincerely. He didn't say anything further for a minute and I just sat in the comfortable silence trying to wrap my mind around everything. The sound of footsteps made me sigh and a moment later Optimus' holoform was sitting beside me on the tabletop. I couldn't bring myself to complain though. He gave off a bit of heat, even though he was in holoform, and the truth was: I really didn't want to be alone. "I want to help you, Aj. In anyway I can, whether that means sitting in silence or being a listening audio receptor." I let out a soft chuckle at the odd cybertronian translation. "I just need you to let me know."

I pressed my lips together in thought and folded my arms across my chest. My abdomen was burning from the hurried trip here, but physical pain was easy to deal with. It was the ache in my heart that I was confused about.

"Ten years ago, Aubrey and I argued about her having to leave." I said softly, "She said she was pregnant, that she loved Wes, and that there was nothing else to discuss. We yelled, I ran, and then she was just gone… That argument was nothing compared to the one we just had though. I don't think Aubrey's ever snapped at me like that."

Optimus nodded, "It did seem rather heated."

I scoffed, "Yeah. That's one word for it." My eyes drifted over the area around us, and landed on the mass of trees across the empty road. "If I was the person I was back then…If I was the person I was three months ago, I would be halfway to the airport right now. I wouldn't say bye, I wouldn't wait to see how anything played out… I would just run."

"Why?"

"Because running is easier." I answered with furrowed eyebrows, "It's not messy or painful, it's just- it's simple."

Optimus let out a soft hum, "I suppose. Though from my experience, running makes a bigger mess in the future." He glanced over at me, but I kept my gaze straight ahead. "No mech, femme, or human can outrun their problems forever."

"You can say that again." I sighed and forced my gaze toward him. There was concern in his blue eyes and something else that didn't seem to fit in. Optimus looked almost proud. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

He chuckled, "Because it does my spark good to see you come this far. Because I am proud to call a human like you my friend, Aj."

"I wouldn't say that just yet." I joked, "There are a lot of humans out there. A lot of them a lot better than little, old me."

Optimus shook his head, "If I were a betting mech, I would say otherwise."

"You old, soft spark." I bumped my shoulder into his before settling back into my place on the table. It felt so odd to be so calm. After what just happened with Aubrey, after seeing Wes of all people, I expected to still be livid. Anger was not an emotion I let go of easily. Once I snapped, my temper could burn for hours if not interrupted by something else.

I couldn't complain about that either though. That anger I had felt back at the house was wrong. It left a terrible, bitter taste in my mouth. It was something I didn't want to experience again. At that thought though, I wondered why I wasn't angry. If I had run into Wes six months ago I wouldn't have stopped at just breaking his nose, and no human or alien being would've been able to stop me with or without an injury. Right now though, all I felt was disappointment and sorrow. I felt downright sad.

"Your sister is approaching." Optimus said suddenly as he glanced over his shoulder, "What do you want to do?"

"Right now I kinda just want to throw up." I mumbled under my breath.

A few seconds passed before I heard Aubrey's voice behind me. She sounded a bit out of breath, "Can I have a moment with my sister?"

Optimus looked to me and I sighed before giving him a slight nod. He set his hand on my shoulder and gave me an encouraging squeeze before rising and walking away from the table. It only took a second before Aubrey was sitting where he once was. She didn't say anything and it pained me to wonder what she came out here to say. Did she really want me gone? If so, would she give me the chance to say good-bye to the kids or would she just send me packing?

"If you want me gone, just say it." I said firmly and tried to put as much steel in my voice as I could. "I understand why and I don't blame you. I'll go without a fight."

Aubrey shook her head, "I don't want you to go anywhere, Aimee." I glanced over at her to see her eyes had filled with tears yet again. My older sister was never the type to try and hide her emotions. She wore it all out on her sleeve without a care in the world. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for yelling at you, I'm sorry for blaming you, and-"

"Aubrey, stop-"

"No." She shook her head and set her right hand on top of my knee, "You need to let me finish." She took in a shaky breath, "I'm sorry for taking advantage of you my entire life."

I scoffed, "You never took advantage of me-"

"I did." Aubrey argued, "I was a terrible sister and I was selfish ten years ago. I tell myself that I left to keep you safe, and I promise that a part of it was for that reason, but… The other part was me just wanting to be with Wes, and I didn't stop to think what that meant for you." She squeezed my knee, "What kind of horrible human chooses a guy over their sister?"

"Probably the worst." I joked dryly and Aubrey cracked a smile. I continued, "I liked being there for you though, Aubrey. You weren't taking advantage of me, because I wanted to do those things for you or be the person you look to for support."

Aubrey pressed her lips together briefly, "You always were better at being the older sister."

"What can I say? It's just my calling, I guess."

"I don't deserve a sister like you, Aimee. I honestly don't." Aubrey spoke softly. "And I know that there is still bad blood between us. I'm not dumb. You still don't like Wes-" I let out a small scoff that she ignored, "We still lied to each other, but I want…I want you to stay. I want to fix us. I know when I left you said that we could never be what we used to be, and maybe…maybe that's ok." She gave me firm smile and moved her hand to brush the damp hair out of my face and behind my ear, "Because I want to be a better sister to you. I want a better, healthier relationship than what we used to have."

I opened my mouth only for it to snap shut again just a s quickly. A beat of silence passed before I tried again, "I think I want that too and…" I swallowed the lump in my throat and glanced back at Optimus who still had that proud look on his face. Quickly, I forced my eyes back to Aubrey, "-and I think it can work. I'm sorry I said that right before you left. That woman you greeted at the door months ago…she's not me, not anymore. I mean, sure, I kept the witty charm everyone loves." Aubrey let out a small laugh as a smile grew on my features, "But I'm not broken. I'm healing."

Aubrey grinned and leaned forward quickly to wrap me in a tight hug. We only held onto each other for a few seconds before both of us were groaning in pain. She rubbed her shoulder, "I meant to take medicine when I got home. How's your stomach feeling?"

"Kind of like I got shot last week." I grimaced, "The whole dramatic exit thing didn't help it." My eyes darted to her bruises and the sling her arm sat in, "What the hell happened anyway? How did you get hurt?"

She chuckled, "You're never going to believe this, but…I got shot."

"You fucking what?" I blurted in disbelief.

Aubrey's eyes widened, "I hope you didn't use that language around Pete and the twins."

"No changing the subject! What do you mean you got shot, Aubs?"

"We were on the run and things went a bit south…"

"Yeah, they went south. You got shot! That's about as south as it gets." I let out a breath of air, "You're ok though, right?"

Aubrey nodded, "I'm fine, little sister. The doctor said I just need to be in the sling for a month or so. Don't worry."

"Don't worry." I mocked the words and carefully got up off the table. As hard as I tried to not move my torso, it couldn't be helped.

Aubrey quickly got up herself and used her good arm to support me, "I'm more worried about you honestly. Josh said you were in a coma!" She shook her head, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to see you in the hospital."

I waved off her concern with my hand and watched as Optimus came over. Aubrey glanced at him, "You didn't have to wait for us."

"Ryan, our team's medic, would never let me hear the end of it if I left two injured women out here alone." Optimus replied with a charming smile as he offered me a hand to try and help me walk. I waved him away as well. The pain really wasn't that bad. It was mostly just soreness at this point.

"Well I appreciate it none the less." She replied and hooked her right arm through my left despite the protests that I didn't need help. Optimus chuckled and walked a few steps ahead as we slowly made our way back home. "So, tell me some more about this Jace guy."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh God, seriously?"

"I want to know how my little sister fell in love!" Aubrey cooed and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes again. "Rosie didn't really tell me much, and the conversation I had with him yesterday was a bit too tense-"

I planted my feet making Aubrey come to a jarring stop. Optimus paused in his own steps and turned to look at me questioningly, "What do you mean yesterday?"

"Wes and I got in yesterday." Aubrey replied simply, "I came to the hospital first and I ran into Jace and Rosie in the lobby. That's when I told him about, you know, everything."

I blinked in surprise, "He knew about all this shit before I did?"

Aubrey nodded, "Yeah, he saw I wasn't sick and questioned me. I had to tell him. Then he told me that I couldn't see you until you healed some more. They wanted me to wait for a few more days, but I just couldn't, Aimee. That's what we were arguing about downstairs while you were taking a shower."

It took a few seconds for the words to bounce around in my skull and finally make sense. Once it all clicked for me though, my eyes shot to Optimus who at least had the decency to look a bit guilty, "You knew?"

"We did, yes." Optimus admitted with a sigh, "We held a vote and a majority of us believed that it would be best to keep this from you until you were healthier and more prepared to handle it."

I pulled my arm free of Aubrey's so I could cross it with my other, "Majority?"

Optimus nodded, "Scott and Steven were the only ones who kept it from being unanimous."

"Well", I snapped in distaste, "You probably don't hear this often, OP, but the twins were right." Optimus lifted his eyebrows slightly to show surprise at my words and I quickly shook my head and took a step back so I was facing both Optimus and my sister, "You know what? Let's clear the air right now. Both of you." I pointed at Optimus, "And OP, I want you to remember this message word for word because it's gonna get delivered to 'bots and 'cons alike." I glanced at both of them again, "All this lying to protect me bullshit? I aint a fan. So if you respect me at all, then this isn't going to happen again. Ok?"

Optimus nodded, "Agreed."

"I get it, Aimee. Sorry." Aubrey added with a small smile. She let out a laugh and shook her head, "But did I hear you right? Did you just say bots and cons, as in autobots and decepticons?" My face paled at the realization that I had let those words slip. I never had to try and watch what I said so carefully before. Optimus looked just as tense, but both of us were surprised when she let out another cheerful laugh, "I knew this was going to happen." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "You've been hanging around the kids way too much. You've even picked up their transformer lingo."

"Yeah." I replied slowly, stretching out the word longer than it should've been stretched out. I glanced over at Optimus and the two of us shared an awkward, tense look. "About that."


	31. Skeptical

* * *

_"I'm beginning to be skeptical of my own skepticism." – Lillian Jackson Braun_

* * *

 

All this walking and moving and punching stupid people in the face, stupid people being the ass that is Wes, had really tired me out. As much as I hated to admit it, and I really hated to admit it, Ratchet was 100% right when he said I needed bed rest. In fact, there was little I wouldn't do at this point for bed rest. Well, there was one thing I could think of that I really, really didn't want to do.

"So how come you won't just tell me what's going on?" Aubrey questioned.

"Just be, uh be patient." I cleared my throat and picked up my pace. Aubrey, of course, had no problem keeping up with my tired, crippled pace. Her injured arm wasn't slowing her down in the slightest. In fact, her burning curiosity was pushing her to go a hell of a lot faster.

The entire walk home she pressed for more information and I consistently told her to wait. I figured maybe the walk home would give me an idea on how to tell her that her children's toys came to life, but for some reason nothing was coming to me. Crazy.

Optimus surely was no help. The tall fake human was walking ahead of us with his head down to appear as discreet as possible. Luckily, it was working for him. Aubrey paid him no mind whatsoever as I glared at the back of his head. How dare he leave me to deal with my own problems? I'm sure that was just the pain and dread of what was coming talking though.

"What is that thing by the way? I meant, to ask earlier, but with everything else happening…" Aubrey's voice trailed off, but when I glanced over my shoulder I could see her staring at the big white chemical shed that had been sitting in front of the neighbor's house for way too long.

I nodded, "Oh, that." That was an easy question for me to handle, "It's some stupid chemical shed. They were gonna do something with the empty house next door, but it never happened and then nobody ever came back for the damn shed." I shrugged, "Josh tried to take care of it, but got stonewalled by the city or some…shit like that."

"Oh. That seems…dangerous." Aubrey commented. She knocked on the metal wall as we got beside it, "Chemicals, right?"

"Yeah, but the kids know not to go anywhere near it." I waved it off and glanced at the driveway that now had the truck parked there, "I told 'em not to, and then Prowl really laid down the law. The kids would never break one of his rules."

Aubrey forced out a confused chuckle, "Prowl? Did the kids give someone that nickname or…?"

"Uh", I replied dumbly and Optimus looked over his shoulder at me with an amused smirk. I scrunched my nose up at him and nodded toward the truck, "Look, the truck is back."

"Right, I saw it out earlier today." Aubrey spoke up, but I could see the annoyed look in her eyes at me brushing off her question again. "Who was following us?"

Now it was my turn to play the confused one. I paused briefly to look back at her, "Following you? What?"

Aubrey nodded, "Yeah, someone was following us in the truck today. Wes noticed them."

I turned my gaze back toward the mech in front of me as we walked up the driveway to the house, "Huh. Got any answers for us, chief?"

Optimus glanced back with a shrug, "I do not believe so, no."

"Are you sure about that?" I replied as we came to a stop in front of the porch steps, "Maybe it had something to do with y'all keeping secrets?"

He paused and let out a cough and brief nod, "Right, of course, I do believe Benjamin and Blake were sent to follow your sister."

"Who the fuck are Benjamin and Blake?" I mumbled under my breath in thought. I hardly remembered any of their fake names. Honestly, the only two I really remembered well was Jazz being Jace and Wheeljack being Jack.

Optimus continued, "Once they lost sight of your sister, they traveled back to the school to make sure the children were alright."

Aubrey placed a hand on her hip as her eyes narrowed, "Did you expect me to hurt my own children?"

"We simply did not want you taking them elsewhere." Optimus replied bluntly before walking up the steps. I ignored the glare that Aubrey leveled at him and continued my own line of thought. The mechs had rushed to the school in concern for the kids, which could've been any mech in the house, but both names started with the letter 'B'…?

"Oh!" I cried with a grin as things clicked in my head, "I got it."

The two mechs who were following Aubrey and Wes had been Bumblebee and Bluestreak. Although, now I had to remember which fake name stood for each mech. Optimus chuckled and pushed the front door open as Aubrey shook her head at me.

I could tell she was still on edge, and it wasn't like I could blame her. Sure, we made up and what not, but now she had to deal with me being vague about what was going on at the house. A part of me was relieved that things couldn't get much worse than they were right at this moment, but as the thought crossed my mind I realized that I probably shouldn't jinx myself like that. Lord knows, I was a walking disaster these days.

Aubrey let out a soft hum as Optimus shut the door behind her, "I guess I'm touched you guys care so much…although, I can't help but wonder why." The last part was mostly mumbled to herself, but I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows in amusement. If only she knew. Shit, I guess she would soon enough. "You know, you've never told me the whole story of how you met these guys, Aimee."

"Oh, I uh, didn't? Huh." I replied and turned quickly to veer off into the kitchen. I came to a quick stop as my eyes landed on Ratchet who was standing at the kitchen counter using a spoon to stir something around in a glass mug. Even more surprising than Ratchet was Prowl's holoform who was leaning against the island kitchen slightly glaring at the medic.

"Hey, P-uhhhh…" I began only to freeze as I suddenly blanked on what we had decided for Prowl's fake human name. Did we even give him one? I shook my head, " _You_. How are you here?"

Prowl tore his gaze away from Ratchet to look at me. He walked over and offered me his arm. Curiously, I took it and he led me over to the dining room table to sit down, "Rosie dropped me off. You just missed her."

"She left?"

Ratchet came over, "As soon as she realized your sister was here."

I stuck my bottom lip out in an over exaggerated pout, "How rude."

"Hey honey?" Wes' voice filled the house and my pout turned into disgust. He came around the corner to stand in the entryway closest to the garage. Just looking at him pissed me off. It was like the ' _Kill Bill'_ siren was going off in my head right now. He narrowed his eyes at Ratchet, Prowl, and I before looking over at Aubrey with a softer look, "Did you replace the sliding glass door in the back?"

"Replace the- What do you mean?" Aubrey's eyes widened as she rushed over to him and the two of them left the kitchen.

I glanced over at Optimus with a roll of my eyes, "As if he's been around enough to even know what the sliding glass door looks like."

"We did replace it though." Prowl voiced.

" _Irrelevant_." I mumbled back.

Ratchet scoffed and handed the mug to me, "Drink this."

I took the mug, only because he gave me no other choice, and skeptically glanced inside at the dark brown liquid, "Is this…is this hot chocolate?"

"Something warm will make you feel better, and I know you have a distaste for coffee." Ratchet replied.

"Aw, how sweet. Who knew the Hatchet had a soft side?" I joked.

He rolled his own eyes as Aubrey's loud gasp from down the hall could be heard. I heaved a sigh and took a careful sip of my drink. Ratchet had somehow made the temperature perfect though so rather than burning myself with a small sip, I was able to gulp down a good portion of it.

"Aimee!" Aubrey came around the corner, "What happened? The sliding back door is new, and my coffee table is missing, and was that a hole in the wall?"

"One of many." I said quietly before bringing the mug up again to sip again.

"What was that?"

Wes came around the corner as well and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He looked over to me, "What are your friends doing in the garage? They hid away in there with no explanation."

"They did?"

Wes nodded, "As soon as the two guys following us came back."

"Your questions are understandable, and we promise they will be answered." Optimus said calmly. Even his calm, commanding voice though was unable to settle the awkward tension that filled the room.

Aubrey put her good hand on her hip, "You never mentioned there ever being any house damage."

"It never came up."

"Is there any other damage?"

"Other than emotional?" I said cheekily. She shot me an annoyed look and I sighed. I could spend the next ten minutes talking about the damage done in the house, but that wouldn't exactly help my case. I shrugged sheepishly, "I wouldn't open the microwave door."

"Start explaining." Aubrey said firmly in what could only be called a 'mom voice'. I nodded with a sigh then lifted the mug again. After taking a deep breath, I began to chug the hot chocolate.

Ratchet spluttered in disbelief, "What are you-?" I finished off the last of my drink and set the mug down. He growled, "You were supposed to drink it _slowly_ and relax."

"I can't talk and drink at the same time." I shrugged and smacked my lips, "Did you use that mix in the cabinet? It was kind of old and has a weird aftertaste now that I think about it."

Aubrey sighed, "Aimee, you're stalling."

"It's a special skill of mine. You should know that by now." She gave me a hardened look that I chose to ignore. Another sigh escaped my lips as I forced myself to stand up. "Ok, ok." The three mechs took a step toward me as soon as I was upright, but I brushed them away. Yes, I was still injured, but I wasn't about to drop dead. "This is gonna be a roller-coaster story from beginning to end, but I just- I-I-I need you guys to keep an open mind."

Aubrey nodded as her face softened, "Of course. Go ahead, Aimee."

"Right. So it all started almost a week after you left… _ish_. It was around that time frame at least." My voice began to lower as I tried to find my words. For some reason, it was getting hard to find my thoughts or even speak. I chalked it up to nerves. "Anyways, we woke up one morning, the kids and I, and there was this _fighnining bound_ …"

Aubrey scrunched up her features, "Did you just say… _fighnining bound_?"

"Aimee, are you feeling alright?" Wes questioned in concern.

I tried to scoff at him, but the sound was muffled at best, " _Funk you_."

Even Aubrey looked concerned now, "Aimee?"

I tried to focus on them but my vision was beginning to turn fuzzy and blur at the edges. The floor and walls were also starting to spin making me feel off balanced and dizzy.

"How much did you put in there?" Prowl's voice sounded too far away. Like he was shouting from the end of a tunnel.

"It was little over the average, but it would've been fine if she didn't drink it all so fragging quickly." Ratchet scoffed.

"We're losing her." Optimus said firmly and the sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the air.

Aubrey's voice was loud and panicked, "Aimee?!"

The spinning floor and walls disappeared along with everything else around me.

* * *

 

A startled cry left Aubrey's lips as she watched her younger sister collapse right in front of her. Wes took a step forward, but he was too late. The man in charge, Owen, was there before Aimee's eyes even fully fluttered shut. He kept her upright and carefully scooped her up, cautious of her injury.

"What the hell is this?" Wes demanded as he lightly pulled Aubrey behind him, "You drugged her?"

Aubrey shook her head in anger, "How could you do that to her?!"

"It was for her own good." Ryan, the medic, replied, "She refuses to take medicine that will help her."

"So you trick and drug her?" Aubrey demanded with coldness in her voice. "Aimee hates hard medication. She always has. It makes her feel unpleasant. I thought you cared about her!"

Ryan glared at her, "I'd much rather make her feel unpleasant now than be in permanent pain down the line from a lack of rest and healing due to her stubbornness and desire to be reckless."

Aubrey was angry. She didn't like seeing her sister's limp body in some strangers arm, but there were no words she could find to argue against the man. He knew Aimee needed to be resting now and not playing twenty questions with her and Wes, but she couldn't find it in her to be content with the way things played out.

"Is she going to be ok?" Aubrey asked.

"She'll be fine." Aubrey glanced over her shoulder to see the men that had been hiding in the garage slowly start coming out. She assumed they all came out, at least. Her shoulders tensed up and Wes brought her as close to him as possible. It was one of the brothers that was speaking, but Aubrey couldn't remember their names. The darker haired one spoke up again as the more serious brother quickly crossed the room to Aimee, "This isn't Hatchet's first time drugging someone. Right?"

"The less you talk the better this will go over." Ryan replied bluntly, but Aubrey didn't let his words fall away without thought. Had he called the medic Hatchet? That was a term that was familiar to her, but it usually came from one of her children's mouths. "Take her upstairs."

Owen carefully transferred Aimee over to the serious brother's arms. Jace walked over with a skeptical look, "You got 'er?"

The man glared at Jace before turning away and cautiously walking out with Aimee in his arms. Aubrey wanted to follow and keep her sister in her eyesight, but Wes had a grip on one of her wrists. She knew he didn't want her alone in this house filled with the unusual strangers.

"I'm gonna go with, Sunny. Can't talk from upstairs, right?" The other brother grinned and followed the same exit.

"Do you need me here?" Ryan looked to Owen.

He shook his head in response, "Perhaps it's best if…only the two commanders remained."

At his words, the room began to clear out as the men who left either skeptically looked at him or at Aubrey and Wes who looked just as skeptical and worried. Jace hesitated; keeping his eyes locked with Owen, and after a moment the leader nodded his head once. The two of them stepped off to the side. The only other man to stay had intimidating eyes and an air of confidence surrounding him. Match that with his dark clothing and straight drawn mouth made him seem almost dangerous.

Aubrey pulled her hand away from Wes' grip and lightly began to rub his back. She spoke softly, "We're ok, Wes."

"She's right. We are not a danger to either of you." Owen reassured in a firm voice.

"Who the hell are you people?" Wes demanded. "I've used all my sources since we got here and according to them, none of you exist."

Owen nodded, "There really is no easy way to say this-"

"Then don't." The intimidating man interrupted. Aubrey scrunched up her eyebrows at him in confusion, but it was short lived as she watched the man disappear right before her eyes.

"That glitchin'-" Jace muttered in anger, but Aubrey couldn't focus on his words. Her hand clutched at the back of Wes' shirt as he took a surprised step back. There wasn't much that took Wes by surprise, as far as Aubrey knew, but what had just happened couldn't be possible. People didn't just disappear.

Owen's voice was tense, "This isn't how I planned for this to be explained."

"Humans need more than words. If this one is anything like her sister, than anything short of hard evidence would be a waste of time."

It was the man's voice but it sounded like it was coming from down the stairs followed by the sound of heavy footsteps and the creaking of the wooden steps. Seconds later, a tall, all too familiar, robot turned the corner.

" _Oh my God_." Aubrey breathed in disbelief.

"The hell is this?" Wes asked defensively, "A trick? Some…impossible joke? What is happening?"

Owen, if that was who he really was, cleared his throat, "It is no joke."

"But he's…" Aubrey began but the words fell flat. He- It was a transformer. Not just any transformer either. It was Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, the seemingly harbinger of doom, the robot that her kids used to carry around the house pretending to destroy stuff. Yet, here it was standing in her kitchen staring at her and her husband with a look that could almost be described as bored. "This is im-"

Jace shook his head, "Not as impossible as you may think." His voice held a solemn tone, "He ain't the only…transformer 'round 'ere either."

"No." Aubrey began to quickly shake her head. She turned to glance at Wes who had his face scrunched up in confusion and disbelief.

Jace sighed and turned his own gaze to Owen. Owen nodded, "You may be more familiar with our true designations… I am Optimus Prime and this is my third in command, Jazz."

There was a beat of silence where Aubrey just stared at the two of them in disbelief. After the longest, most awkward second in the world passed, Wes began to chuckle to himself. Aubrey wrapped her hand around his forearm in worry as he continued to laugh to himself. She squeezed his arm, "Wes, sweetie? Are you ok?"

"This is your sister. This has to be. It's some sort of…prank, or joke!" Wes laughed out.

Aubrey stepped around him to lightly press her hand against his cheek, "Sweetie, Aimee isn't the pranking type. She's a lot more straightforward about her...distaste. For example, remember when she punched you in the face?"

"Well, yeah." Wes lifted his own hand to brush against his bruised nose.

She nodded, "That's more her style."

"I get that, but this doesn't happen, Aubrey." Wes shook his head as he shifted his hand to rest on top of her own. His eyes darted back over to the others in the kitchen, "Transformers don't come to life. They don't exist, Aubrey. They aren't real."

The tall robot standing the across the room scoffed, "We give the organic undeniable evidence and he still questions it."

"We're asking him to question everything he has believed prior." Optimus argued, "This conversation will take more than a few klicks to be successful."

"Aubrey this isn't-" Wes began again, but interrupted himself with a strangled scoff.

Jace stepped forward and motioned to the table, "Give us a chance to explain everythin'. That's all we're askin' for."

Aubrey and Wes shared a skeptical look before she gave him a slight bob of her head. This was crazy. It was an impossibility that made no sense whatsoever, but Aimee was fully aware of the situation at hand. She trusted these guys or robots or whatever they were. Aubrey was fully aware of how hard it was to earn and maintain her sister's trusts and these…beings were able to do it somehow. If Aimee trusted them then she could at least hear them out.

* * *

 

"How long do you think she's going to be in stasis? Ratchet put a lot of medication in her drink and Prowl said she drank it all so fast." Bluestreak rambled, but the longer he spoke the more Sideswipe let his voice sink into the background, "Do you think she'll be out long enough to avoid talking to her sister about us? Optimus and Jazz and Megatron are telling them the full story right now, but I don't think Megatron is helping out all that much though he has been weirdly nice lately. I mean, not nice-nice, but-"

"Primus, Blue, just stop." Sunstreaker groaned in annoyance. Sideswipe grinned over at his twin in amusement. It was actually a rather nice way of asking the talkative mech to stop. Typically, Sunstreaker was harsher with his words, but Sideswipe could feel his twin's main attention focused on something else entirely. His optics darted back down to the human who was resting right beside him. Aj looked at ease as she lightly snored and the sound made his holoform grin.

The makeshift medbay had started off rather filled with mechs who were either avoiding the downstairs drama or checking on the drugged up human lying beside him. Luckily, Ratchet was skilled in clearing a room. He had managed to kick everyone out rather quickly. Everyone except, Bluestreak, Wheeljack, him, and his brother, of course.

Ratchet and Wheeljack were speaking to themselves over in the corner looking at something while Bluestreak's holoform sat in the desk chair. Sunstreaker was sitting on the edge of the bed, by Aj's pedes, while Sideswipe was lounging on her left side closest to the wall.

"Sorry, I'm just worried." Bluestreak sighed, "I want her to be ok, and I want the younglings to be ok, and I want the two new humans to be ok too. This has to be hard for them to hear about."

"Everything is gonna be fine, Blue." Sideswipe replied nonchalantly. Sunstreaker pointed something out across their bond, and Sideswipe glanced back down at Aj in response. She had shifted and some of her hair had fallen onto her face. Sideswipe smirked and carefully brushed it away.

Ratchet scoffed, "Will you leave her be? She needs rest, I said."

"Oh come on, Hatchet. You put so much of that stuff Rosie brought over-"

"I used an acceptable amount."

Sideswipe held his servos out in mock surrender before leaning back so he was lying flat beside Aj. Ratchet mumbled an insulting statement under his breath, but Sideswipe closed his optics and ignored the grumpy medic. He was content, but the sudden sound of yapping made him groan.

"I thought we left the annoying hound in the garage with Starscream and Soundwave." Sideswipe sighed.

"No, the annoying hound is lying in berth next to the human who needs rest." Ratchet snapped as Starscream's holoform stepped into the room with the organic hound in his arms and a disgruntled look drawn on his human features. Bear began to bark so the seeker set him down. He immediately rushed across the room and jumped onto the bed to curl nest to Aj's side. Sideswipe shifted closer to Aj and the hound began to growl in irritation.

Sunstreaker chuckled and Sideswipe sent him a glare, ' _The frag is wrong with this thing? Why doesn't he like me?'_

_'I don't know. Good taste?'_

Sideswipe smirked, _'Well we both know that can't be true. He likes you after all.'_

Sunstreaker smacked him across the bond and Sideswipe knew that if he hadn't been so close to Aj, his twin would've made that smack more physical than mental.

* * *

 

About an hour had passed since Rosie first stopped by the Williams' household. The older woman assumed this meant that it was safe to go back and she wouldn't have to worry about dealing with the inevitable mess. It wasn't that Rosie wanted to be unhelpful, but she was well aware of how the sisters could go at it with each other and figured it'd be best if she gave them enough time. On the other hand, curiosity was in her nature and the 'not knowing' was eating away at her very soul.

She parked on the side of the road, right behind the vehicle that Aubrey and her husband had rented, and made her way to the front door. There was no screaming or anything of that nature so that was a very good sign. Rosie wasted no time in knocking and instead breezed into the house like she usually did.

"What exactly do you mean by dinobot?" Wes asked in a stressed voice. Rosie stepped into the kitchen to see Optimus, Jazz, Megatron, and Ratchet standing on the side closer to the fridge all in their large bipedal modes. Wes and Aubrey were sitting at the table across from them. They weren't running out of the house scared out of their minds so Rosie assumed this meant they were beginning to believe the story. How anyone couldn't with the mechs standing right in front of them was beyond her.

"Grimlock, right?" Aubrey spoke hesitantly. Both her and Wes looked extremely skeptical, but their expressions leaned more towards trying to accept the situation rather than denying it.

Optimus nodded, "Yes. He was the only dinobot to travel to this universe alongside us. He is currently out on Joshua Thompson's land."

"We need to bring 'im back soon though." Jazz had a casual smile on his face, but Rosie was able to notice that it wasn't the same laidback smile he had around the kids, her, or Aimee Jane. He was tense and he wasn't even trying to hide it. Jazz glanced over at her, "'Ey there, Rosie. How are you?"

"I have no complaints." Rosie waved her hand at him, "Aubrey, Wes? Everythin' ok?"

Wes stared at her with wide eyes, "Well…"

"No." Aubrey shook her head, "Not really." Rosie gave her a curious look and Aubrey let out a frustrated scoff, "Aimee and the kids have been living in the house with transformers, Rosie. Transformers! I can't believe you knew about this and didn't say anything."

Rosie gave her a soft smile, "Would you have believed me even if I did?"

"No, but-" Aubrey paused, "This is so dangerous." She snapped her head to Wes, "What if one of the kids had gotten hurt? Either during one of their upgrades or in one of their fights or-"

"I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the idea of the kids being in all of this." Wes agreed with a nod, "I mean, even the blue eyed good guys could slip up and hurt them, but you got the-the- Decepticons running around here too?"

Megatron was leaning against the wall, he was the closest to her since she still stood in the archway, "My mechs have no reason to harm your younglings."

Rosie narrowed her eyes at the mechs, "Didn't you tell them about the bonds?"

"We were just getting to that. It's all we have left to explain." Optimus nodded and glanced at Ratchet, "That's why we called Ratchet down."

"Shouldn't Aimee Jane be here for this?" Rosie questioned, "She's ok isn't she?"

Ratchet waved off her concern, "She's fine. She's resting."

"Only because you drugged her." Aubrey added in an accusing tone.

Rosie's eyes snapped to Ratchet, "Drugged her? It had to come to that? She said no to taking it?"

"Ratch didn' exactly ask." Jazz chuckled.

The older woman put her hands on her hips and glared at the medic, "Ratchet! I told you to ask her first."

Ratchet sighed irritably, "Every being in this room knows what her answer would have been. Pit, every creature that has ever come in contact with that stubborn femme would know. I saved myself the time and trouble. She needed a good day's rest."

Rosie didn't say anything further because she knew she had no grounds to argue on. Ratchet was entirely right with his statement. Aimee Jane would've fought them tooth and nail to keep from taking the medication that would help her. At least this way they could all have peace of mind knowing the young woman was healing properly.

Ratchet began to explain the bonds, and rather than listen to this speech again she turned around and went upstairs to check on Aimee Jane. As she reached the top of the stairs, Bumblebee's holoform slid out from the office with a smile, "Hey, Rosie. How are you?"

"I'm doing just fine, Bee. And you?"

"I'm great. Aj's still sleeping. I was wondering if Prowl and Wheeljack could pick up the younglings today?" Bumblebee questioned.

Rosie gave him a curious look, "Not you and Blue?"

He shrugged, "They haven't picked them up in a while and I think they've both been really worried about Peter. They'd ask themselves, but they're a bit busy in the garage."

"Of course. I think that's a wonderful idea." Rosie nodded, "I'll let Aubrey and Wes know a bit later."

"Thanks, Rosie."

She nodded and began to make her way to the medbay but paused after a step, "How is that garage project coming along?"

Bumblebee looked surprised to receive that specific question. He nodded, "Pretty good, I think. Wheeljack's working as hard as he can. I think Soundwave might've figured something out too." Bumblebee's eyes narrowed slightly in thought, "He hasn't said anything, but it's just a feeling I have from watching the last human hour or so."

Rosie gave the mech a light pat on the side of his arm, "I'm sure everything will work out, Bee."

Bumblebee gave her one final smile before she left to visit troublesome foster child. Aimee Jane was lying in bed with Bear curled up against her sleeping. The twins were in the room as well. Sunstreaker's holoform was sitting in the desk chair with his feet propped up on the bed and Taylor's sketchbook in his hand. Sideswipe on the other hand was lying on the floor glaring at the ceiling with his arms tightly crossed over his chest.

"What's wrong, Sides?" Rosie questioned in worry.

Sunstreaker scoffed, "He's pouting. Ignore him."

"The pit-spawned hound wont let me lie down next to Aj." Sideswipe spat, "Every time I try he starts growling at me." The mech threw his hands up with a scoff, "Why doesn't the organic thing like me? I'm very loveable!"

Sunstreaker mumbled under his breath and didn't tear his eyes away from whatever he was drawing, "More like unbearable."

Rosie nodded toward him, "Isn't that Taylor's sketchbook? Where's the one you've been using here?"

He shrugged, "Ran out of pages. Just borrowing some of hers."

Rosie smiled at him and crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed. Bear stirred slightly and began to growl, but after quickly sniffing her he settled back down and closed his eyes. Sideswipe let out a string of profanities in languages that Rosie didn't know. She recognized German and Spanish, but nothing else.

"Aimee Jane said you spoke a lot of different languages, but this is the first time I'm really hearing it." Rosie chuckled, "How many do you know?"

"Human languages?" Sideswipe asked from the floor where he still laid, "I learned six since I first came to Earth. I could know more, but I had to stop for a while for missions and then before I could start up again I ended up here."

Rosie nodded, "How long does it take you to learn a language? Aimee Jane said you didn't just download it like I thought you would."

Sideswipe chuckled, "Yeah, that's not how it works. Besides, that'd take all the fun out of it. It usually takes me a week. Sometimes a week and a half if I take my time with it."

"How interesting. I always wanted to learn more languages, but it takes us humans a lot longer than a week." She couldn't help but feel jealous of the mech, "I only know three."

Sideswipe suddenly sat up, "You know more than English?"

"I do. I also speak French. Is that one of your six?"

"Nah, I thought about learning that one, but I chose Russian instead. What's your third?"

Rosie smiled, "American sign language. Back when I was a teacher, ages ago, I worked with a lot of deaf children so I learned. That way I could help them more."

Sideswipe narrowed his eyes at her, "American sign language?" He paused and shook his head, "Deaf is when your audio receptors don't work, right?"

"That's right. They're unable to hear either from birth or due to an accident so they use their hands, body, and facial expressions to speak."

Sideswipe's eyes widened, "Really? Show me."

"Oh my, it has been a while. Hmm." Rosie paused before beginning to sign, " _My name is Rosie. It's nice to meet you, Sideswipe."_

Sunstreaker was looking up from his drawing out of curiosity now, "What did that mean?"

"I signed my name and that is was nice to meet your brother."

"That's a lie." Sunstreaker replied, "No one thinks it's nice to meet, Sides."

Sideswipe smirked, "I think you're confused again, Sunny. It's you that no one wants to meet." Sunstreaker ignored him and returned to his drawing. Sideswipe grinned at Rosie, "That's neat. I'm gonna learn sign language. You should too, Sunny."

"Why?"

"Because." Sideswipe answered simply. "How do you sign my name?"

Rosie smiled and spent the next five minutes showing Sideswipe how to fingerspell the entire alphabet and with that his name. Once he had the alphabet memorized he lied back down on the ground and began fingerspelling in the air, chuckling any time his hand and fingers didn't quite cooperate how they should.

With a chuckle, Rosie turned her attention back to the real reason why she came upstairs. She brushed away some of Aimee Jane's messy hair and the woman didn't even move. Rosie chuckled to herself. This reminded her of one of the only times she had ever convinced Aimee Jane to take hard medication. It had been years ago, after she came home from a brutal fight that Rosie hadn't been aware of. The teenager had told her that she had gone out to the movies with her friends, but instead of coming home with a ticket stub she came home with broken ribs and a black and blue face. Rosie was sure that it was the guilt of lying to her that brought Aimee Jane to finally agree to take the medicine. She had passed out on the couch and slept through an entire day.

Looking at her now, like this, Rosie was reminded of how young Aimee Jane still was in her eyes. She would always be that unruly, sarcastic teenager that Rosie loved.

The watch on her wrist began to beep and Rosie was suddenly aware that she had left all her purse in the car.

"Why is your watch beeping like that?" Sideswipe questioned.

"Oh, it's an alarm. I need to take my medicine, but I left it in my car." Rosie pulled the car keys out of her jacket pocket and began to rise. Sideswipe jumped up and took the keys from her with a grin.

"I'll get them. Where are they?"

Rosie smiled, "Just bring me my purse. It's sitting in the passenger seat." She used her hand to sign 'thank you' while saying it as well, "Thank you."

Sideswipe mimicked her action with a grin and continued to practice the small movement as he walked out the door with the keys. Sunstreaker cleared his throat and she glanced over at him, "Medicine?"

Rosie chuckled, "I'm old, Sunstreaker. Us humans start to fall apart after so many years." At those words, the mech frowned and his eyes darted to Aimee Jane briefly before snapping back to his drawing. She sat up straighter, "What are you drawing? If I may ask."

Sunstreaker paused before sinking in his seat slightly, "I'm drawing the organic hound."

"Bear?"

"Human hair is…interesting to draw. Fur, more so."

Rosie smiled and didn't press further. She knew Sunstreaker wasn't the kind for long conversations, unless it was with a select few, and he also didn't like talking about his art. She didn't take it personally. Rosie was surprised he had even said this much to her. The two of them didn't talk often. It wasn't that he was rude to her, all the mechs were very respectful of her including Barricade who seemed out to ruin all of Aimee Jane's days. They just didn't typically talk.

Sideswipe was a fast mech and seconds later Rosie could hear him talking down the hall, "Yeah, that's right! How'd you know?"

"You pick up a lot when your children are obsessed with something. In this case, you guys."

Aubrey appeared in the doorway with Sideswipe a step behind her. He had Rosie's purse slung over his shoulder with one hand. He stepped around to hand the black bag over to her, "Here you go, Rosie."

"I really appreciate it, sweetie." She took it gratefully and pulled it open to look for her bottle of medication.

Aubrey glanced cautiously stepped into the room, "I just wanted to check on her."

"She's fine." Sunstreaker replied bluntly without giving the woman a single glance. Rosie quickly dry swallowed the pill and set her purse aside. "You can go."

Aubrey stiffened awkwardly, but Rosie rose to her feet with a warm smile, "Aimee Jane is gonna be out a while longer. Probably the rest of the day. You should be restin' too."

"I'm fine. Besides, I need to pick up the kids in a few hours and if I lie down now then-"

Rosie shook her head, "Don't you worry about that. Prowl and Jackie are gonna pick the kids up from school today. You just go lay down."

Aubrey looked skeptical still, but her expression was a warring one. It was as if a part of her was trying to accept this new information, but the other part couldn't fully grasp it with ease, "I don't know."

"They do this all the time. Now, come." She ushered the woman out of the room, "You go to your room and lie down. I'll bring you some warm tea and medicine."

Aubrey gave her a soft smile, "If you don't mind, I think I'll take my medicine on the side." Rosie laughed at the joke and continued to motion her down the hall to the master bedroom. Aubrey let out a small chuckle before sobering up, "Wes is still downstairs talking."

"I'm sure he has a lot of questions."

"Yeah." Aubrey said offhandedly. Rosie could tell that the woman's mind was far away, stuck on some other thought. She stopped at the doorway and turned to face her, "They told us about how they want us to go back home with them."

Rosie's eyes widened in disbelief, "They did what?" She crossed her arms, "I told them not to get into that yet. When I get down there-"

"No, we needed to know." Aubrey argued. "They want Aimee and the kids because of the…bond, but Optimus… it said-"

"He." Rosie corrected, "He said."

"Right." Aubrey nodded almost in a nervous fashion, "He said that they'd never separate us from the kids so we get a ticket as well, I suppose."

Rosie let out a sigh, "This is something to worry about a little down the line. You heal up first. You're not at 100% yet."

Aubrey nodded and ducked into her room shutting the door behind her lightly. Rosie shook her head before heading down the stairs. The one-way trip to another universe was hardly a conversation topic meant for today. She didn't know what those mechs were thinking. They should've let Wes and Aubrey warm up to them a little first before dropping that bomb.

When she stepped into the kitchen everything was quiet. Megatron was no longer there and neither was Ratchet nor Jazz. Now only Optimus stood in the room, still in his bipedal mode, as Wes sat at the table deep in thought. His hands were clasped together under his chin and his gaze was focused on the table in front of him.

Wes didn't budge when she came into the room, but Optimus looked over at her and she gave the mech a hardened look. The leader was able to grasp from it what she meant and gave her a sheepish smile. Rosie let the matter drop for now and turned to begin making some tea for Aubrey. A few minutes into the process she turned around to look at Wes who was still in the same position.

"Wes, where is Aubrey's medication?"

The man's eyes snapped up in surprise and it took a moment for him to register the words she spoke, "Oh, um, hang on." He dug into his jean pocket and pulled out a small plastic baggie of circular, white pills. Wes stood up and crossed the room to hand it to her, "Here you go."

Rosie held the bag up and narrowed her eyes, "This is her medicine?"

"The bottle broke. I swear, it's legit." He replied with a sigh.

Rosie shrugged and went back to making the tea. Wes was now leaning against the island counter, closer to where Optimus stood. He cleared his throat, "Being skeptical of everything is…it's in my nature. It's how I was trained since I was a kid." He paused and Rosie discreetly glanced over her shoulder to watch him speak. "But you've given me plenty of evidence in the last hour and a half. Besides…I think I owe you. Everything you've done for my kids…I can't thank you enough."

"It was our pleasure. We truly do care for your younglings." Optimus replied sincerely.

Wes nodded, "Right. Enough that you want to take them to a new universe."

"Wes-"

He shook his head, "I need to sleep on that. Just…Just give me some time. Aubrey and I both."

"Of course." Optimus agreed in an even-tempered manner.

Rosie smiled to herself and lifted the mug or warm tea to take upstairs along with the medicine. She glanced over her shoulder, "Wes, be a dear and bring a bottle of water up to the master bedroom for Aubrey." Rosie didn't wait for his confirmation or to see if he moved to do so. She hummed a soft tune under her breath and walked up the stairs.


	32. Insecure

* * *

_"Who taught you to be small? Who taught you that these cracks were flaws? Taught you that your light couldn't shine through the fractures and scars? Who told you to accept what you were given & did not want? Told you that any love was better than searching for the one only meant for you? The one that has always been inside yourself._

_Do not listen to them._

_Their mouths are full of turpentine & cyanide. They will strip all that is gold from your feathered limbs & leave you unraveled - all pock marked, pink-skinned, & alabaster boned._

_You were not meant to be grounded. You need the crisp air, a belly full of laughter, a heart carrying so much love you feel the seams stretching._

_Mostly, you need to realize that one by one the population has swelled to billions, but even still you were hand selected, all beauty and flaw, to never be replicated._

_You are the finest art to have ever been created." –Tyler Kent White_

* * *

 

It wasn't a well-aimed streak of sunlight or a buzzing alarm that woke me. Rather, it was an annoying internal ache letting me know that rest was no longer needed, but sustenance was. That was one of the only two things I was really aware of right now.

I was hungry and I was still in bed.

The time it took for me to force my heavy eyelids to open was a bit pathetic. Once I could see, I didn't tear my gaze away from the ceiling above me. The wound on my stomach was sore, I could feel it, and there was a slight fog in my mind that was slowly beginning to clear away. Still, my limbs felt heavy and the thought of getting up made me want to throw up.

The sound of someone clearing their throat from my right told me that I wasn't alone. After a minute or two of working up the energy, I flopped my head to the side to see Ratchet's holoform sitting in the desk chair by my bedside. He was leaning his head on his hands, and his elbows were propped up on top of his knees. Ratchet wore a serious look as he just sat there and stared at me. I continued to look at him and this weird, tense staring match lasted for a good five minutes before I forced myself to speak.

"You…"

"Yes?"

"You motherfuck…" My voice trailed off with a groan of discomfort.

Ratchet scoffed and leaned back in his seat, "Language, youngling."

I groaned again, in annoyance this time, "You drugged- _ugh_ ", I lifted my heavy hand to rub at my face in an aggravated manner, "You drugged me, you ass."

"You've already scolded me for doing so. Many times." Ratchet chuckled. The mech had the audacity to smirk at me.

"What? When?" I narrowed my eyes and began to process of trying to sit up in bed.

Ratchet leaned forward and grabbed one arm while using his other hand to support my lower back, "There were several times last night and early this morning when you regained consciousness." He let go of me as soon as he knew I was sitting stably and not about to just flop back over. "Three of those times you criticized my actions, two of those times you just woke up to groan in irritation, and there was one time where you woke up long enough to…as you humans say, flip me the bird."

"Did the bird look like this?" I asked and flipped him off again with my right hand.

Rather than scold me, he chuckled again and nodded in my direction, "How do you feel? And don't say, 'Like I was drugged'."

The mech knew me well considering that's exactly what I had planned to say. I huffed, "My head feels like it's filled with smoke and my arms and legs feel like they have weight balls attached to them."

"Your wound?"

"Sore. Bearable." I replied with a lazy shrug. Ratchet scooted the chair closer and motioned toward my shirt with one hand. I nodded and lifted my arms allowing Ratchet to pull my shirt up some. The wound was still ugly, but there was no gauze over it anymore. I assumed Ratchet had something to do with that. "How long was I out?"

"About twenty hours."

My eyes widened at his nonchalant tone, "Oh. Is that all?" Another sighed escaped my lips and I shook my head, "Fragging. Aubrey and Wes. What happened? I should've been there." I tried to get out of bed, "This whole illegal drugging thing couldn't have waited?"

"You needed immediate rest." Ratchet held his hand out and stopped me from standing up, "We broke the news to Aubrey and Wes and they handled it as well as to be expected. What are you doing?"

"I gotta talk to Aubrey."

"You need-"

"I had twenty hours of rest, Ratchet. I think I'm good." Ratchet hesitantly allowed me to stand up, but he kept one hand on my elbow just in case I started teetering over. I gave him a grin and lifted one finger to poke the tip of his nose. He narrowed his eyes at me, but it was more in confusion than annoyance. "I just want you to know, that as soon as….as soon as this- this- smoke, clears from my head I am going to throw the mother of all bitch fits. I am not done arguing with you."

Ratchet scoffed and started to lead me out the room slowly, "Of that I have no doubt."

He helped me to the bathroom so I could pee and wash up. After washing my face with cold water a few times I could feel my sanity slowly start coming back to me. My body still weighed a ton and a half, but I wasn't as mentally slow as I was before. As I came out, I realized that three of my favorite voices in the world were talking downstairs. A slow smile spread across my features. I hadn't gotten to see the kids when I got back from the hospital. They had been in school and by time they came home I was apparently knocked out upstairs.

"The younglings were worried about you." Ratchet said offhandedly as he helped me down the stairs.

I sighed, "Yeah." He gave me a side-glance and I shrugged, "I wish I didn't make them worry so much. Kids their age shouldn't worry about anything except missing morning cartoons or losing kickball at school."

"Love and worry go servo in servo. You can't have one without the other."

"That's deep, Ratchet."

"Hush."

Once we got to the foyer I pulled away from Ratchet's grip and straightened my back to look tall and strong. I didn't want the kids to see me tired or in pain. They didn't need to worry anymore. I stepped into the crowded kitchen with a raised eyebrow. Aubrey was at the stove with a pan of eggs cooking while Sideswipe leaned against the kitchen counter in his holoform. The kids were sitting at the table, ready for school and eating their breakfast. Wes was sitting at the head of the table with Taylor and Tyler on either side of him. Peter sat by Tyler with Prowl on his other side. Bluestreak's holoform was leaning against the back of Tyler's chair with a wide grin.

Peter was the first at the table to spot me, but only because the twins were so engrossed with talking to their father. He jumped up, "Aj!" The boy sprinted away from the table and tackled me in a hug. Ratchet scolded him from behind me, but I ignored him along with the pain that came from the pressure being put on my wound. I hugged him back tightly. Two more cries could be heard and suddenly the twins were hugging me too.

"Morning, guys." I chirped with a laugh.

"You were sleeping and we didn't get to see you!" Taylor pouted, "Mom and Ratchet said we couldn't wake you up."

I grinned at her, "I was really tired yesterday, but I'm awake now."

"I got your breakfast, Aimee." Aubrey turned with a plate of eggs and toast. My eyes traced over her features to try and gauge her reaction to the mechs hanging around the kitchen, but her warm smile gave nothing away. "Come on, guys, go sit and finish your food. You need to get to school soon."

"Thanks." I said warily as she crossed the room and handed me the plate.

She nodded, "We'll talk when the kids are gone."

I sighed and headed for the table. I dodged the bullet of having to explain everything yesterday. That was probably the one good thing about being drugged, but I couldn't avoid talking to my sister about this forever. I mean, I could try, but even with my expert emotional evasion skills I wouldn't last long.

My eyes darted around the kitchen as I noticed something was missing, "Hey, where's my dog?" Bear was no where to be seen and I had already gotten used to have him running around.

"Rosie took him to the vet for his shots." Aubrey replied as she placed the dirty pan she used to cook into the sink, "She said she'll bring him back a bit later."

"Aj, watch this!" Tyler shouted making me turn my attention away from my sister. He lifted his right hand and very roughly signed the letters _'T-Y-L-A-R'_ in American Sign Language. "Sideswipe showed me how to sign language my name!"

"You signed your name, buddy. Not sign language-ed it." I lifted my own hand, "And you accidentally did the letter 'A'." I balled my hand into a fist with my thumb against the side of my hand. "You needed the letter 'E'." I shifted my hand so my fingers were bent at my knuckles and my thumb rested under them across my palm.

"Oh, ok!" Tyler did it again slowly.

Sideswipe rushed across the room and dropped down into the seat next to me, "You know American Sign Language?"

"Sort of." I mumbled and stuffed a big bite of eggs into my mouth. I hadn't used ASL in years. The truth was, back when I was in college earning my degree I took four semesters of ASL for my foreign language. I could have taken Spanish or German like everyone else, but at that time I was missing Granny really, really bad. By taking ASL, it was my way of reminding myself of her without giving in and heading back home. I had seen her sign to some kids in school and sometimes around the house. Plus, I figured it'd look really good on my medical school applications. Thinking back now, it seemed like so long ago. I had become a part of the deaf culture there on campus in New York City, but once I graduated I never even kept in contact with any of them. I kept in contact with no one from that time period.

Aubrey's eyes were wide, "Do you really know sign language, Aimee?"

"I did. Who knows if I actually remember it all…" I shrugged, but I knew in the back of my mind it was something I could pick back up quickly with a little practice, "Granny doesn't even know." I glanced at Sideswipe, "Wait, do you know?"

Sideswipe smirked, "I'm learning, and I just found my new teacher!"

"You don't need me to teach you a language, Mr. I-know-a-million-languages."

"Come on. You guys done? We gotta get going if you don't want to be late." Wes spoke up and my eyes snapped across the table to glare at him. He didn't even notice my dirty look though. He was grinning at the twins who excitedly jumped up from the table, eager to have their father take them to school. "You done, Pete?"

"My name is Peter." He replied bluntly and my eyes widened in surprise. At my own hatred for the guy, I hadn't even noticed how pissed Peter looked. "I want Prowl to take us to school."

Taylor pouted, "But I want Daddy to take us too."

"Maybe Prowl can come with us? How does that sound?" Wes replied with a smile still on his face. The guy looked hopeful at his suggestion, but when Peter shrugged and left the table to get his bag I watched as Wes' face fell in disappointment. I scoffed to myself. Did he expect Peter to be all over him? After he was gone for so long?

The twins came over and hugged me quickly, "Bye, Aj!"

"Bye, kiddos." I replied and watched the kids swarm their mom with hugs and kisses before leaving with Prowl and Wes.

Aubrey came to sit down on my left side, since Sideswipe was still on my right, while Ratchet stayed standing in the kitchen by the fridge. I took another bite of eggs and slowly forced myself to make eye contact with Aubrey who was staring at me.

"How do you feel?" Aubrey asked.

"Mentally or physically?" I questioned and slouched in my seat. It took a few rearrangements before I could sit this way without feeling any pain on my abdomen. She didn't reply and I shrugged, "As good as I'm gonna get. How are you? Did they…explain everything?"

She nodded, "Yes. They did." There was an awkward pause before she sighed, "I don't know what you want me to say."

"I just want to know what you're thinking about all of this."

"I think it's crazy." Aubrey let out a soft laugh followed by a scoff. She shook her head, "It's happening though and what else can I do, but accept it? The kids obviously love them and from what I've seen so far…they don't seem so dangerous."

I blinked in surprise and shook my head, "What about your jackass hubby?"

"Aimee." Aubrey scolded firmly.

"Sorry." I replied in a tone that wasn't very apologetic.

She rolled her eyes, "He's skeptical, more so than I am, but that's his job to be skeptical about everything, But, other than that he's probably handling it better than I am. Wes is very good at taking…surprises, in stride. He was trained for it."

I shook my head, "Are you people insane?" Both mechs and Aubrey looked surprised at my outburst. I lifted my heavy hand, but put it back down when I got tired of holding it up to point at Aubrey, "Just like that you accept it?"

"Do you want her to kick us out?" Sideswipe asked with a raised human eyebrow.

"No, but…I feel like I'm the only person who had a sane reaction to them!" I argued. Aubrey was always a very calm person, and she always handled high stress situations better than I did, but this was crazy. "The kids loved them from the get-go, Granny just shook her head like she wasn't being introduced to aliens, and Josh-…well, Josh did pull a gun on Sunstreaker so his reaction was sane-ish."

Aubrey smiled, "How did you react?"

"She was a bit…hysterical." Sideswipe grinned, "Aj tried to murder Starscream with a baseball bat."

Aubrey laughed, "That sounds like my little sister."

"Yeah, your _sane_ little sister." I scoffed and shook my head, "You should be worried about yourself. If I'm considered the sane one then what does that say about you people?"

* * *

 

Starscream kept his gaze on the machine in front of him as his processors reviewed over the newest data that Soundwave had sent to him over commlink. It was newly found information that hadn't been shared with any Autobots, and if he had it his way it never would be.

"I'm gonna go say hi to Aj." Bumblebee's holoform said offhandedly and left the garage followed by the silent yellow frontliner's holoform. The Autobot Engineer called for them to wait for him and pushed away from the machine with a stupid grin on his holoform's face. Starscream continued to watch as his trine mates left the garage as well. The seeker scoffed to himself at how pathetic this all was. Mechs, who were far above these lowly organic creatures, bending over backwards to please these humans and be in their presence. Why should they care so much about creatures who would barely live over a vorn if they were lucky?

Starscream could feel the 'mock bonds' pressing on his spark, but he refused to give into them. He didn't care about these humans and he didn't want to in any way shape or form. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his seeker brethren.

"Jazz, you may go visit with Aj as well. I can remain here." Optimus said to his third in command. Every mech could see how the saboteur was itching to rush out and check on his precious 'sweetspark', but the soldier in him couldn't leave his commander alone in a room of villainous Decepticons. Smart mech.

"It's all good, OP." Jazz replied and crossed his arms across his holoform's chassis. "I'll go when Sunstreaker gets back."

"Perhaps then this is a good time to speak to the two of you." Megatron spoke up and Starscream optics narrowed back at him. The only mechs in the room were him, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Jazz, Soundwave, and Barricade. All were in holoforms except Soundwave and Optimus Prime. "It deals with our travels home."

Starscream stood up quickly, "What are you doing?"

"Soundwave found new information. He believes this new discovery will give your Chief Engineer the energy needed to travel." Megatron finished and Starscream stood there in disbelief. What was he doing? This information, this new discovery, was the key they needed to defeat all Autobots. It would allow only a chosen few to cross through the portal. The war would be incredibly easy to win if the Autobot's key player were stuck here in this pathetic universe.

Soundwave stepped forward, "Current Error: Machine has energy capable of forming portal, but requires a final push to allow travel."

"Yeah", Jazz nodded and crossed his arms across his chassis, "Jackie explained it all. The portal pops up, but we ain't got enough juice to punch a hole through to our universe. We're blocked."

Megatron shook his head, "Not anymore. Soundwave found an energy source that will successfully punch through the veil."

Optimus narrowed his eyes, "How was this energy source discovered? What is it?"

"This house has the energy flowing through it. Soundwave has decoded it and found a potential way to tap into it."

Jazz looked wary, "How come none of us ever picked up on this energy?"

"Explanation: No Autobot was looking for it." Soundwave replied.

"Soundwave will send your Engineer the software used to decode and you can have a look for yourself." Megatron replied absentmindedly.

Starscream was beside himself in anger now. His holoform was practically shaking. Megatron was weak. He had fallen victim to these pathetic mock bonds.

"You fool!" Starscream barked, "Do you know what you've done?"

Optimus nodded his head once, calmly, and motioned for Jazz to follow him out. Apparently, this confession was enough for the Autobot leader to trust them around the machine alone. Why wouldn't it be? Megatron might as well convert over.

As soon as the two Autobots stepped out, Megatron's own holoform rushed across the room to grab Starscream's holoform by the throat. The seeker began to choke in surprise as the human looking servo tightened around his throat. The lack of air did nothing to the seeker, but the tightness made a flare of pain swell up in his processors. Starscream could simply dismiss his holoform and escape Megatron's grasp, but he refused to look so weak. He couldn't offline in this form, only feel pain.

 _::Don't ever question me again.::_ Megatron growled over the faint commlink heard in their holoforms.

_::You told them our advantage! They know everything now!::_

_::I told them only what they needed to know. We still have the upper servo.::_

Starscream struggled to pull away, but the grip only tightened, ::As soon as that blasted Engineer gets the software, he'll see the truth. He'll know what we know! He'll know that Aj is the source of the energy!:: Starscream clawed at the servo around his throat, :: _You are a weak leader and a pathetic fool who's fallen in love with a group of organic pests!::_

Megatron threw Starscream's holoform across the garage and Starscream gritted his denta as he bounced off the cold ground. The leader stalked over, _::Soundwave is sending them modified software. They will never know the truth about the energy source. The Autobots will believe this house sits upon some universal hot spot of energy.::_

Starscream narrowed his optics in confusion, : _:Why? What is your goal in this?::_

The seeker had seen how soft Megatron had become. The longer they stared here the tamer he was. The burning hatred that once filled Megatron's gaze was no longer there. There was a different fire now and rather than being an inferno of destruction and mayhem, it was calmer. The heat was there, but it was controlled and cunning. Megatron was different now. He had different goals, and Starscream wasn't entirely sure if this change worked in or against his favor.

_::What do you have planned?::_

_::Nothing you should trouble yourself with, Starscream.::_

* * *

 

Wes had a lot on his mind. In fact, saying he had a lot on his mind was probably a huge understatement. Dealing with the unexpected was a part of his job description, which was why he was able to walk from the kids' school back to the truck next to Prowl without collapsing to the ground in a hysterical mess. He glanced over at the fake human holograph walking beside him out of the corner of his eye. Wes had seen some crazy shit in his life, but this might just take the cake, and that was something he never would've guessed.

More than that, he never thought he'd be jealous of a transformer, but apparently this week was just gonna be a week chock full of unexpected things.

"Peter seems to like you a lot." Wes spoke up as the two of them reached the truck. He jumped into the driver's seat while trying to get a read on the guy beside him. Prowl slid into the passenger seat and closed the door with a slight nod of his head.

"We've grown close during my stay here. He is a good boy."

Wes nodded and started the truck without tearing his eyes away from Prowl. It was hard to get a read on this guy, and that was impressive in his eyes. He focused on the road as he pulled out of his parking space, "I'm glad someone he can look up to came into his life." He chuckled to himself, "Never imagined that someone would be a robot from another universe or a street fighter from New York, but…"

"Robot is an inaccurate term, and can even be seen as insulting." Prowl replied with a bob of his head. "The term mech is the closest translation in your language."

"Oh, sorry." Wes said. He had heard the word 'mech' be thrown around the house, but he hadn't made the connection. It was good to know this now though rather than be punched through the wall later by a mech who didn't appreciate being called a robot.

Prowl continued, "Also, it is my honor to be looked up at by your son."

A small smile crossed his lips, "I know you haven't been here long, but…what's he like?"

The mech glanced over at him with slightly raised eyebrows, "He is…very smart. Especially for his age. He is considerate of those around him and protective of Taylor and Tyler. Peter is very patient with them and enjoys explaining things to them rather than having someone else do so."

Wes nodded, but didn't trust his voice to speak. It felt like a stone was lodged in his throat. Aubrey told him about Peter every time they talked. She'd answer every question he asked, but hearing a virtual stranger talk about his son cut him deep. This alien had more of a relationship with Peter than he did and it was all his own fault. Wes knew that if he could go back in time, he would make the same decision. That painful choice kept his kids and his wife safe for this long and he'd make that sacrifice for them again and again and again. However, if someone were to ask him what he would give up right now for a second chance, he'd say anything. Wes would give up the world to have his eldest son not glare at him every time he stepped into a room. He'd give his left lung to be able to talk to Peter one on one with no malice in any words the young boy said.

The most painful part was that Wes would never be able to blame Peter for the way he felt. Every glare and every venomous word was deserved.

"You left to protect your family unit. It was a noble decision."

Wes' head snapped over in surprise at Prowl's words. He was fully aware that this mech and one other, the one Aimee called Jackie, were not his biggest fan. They were closest to Peter after all.

"Thank you, Prowl." Wes replied with a nod. He focused his attention back onto the road home with his thoughts going a million miles per hour. As many plans as he could create to try and win over Peter, he knew none of them would work unless he gave Peter his space. Wes didn't want to make this situation any worse.

* * *

 

There was nothing weirder than living in a house with the mechs, Aubrey, and Wes. I was so used to the way things were, hell I liked the way things were. The kids never felt odd around the bots and cons and included them in every action and conversation they held. Through them it made it easier for me to fall into a routine. Now though, it was like we had ricocheted back to that first awkward day. The mechs were basically tip-toeing around the house trying not to upset the two new humans and the two new humans tensed every time the mech's holoforms entered the room. It was as if the entire house was walking on eggshells.

By mid-afternoon the drugs had worn off completely and my body felt back to normal. Well, gunshot wound normal at least. However, I was exhausted from the awkward tension floating around the house. I wasn't the only one exhausted either. Granny had dropped Bear off an hour or so ago and the poor pup was tuckered out from his exciting visit to the vet. She had relayed the message that Bear might be lethargic and sleepy for the next few hours so I wasn't surprised that he had camped out on my bed upstairs to nap.

"Why are you still following me?" I asked curiously, glancing over my shoulder to see Sideswipe's holoform grinning widely at me. For the past hour he had been playing the role of my shadow.

He shrugged, "I can't enjoy your company?"

"Not without having an ulterior motive." I mumbled and opened a cabinet to look for something to eat. Sideswipe leaned against the counter beside me. My eyes caught his again, "What?"

Sideswipe leaned closer, "Sign something to me. Please."

"Ugh, Sides-"

"Oh come on!" He argued with a laugh, "I said please!"

A slow smile began to spread across my features as I turned my head away from him to yell, "Hey, Twinkie! Come get your obnoxious brother!"

"Twinkie?" Sideswipe replied skeptically. "That's 37, but it's a weak 37."

"He's got a yellow exterior just like one! The only difference is that Twinkies are filled with fluffy filling and your brother is filled with smug bullshit."

Sunstreaker's voice yelled back a Cybertronian curse from the garage that made both Sideswipe and I begin to laugh. Having the mech around was definitely making things feel more normal. Laughing with him felt right.

"You're still not off the hook." Sideswipe wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a side hug as he rested his head on top of mine, "You have to sign to me. Using the Internet to teach myself is hard for this language and our translation program doesn't work for it."

"Really?" My eyes widened, "Why?"

"The translation software everyone uses is made for spoken language, but this language relies on action. Why do you think I'm so eager to learn? This is the only language I've found that relies strictly on movements. Ever." Sideswipe explained.

I chuckled, "Sweet. Score one for the clever humans."

"Yes, you're all very resourceful for a group of tiny organics." Sideswipe replied smugly, "Now sign to me."

"You're impossible." I replied and thought back to a sign I hadn't learned in class and had actually learned from a friend during my second semester of ASL. With rusty hands, I made the quick movement as I pulled away from Sideswipe.

He grinned widely, "Wait, what was that?"

"It was the sign for _'Fuck off_ '." I said, but I couldn't help but grin as I said so. Sideswipe burst into laughter again.

"Language!" Ratchet's voice barked as his holoform came into the kitchen from the garage. He turned his glare to Sideswipe, "And you! Stop encouraging her!"

I raised an eyebrow at him, "What are you doing in here, Ratchet? Come to abuse my trust?" As I spoke, my lips twitched up in amusement and I was sure he could hear my relaxed tone. I didn't want to waste my time being pissed at Ratchet. I'd save my energy to stay pissed at Wes. "You wanna trick and drug poor, helpless me again?"

Ratchet scoffed, "You and I both know you're far from helpless, youngling." He rolled his eyes and I could hear his joking tone as well, "But I could use another human day without any of your sass."

"My sass gives you reason to live."

"More like drives me to the edge of sanity. If I didn't have so much practice dealing with behavior like yours", He paused to shoot Sideswipe a look that Sideswipe just grinned at, "I'd ask Grimlock to step on me."

I pointed at him, "Hey, when is Grimlock coming back? I miss my fire breathing cuddle buddy."

"I could be your cuddle buddy." Sideswipe winked and pulled me back into another hug.

"I'd rather let Grimlock step on me." I replied, copying Ratchet's prior words.

Sideswipe pouted, "No wonder you and Sunny get along so well. Both of you are just so good at shunning my love."

"Go whine to someone who cares, Sideswipe." Ratchet cut in.

Sideswipe let go of me to throw his hands into the air, "I can't forget to include Hatchet in this group of bullies."

"It's more of a club. The Anti-Sideswipe club." I joked with a grin, "We're gonna get jackets."

Sideswipe scrunched his face up at something I could tell Sunstreaker said over the bond. The mech turned to yell towards the garage, "No one asked you, Sunny!"

"Don't worry, Sides." I cooed, "This is just how we choose to show our love."

"Speak for yourself." Ratchet muttered. Sideswipe glared at Ratchet before lifting his hand and to his chin then pulling it away in my direction, saying _'Thank you_ ' in ASL.

A second later, Aubrey bounded into the kitchen but came to a screeching halt when she noticed Ratchet and Sideswipe. She forced an awkward smile and nodded, "Hi. I um, can I steal my sister away for a second?"

"No." Sideswipe replied and pulled me back into a hug.

I rolled my eyes and untangled myself from his arms, "Ignore him. What's up?"

Aubrey glanced at them again before focusing on me, "Well, I was thinking maybe we could go to lunch! Catch up? The house is a bit…crowded."

I nodded, "Sure thing. Let me get some real clothes on."

As well as she was handling this situation; I knew she needed some space away from the house too. It was still a lot to handle.

"Great! How long will it take you to get ready?" Aubrey asked. She was already dressed in jeans, a thin long sleeve shirt, and a quilted light blue vest over it. Her dirty blonde hair was down with only the sides braided and pinned back and her make-up, as per usual, seemed natural and on point.

I was suddenly aware that just throwing clothes on like I originally planned would make me look even more like a hobo considering I was going to be sitting at the same table as her, "Uh, give me like ten minutes…ish."

Once upstairs, I grabbed some clothes out of my closet and hurried to the bathroom. It wasn't that long ago that I had tried to dress up in a cute manner. Except the last time I did so, I had been shot that night.

As I peeled my shirt off, I noted that my wound was looking pretty good. It was healing nicely and soon there would only be a scar. Granted, said scar would be terrible looking and bikini season was definitely out for me, but it would be a reminder that I survived.

I put on the cleanest flannel shirt I had, a dark green one that was a size too big for me, a pair of light wash skinny jeans, and then pulled on my light brown leather jacket. It took a good five minutes or so to tame my wild hair, but the short locks came out decent enough. At least, I managed to make it look like the mess was intentional rather than just the outcome of sleeping for twenty hours straight. A quick touch of make-up and then I was hurrying out to the garage to grab my boots while Aubrey waited by the front door with her purse and own boots on.

The moment I pulled the door open and stepped into the garage all the mechs who were currently there froze to stare at me. The only mechs not in here right now were Bumblebee, Bluestreak, Prowl, and Thundercracker. I blinked before shaking my head, "What?"

The tenseness passed and everyone went back to what they were doing. I picked up my boots skeptically as Ratchet spoke up, "Be careful, youngling."

"Yeah, ok." I replied with narrowed eyes. It seemed like they were hiding something from me, but I didn't have the time to interrogate them on it. Why would they keep something from me anyways though?

"Aimee?"

With a shake of my head, I turned and shut the garage door. I walked back to the front and slid my boots on as Aubrey opened the door. The two of us got to the bottom of the porch before I realized who was sitting in the driver's seat of the truck.

"No."

"Aimee-" Aubrey sighed.

"No!" I shook my head and crossed my arms before shooting Wes a glare, "I thought you meant lunch between just us."

Aubrey put her hands on her hips, "Wes needs out of the house too. Besides, I think this would be a good time for the two of you to talk."

"I have nothing to say to that asshole."

"Aimee, I'm serious." She set her lips into a straight line, "The least you can do is give him one lunch. He wants to talk to you."

I scoffed, "Like I care?"

Aubrey shook her head, "Please? For me? We can go to Jason's Deli downtown. They have your favorite sandwich."

I huffed a sigh before giving her a slight nod. She grinned and turned to continue walking to the truck. I called out after her before following, "Don't think that just because we're in a public place that I won't make a scene. I have no shame, Aubrey. No shame."

* * *

 

Jason's Deli was located in a small building downtown, but it seemed like it was always crowded. In a small town like this though, I was hardly surprised. When it came to casually eating out there weren't many places to choose from. After suffering through an awkward car ride, the three of us stepped into the building.

Aubrey motioned toward the long line, "How about I wait in line to order and the two of you go find us a table? I already know what you both want."

"How about I go throw myself in front of a car?" I replied.

"Aimee." Aubrey said sternly.

I rolled my eyes and stalked away to find a table in the crowded dining area. I was fully aware that I was acting like a petulant child, but holding grudges tended to come easy to me. It was letting things go that I had a problem with. It didn't help that I spent ten years hating this guy. If she expected me to suddenly let all of that go, hold hands with Wes, and sing 'Kum Bah Yah' then she was wrong in the head.

A table in the corner opened up and I was quick to sit down before someone else could take it. Over the loud chatter in the room, I hadn't noticed that Wes had followed me the entire time. I frowned as he grabbed the seat across from me. As I sat across from him, glaring at him, I realized how much like him Pete looked. They had the same hair and eyes, and even the same face shape. He shifted in his seat and suddenly I couldn't take the silence.

"I have no intentions of ever forgiving you." I blurted.

His eyebrows raised slowly and he let out a sigh, "Aimee-"

"It's Aj. Only Aubrey calls me Aimee."

"Aj-"

I leaned forward, "Don't even bother, there is literally nothing that I want to hear come from-"

"Shut up and listen." Wes snapped and my eyes widened in surprise. I warned Aubrey that coming to a public place was a bad idea. Now I was going to get in a fistfight with this guy, the cops were going to get called, and I didn't have Josh around to bail me out of trouble. "You hate me, I get that. You've made it very, very clear. But I deserve the chance to explain myself."

I scoffed and leaned back in my seat with my arms crossed. The fucking nerve of this guy. Slowly, I nodded, "Yeah, ok. Explain yourself. Let me hear it, dickhead."

"What happened ten years ago was my fault." He started and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the obviousness of his statement. Wes continued, "But I'm not sorry for taking your sister away from here."

I blinked in surprise, "What?"

"I'm not sorry for leaving with her. I am sorry that you got hurt, that you had to go through what you did, but if I had the chance to do it all over again I'd never leave her behind." Wes said firmly, "The moment I met her I knew she was it for me. I loved your sister with every fiber of my being, and as each day passes I realize I'm more in love with her now then I was then." He paused as his firm lips drooped to a frown, "I know that there is nothing I can say or do that will make you hate me less, but I'm hoping that we can at least be civil because I know it kills your sister to see how much bad blood is between us."

I didn't reply because I didn't really know what to say. A part of me had been hoping that whatever he said would be stupid and that I could use it to hate him more, but that hadn't been the case. He seemed sincere with his words and I could see in his eyes that he truly did love Aubrey and that made this very, very hard.

"I also want to thank you." He added, "I thought Aubrey was crazy when she told me she wanted you to watch the kids alone. At first, I thought she just wanted it that way because she thought it'd keep you safe, but she was very adamant about you being the only one who could watch Peter, Taylor, and Tyler." He chuckled with a slight bob of his head, "And she was right. What you've done for them… I can tell they love you a lot. Even though I might not be happy with every decision you've made, like having some crime boss shoot up our house-"

I interrupted with a blank stare, "He shot _me_ up if you wanna get technical."

Wes smirked, "You were still the right choice. Thanks for taking care of them."

His sincerity carried over when talking about the kids and it annoyed me that I could make sense of his actions and thoughts. Back in New York, it would've been super easy for me to ignore every word he said and continue to hate him, but I wasn't that person anymore. Plus, I don't think I could ever fully hate anybody based on a decision made to protect the kids I love and my older sister.

I shrugged, "Yeah, whatever. I still don't like you, but I guess it's not fair of me to outwardly hate you either." My eyes locked with his, "I can handle being civil. Your little ' _non-apologetic apology_ ' will make resisting the urge to punch you in the face every time I see you easier."

Wes let out a short laugh, "That's good to hear. I don't think I can handle another broken nose."

"Well just know that if you ever hurt Aubrey or the kids or any of my mechs", I warned, "You're gonna have to deal with me, and I can promise you that a broken nose is the least of your worries."

"Sounds fair."

A silence grew between the two of us again, but it wasn't as tense or awkward as it had been before. A minute or so passed and Aubrey came to the table with a plastic card with the number '36' written on it and a wide smile on her face. Wes grinned at her in greeting, but I remained nonchalant. "So?" She hummed and stuck the number in the metal holder before sitting next to her husband. He wrapped his arm around the back of her seat casually, "Are we best friends yet?"

"Hardly." I replied with a scoff. Her smile faltered and I sighed, "But I'm probably not going to murder your husband in his sleep any time soon."

Aubrey's face scrunched up in distaste, "That's not funny."

"Don't worry, honey." Wes shook his head and gave her a comforting look, "Aj promised any attempts at my life would be made in broad daylight while I'm fully aware."

" _Wes_!" Aubrey cried, but I could see the corner of her lips twitch up in amusement. He was smiling broadly at her and I thought back to that day so long ago where I went to Granny's fancy lunch party. Seeing that guy, Ryan, looking at his fiancée like she was his own personal ray of sunlight had been touching, but the way Wes looked at Aubrey was incomparable.

I cleared my throat and glanced away from the loving look they shared, "My personal preference is leaning toward gun duel at high noon."

Aubrey's eyes shot over to me, "You were just shot, that joke is in bad taste."

"In case you haven't noticed, most of my jokes are in bad taste." I shrugged, "My humor is very sarcastic and hostile. It's what makes me so _adorable_."

Aubrey rolled her eyes and Wes glanced around, "Did you get us drinks?"

"Oh!" She sat up straighter, "The cashier forgot to hand me the cups."

"I got it." Wes leaned over to press his lips against her temple, "Aj, what do you want?"

"I'll just take a coke. Extra ice."

He nodded his head and left with Aubrey's eyes stuck on his figure. I leaned across the table from her, "I'm serious, Aubs. If he ever hurts you or the kids-"

"Aimee-" She chuckled.

I shook my head, "I'll kill him, Aubs."

She smiled softly at me, "I know, but I'm not worried about that ever happening." I nodded slowly and leaned back against my chair again. She was silent in thought, as a small smile remained glued to her lips.

"What are you so happy about?" I questioned.

Aubrey shrugged, "It's just so nice to be here."

"Jason's Deli isn't that special, you know. I mean, I know their Club sandwich is badass, but-"

"No, silly." She laughed, "Being here with you and Wes. It's a dream come true, Aimee. I've wanted this for so long."

I watched as she glanced over at Wes who was walking back toward the table with three drinks carefully held in his hands. A sigh slipped from my lips, "Good. I'm…happy for you."

"Coke for Aj." Wes set the drinks down on the table and pushed one glass toward me, "Sweet tea for my _sweet-tie_."

Aubrey giggled and I rolled my eyes, "Oh my God, you guys aren't going to be like this the entire time right? I'd like to keep my lunch down."

"Sorry." Wes chuckled and sat down, "It's been a while since the two of us could just enjoy a relaxed lunch."

"Yeah, well keep in mind that I'm here and I do not want to see that shit."

Aubrey grinned, "You could've always brought someone with you. Jace- no, sorry, Jazz, or maybe even….Sideswipe?" She shook her head, "Sorry, it seems so strange to use those names seriously."

"I was like that at first too." I shrugged, "I thought you wanted to get away from the mechs for a bit?"

Aubrey pressed her lips together, "It's…something I still need to fully get used to, but seeing you interact with them earlier…You obviously trust them."

I nodded with a chuckle, "Yeah, I do. Go figure, right?"

"There are a few things we should probably talk about when it comes to them though." Wes said seriously. As much as I hated to admit it, he was very right. There was a conversation the three of us needed to have. I was just hoping it wouldn't come quite so quickly.

"Wait", Aubrey shook her head, "Can I ask her something first?"

"Sure." He shrugged and picked up his drink.

Aubrey turned to look at me with a small smirk, "Are you and Jazz an actual couple?" Wes choked on the large sip, of what looked like sprite, and began to cough. She half-heartedly pat her husband's back but kept her gaze on me, "So?"

"Aubrey", I said slowly, "They mostly use holoforms around y'all to get you used to the idea of them, but you realize that none of them are actually human, right? It's important to me that you understand that."

She rolled her eyes, "Of course I get that. They're people though, right? I mean, Taylor and Tyler were very adamant when they explained that we aren't supposed to call them robots or call them 'it'. Plus, they all go by the 'he' pronoun."

"Yeah, but they're still aliens from another universe." I replied bluntly.

"Uh…" My eyes darted over to the waiter who arrived with a tray of sandwiches. His eyes darted from me to Aubrey then to Wes, "Order 36?"

Wes cleared his throat one more time and nodded, "That's us."

The waiter passed out the corresponding plates to the right people before taking the number and leaving. I shook my head, "I am not dating a transformer."

"I wouldn't judge you." Aubrey said adamantly, "Love is love and I just want you to be happy and not alone."

"Oh my God." I mumbled under my breath. Between her, Taylor, and Granny I'd never hear the end of the worries on my love life. At least Granny was pushing for a human boyfriend. "Why are we even talking about this?"

Wes nodded, "Good question."

The conversation turned to something lighter as we all began to eat. For the most part, it was Aubrey and Wes asking questions about the kids. How were they doing in school? Were there any incidents? Did they handle the past two months all right? I answered all the questions they threw at me, even the ones Wes asked, as best as I could. It helped that all the answers were positive answers. The kids handled everything so well.

"He hit someone?" Aubrey gasped when I told her the story of Tyler getting in a fight at school.

I waved it off, "The little shit had it coming. He was picking on Taylor and some other little girl that Tyler has a crush on."

"You told him that it wasn't ok to hit, right?" Aubrey pressed.

I shoved a handful of chips in my mouth, "Sort of?"

Wes had already finished his food. His hands were clasped together casually as his chin leaned against his fingers, "Well, he was defending himself and his sister. That can't be helped."

Aubrey gave him a light glare, "Yes, but fighting is never the answer. You told him that right, Aimee?"

"I feel like it'd be a little hypocritical of me to say that." I replied and Aubrey glared at me. A chuckle left my lips, "I told him fighting was wrong, but I also said that sometimes it can't be helped. I stressed to him though that it was a last resort."

Aubrey sighed, "Alright, I guess."

"Besides, I fought bullies for you in school all the time. I turned out just fine- wait…" I paused and shook my head, "Ok, so I'm kind of a bad example in the long run, but Tyler is just fine. He's a smart kid."

Aubrey smiled, "You're a smart kid too."

"I am not a kid."

"Ok." She chuckled, "Whatever you say, little sister."

I rolled my eyes and shoved some more chips into my mouth. Wes sighed and shook his head, "I hate to be a party pooper, but we still need to have that talk."

"Yeah, you're right." I mumbled.

"Never thought I'd hear you admit that." Wes joked.

I scoffed, "Shut up." Quickly, I finished the last of my coke to get the taste of salt out of my mouth, "So how much did the mechs tell you about the…situation- or decision, or whatever you want to call it?"

Aubrey crossed her arms, "They were very blunt about it. They need to go back to their universe and as soon as that is possible for them they want all of us to come with them."

"Right." I nodded, "All, meaning us three and the kids."

"What do you want to do?" Wes questioned.

I shrugged, "I have no decision in the matter."

"Aimee-"

"I don't. I'm going to go where the kids are." I explained. There was no way I could live without the kids at this point. There was no future for me without them. I couldn't picture a life where I wasn't telling Tyler to not inhale his food, where I wasn't coloring with Taylor, or where I wasn't getting my ass kicked by Peter in chess. No matter how much I loved the mechs, and how much I considered them family, I knew there was no world where I could put any of them before those three kids. "Wherever they go, that's where I'll be. In this situation, you guys, as the parents, are the ones who choose where they go."

Aubrey sighed, "Meaning we choose where you go."

"Bingo."

Wes rubbed his jawline. His eyes were narrowed in thought and his shoulders looked heavy, as if an actual weight was sitting on top of them, "It's not exactly a simple decision to make."

"Yeah, I'm not jealous of you."

Aubrey nodded, "Optimus said they were having trouble fixing the machine to get them home. We have time to consider all the options."

Wes shook his head, "On this side we have time, but there are other factors to consider, Aubrey." He sighed, "Nick is doing all he can to keep us hidden, but the Six Swords won't stop. Us being here is dangerous."

At the word ' _dangerous_ ' my eyes formed a glare, "How dangerous?"

"If we stay here too long they could find us and nothing would stop them from storming the house." Wes replied. "We only planned to stay for a few days but…all this happened."

His words filled me with fear. We survived Boss showing up at the door with Joey, but Boss was just some two-bit criminal from New York that only cared about money. Whoever the hell was coming after Wes and Aubrey was going to be a whole lot worse than Boss. As much as I hated Boss, he was never on the same level as a terrorist.

Parts of me just wanted to shout that they should get the hell out of Alabama and leave the kids out of the picture, but I knew it was far more complicated than that. As angry as I was at this turn of events, it wasn't going to change the storm that was coming. I could be as pissed as I wanted to be, but I still needed to be able to handle the consequences that were to come. Sure, Wes said that this Nick guy was keeping them at bay and keeping this area safe, but I didn't even know who the hell Nick was. I wasn't about to trust him with the kid's safety. Even if Wes and Aubrey left right this moment, something I knew they wouldn't ever agree to, there was still a chance that this terrorist could still send someone here.

I was still healing from a gunshot wound and yet somehow danger was once again knocking on our door. At least I could take comfort in the fact that it wasn't me who led it here this time.

* * *

 

"Why wont it just love me?" Sideswipe cried in frustration. He was leaning against the wall with his holoform's bottom lip jutted out in a comical pout.

I continued to rub Bear's belly as he laid across my lap. The pup had woken up from his nap recharged and ready to rumble. Though now, all he wanted was my love, which I was happy to give. Jazz, who's holoform was lying on the long couch while I sat on the single seat, grinned, "Well…"

"Don't answer that." Sideswipe snapped at him.

Bear was content as I ran my fingers through his fur. It was hysterical to me that the pup had such a strong distaste for Sideswipe, but it also made me curious. Bear was very picky when it came to who he liked. He adored me and loved playing with the kids. Bear also obviously liked Sunstreaker and listened to every word the mech said to him. Hell, as much as Bear loved me he still sometimes obeyed Sunstreaker better. However, he wasn't a fan of any of the other mechs. Bear typically paid them no mind, but Sideswipe was the only one he was outwardly rude to.

"Why do we even need it around? Isn't the house crowded as is?"

"I'm not getting rid of Bear just because he growls at you." I rolled my eyes good-naturedly.

"I'm just saying. Grimlock is not going to be happy when he comes home tonight and sees you cuddling with some furry, organic…thing." Sideswipe spat out and I rolled my eyes at his expense.

The front door opened and I glanced over to see Aubrey and Wes come in with the kids. Tyler was already happily sprinting up the stairs calling out for Bluestreak while Peter drifted off into the kitchen after shooting Wes a small glare. My attention was drawn to Taylor who stood at the base of the stairs with a frown. Aubrey heaved a sigh, "Are you sure you don't wanna talk about it, sweetie?"

Taylor shook her head and worry blossomed inside me. Something was bothering my little niece and I wasn't about to stand for that. Bear noticed me shifting in my seat and he hopped down so I could get up.

"Hey Taylor", I called out with a smile, "I'm gonna go walk Bear. Wanna come with?"

She glanced over at me at the sound of my question, but her sad eyes darted up the stairs when Bumblebee's holoform began to quickly hurry down, "Taylor? Are you ok?"

"Ok. I'm going to go with Aj." Taylor replied and reopened the front door. Bear bounded over to her with his tongue flapping out and she stepped out with him. Wes, Aubrey, and Bumblebee all shot me a worried look.

I gave them a quick, reassuring nod, "I got this."

Without another word, I stepped outside to see Taylor playing with Bear in the lawn with a small smile on her lips. It didn't reach her eyes and I wondered what could have possibly upset her at school today. She had been so happy and carefree this morning. Her usual cheerful self.

"Come on, kiddo!" I chirped and began to walk down the sidewalk with her by my side and Bear bounding in front and around us. We didn't have a leash for him yet, or even a collar for that matter, but he was very good about sticking around us. The two of us walked for a few minutes in silence. I was hoping she would approach the topic of her discomfort on her own rather than me prying. Luck was on my side, because by the time we reached the end of our street she finally spoke up.

"Aj", She sighed, "Can I ask you something?"

"You can always ask me anything." I stressed.

Taylor paused before nodding, "Is it weird that I like transformers?"

My steps came to a stop as I glanced down at her, "Why would you think that?"

"I-" Taylor's bottom lip began to tremble and I could see her on the verge of tears, "Ricky said I shouldn't like transformers. That it was for boys and I was weird." I opened my mouth to speak, but Taylor began to speak again in a rush, "And Sam and Leslie don't like transformers, they only like the Barbie show and Princesses and maybe I am weird and maybe I should change and like something-"

"Taylor." I said softly and knelt down in front of her with a grunt. The position wasn't the most comfortable for my abdomen, but I couldn't care less about that right now. "Honey, nothing is wrong with you liking transformers. You're not weird, and you shouldn't change."

Taylor didn't seem too convinced by my words, "Are you sure?"

"I am positive. Have I ever been wrong before?" I grinned at her.

Taylor's lips twitched slightly as she rubbed at her eyes, "No."

Fear crept into my mind at the thought of my precious, fragile Taylor having to grow up dealing with the world around her. I planned to be there every step of the way as she grew up, but what if something happened to me?

"Taylor", I said slowly, "I'm going to tell you something that I want you to always remember. I need you to make me a promise. Can you do that?" She nodded as Bear whined and came to stand on top of her feet. He was ready to keep walking, but I needed to get this across to her. "Don't you ever let anyone tell you what you can or can't do. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't like this or that. Don't you ever, ever let them make you small."

"But Aj, I am small." Taylor threw her hands up in distress.

I chuckled, "Right now, yes Taylor, you are physically small, but I can see your heart and it's big and strong and you can't let anyone change that." I cupped her face with a grin, "Taylor Williams, you are a gorgeous girl with a big heart and one day you are going to do amazing things. Promise me, right now, that you won't ever let anyone dull your shine. Be who you are because who you are is my absolute favorite person in the universe."

"Really?" Taylor asked as the sadness began to drain from her features.

"Really, really."

She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around me tightly. Taylor leaned her head against my shoulder, "I promise, Aj. I promise."

"Good girl." I rubbed her back. Bear began to whine loudly again and I laughed, "Let's get walking before Bear whines our ears off."

Taylor giggled and pulled away to show the dog some love. We walked around the rest of the block before making our way back home. When we walked through the front door she ran upstairs with struggling to follow her up the stairs. About halfway, she stopped to help Bear and continued to look for her twin.

I walked into the kitchen and stopped when I realized it was filled with nearly the entire household. Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bluestreak, Optimus, Ratchet, Prowl, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Megatron, and Soundwave all stood in the kitchen with Wes and Aubrey. All eyes turned to me for the second time that day and I narrowed my eyes at them in return, "What?"

Aubrey grinned, "We came up with a plan, Aimee." She stepped toward me with a shake of her head, "We have to go with them to their universe."

I blinked in surprise, "Wait, what? How was this decision made? I was gone for like two minutes."

"If we go with them, the people coming after Aubrey and I wouldn't be able to find us." Wes explained, "We'd be safe from them. All of us."

Aubrey shrugged, "It isn't a perfect plan, but it will work. We're going with them, Aimee. All of us are."

My eyes were wide in shock and as I glanced around the room I was able to gauge a variety of reactions. There were smiles and looks of content, but it was balanced out with nearly an equal amount of concerned looks.

"That's great." I said as upbeat as I possibly could. The conversation turned to the minor details as Aubrey and Wes began to rattle off questions to the surrounding mechs. Excitement was buzzing underneath my skin. This was good news. I'd get to be with the kids, I'd never have to say good-bye to the mechs who had become like family to me, and now I'd get to be side by side with my sister and maybe we can fully fix what was broken so long ago. However, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that couldn't be shaken off or ignored. It was the kind of feeling I got in the fighting ring when my guard was down and I was about to be sucker punched. It was the kind of warning that rang loudly in my head before everything went incredibly wrong.

Someone walked up behind me and set their hands on both my shoulders. They gave me a comforting squeeze as I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to push my paranoia and worry away.

_'Everything is going to fine. Things are working perfectly.'_

The words sounded like a thought in my mind, but the voice wasn't my own internal voice. It was deeper, darker. It was painfully familiar.

_'Kestuz, my warrior, be calm.'_

I whipped around to face whoever was standing behind me only to come face to face with nothing. The foyer was empty and nobody had been behind me at all. I lifted my hand to lightly touch my left shoulder. What the hell had just happened?

"Aj?" I slowly turned back around to see Jazz looking at me skeptically, "You alright, sweetspark?" I glanced around the room once more. Others were beginning to notice that something wasn't quite right with me. Before any of them could question me further I pasted on a large smile and nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, never better."


	33. Haunted

* * *

_"It's not the future you are afraid of. It's the fear of the past repeating itself that haunts you." –T.W.W._

* * *

 

_It was a downpour. The rain was coming down so hard that it stung as it pelted against my bare arms. Everything around me was dark. The black pavement beneath my feet, the black clouds above my head, and even the water that poured down seemed to be black. The only light source came from the crackling lighting that bounced from cloud to cloud above me, and all it revealed was that I was completely and utterly alone._

_"_ Aubrey _!" I screamed, but I could barely hear my own words over the pouring rain. I stumbled forward, my wet clothes sticking to my skin, and my bare feet started to slip against the slick ground. "Kids! Granny!"_

_There was no one to hear my cries, no one to save me from this storm. My body began to shake and my teeth clattered together as if I was freezing, but I felt nothing. I couldn't even feel the rain against my skin anymore._

_"_ Help me _!" I screamed as loud as I could._

_Suddenly, there was no sound. The rain stopped as if someone upstairs had spun the knob of a faucet. My ears were faintly ringing from the sudden cessation of sound. The quiet made my shaky breaths sound thunderous._

_"Let the storm consume you. Fulfill your role." My mother's voice whispered in my ear. I spun around, wet hair slapping against my face, but I couldn't see a thing. Lighting crackled in the clouds above, briefly lighting the sky, and it proved to me once again that I was alone._

_"Help me." The words came out as a hushed mumble this time._

_Thunder rumbled above and I lifted my head just in time to see a flash of lighting strike me down._

"Aimee."

My eyes snapped open expecting cold rain or worse, an electrifying death, but all I could see was Aubrey standing in front of me with her eyes cast down to the small pad in her hand. She continued to scribble onto the paper as I tried to catch my breath. What the hell?

"You human sleep funny." Grimlock said from across the room. He was curled up on the floor in front of the downstairs bathroom. I stared at him for a moment before rubbing at my face and lying my head back down onto the pillow I had fallen asleep on.

At his words, Aubrey finally glanced down at me. Her face filled with worry and she took a seat on the edge of the couch by my stomach, "Aimee, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I replied with a tired sigh, "Just had a…bad dream."

"You had a nightmare?" Aubrey questioned in disbelief. She glanced away before looking back at me in confusion, "Do you still get those?"

"What do you mean?"

Aubrey shrugged, "I remember as a kid you used to get really bad nightmares. It was right before mom died."

I forced myself to sit up and lean against the back of the couch, "It was a weird nightmare that didn't mean anything, Aubs. Chill out."

Rather than letting it go, she lifted her hand to feel my forehead. I brushed her away, and she let me with a frown, "You haven't been sleeping well for the past two weeks. Are you getting sick?"

"Sick and tired of your questions, yes." I snapped. Her face only filled with more worry and I sighed, "I just need another hour of sleep. Why did you come in? What's with the pad?"

Aubrey paused and based on the look in her eye I could tell she was considering putting up a fight, but slowly it died away. Good, I was too tired to argue. The last thing I wanted to do was accidentally snap at her again. She waved the notepad slightly, "I'm running errands today. Was wondering if you needed anything?"

"No. I'm good." I replied and flopped back down. "Are you picking the kids up today or am I?"

Aubrey shook her head and stood back up, "Rosie is picking them up today. I'll be back way before she drops them off though. Oh, I'm also taking Jackie, Sunstreaker, and Bear today."

I groaned and sat back up, "Why?"

"Jackie needs supplies from the hardware store and Bear has that vet appointment today. I need Sunstreaker to keep him calm. I was thinking about asking you to come, but I want you to rest." Aubrey explained. I'm sure Sunstreaker was just thrilled with being my pup's babysitter.

"He was just at the vet."

Aubrey rolled her eyes, "This is his final check-up."

"Bear!" I yelled loudly. A faint bark could be heard followed by the sound of his nails on the wooden floors. He was coming from upstairs.

"I'm also taking him to the groomers to get his nails cut before he permanently damages my floors." Aubrey added, "The mechs did enough damage as is."

I grinned, "Maybe you should take them to the groomers."

"Ha ha."

Bear slid through the foyer, I could hear his paws, and rushed into the room. He jumped onto the couch into my lap and I hugged him in response as he licked my face. Grimlock growled from across the room. Bear and Grimlock actually got along really, really well. The two had kicked it off when we finally picked Grimlock up from Josh's parent's land. The only time they didn't get along was when it came to me showing love. Grimlock didn't like it when I cuddled with Bear and vice versa.

"You be a good boy for Aubrey. Get your nails all did up." I said in a baby voice. As I said this, Sunstreaker's holoform came into view and as I suspected he didn't look super pleased. I grinned up at him and spoke in the baby voice again, "You too, streaky-baby. Be a good boy, you hear?"

Sunstreaker growled and leaned to the side to yell in the direction of the kitchen, "That isn't even a good nickname. It doesn't count!"

" _Does too_!" Sideswipe yelled back.

"Come here." Sunstreaker snapped. Bear gave me one last round of kisses before jumping off my lap and going to sit by Sunstreaker's feet happily. He turned to Aubrey, "Wheeljack said he'll meet us in the truck."

Aubrey smiled, "That's great." She glanced back down at her list and I could tell she was mentally double checking everything. It was interesting to see Aubrey and Sunstreaker have a civil conversation though. I guess it was interesting to see them all get along with Aubrey and Wes both. I knew it would happen eventually, but I thought it would take more than a couple weeks. Still, I was plenty happy that things around the house had gotten back to normal. As normal as this house could be, at least. "Call me if you need anything, Aimee."

I mumbled an acknowledgement and watched them leave to the foyer before sinking back into the couch cushions. Aubrey's words floated back into my mind. My last nightmare hadn't been back when I was a kid, but it had been a while. The last series of nightmares that I could remember was back when I first started living in this house. I dreamt of the ring and my fights in it. Since then though, I had been sleeping relatively fine. Better than fine, even. So where were these nightmares coming from all of a sudden? There hadn't been a single night this week or last where I hadn't had a bad dream. They had all been different, but two things were always the same: I was always alone and my mother always spoke to me.

It took a while, but I now remembered my near death hallucination that night I got shot. I remembered my mom showing up and speaking to me. Whatever it was she had said that night was a blur, but for some reason I kept hearing her in my nightmares now. It was far from a pleasant experience.

A body dropped down on the couch by my feet startling me. I sat up slightly to see Jazz's holoform with his arm draped across the back of the couch. He grabbed my feet and stretched them out so they rested across his lap. Jazz was one of the few mechs in the house that had multiple holoform outfits. I had seen the original with the dark green shirt and gray jeans, the more formal suit, and now this one. He had on a plain red t-shirt on under a black, bomber style jacket and jeans.

"You ok, sweetspark?"

"I'm fine. Honestly." I said out of habit.

Jazz didn't look too convinced, "Alright, but if you don' get some real rest Hatchet's gonna come in 'ere lookin' for you."

"That's a threat if I ever heard one." I snorted, "Where is everyone else?"

"Wes is upstairs with Ratchet an' OP now. Everyone else is in the garage."

"Not everyone." Sideswipe's voice sang out before he stepped into. He came from the hallway across the room and he dropped down onto the two-seat couch so I could see him and his wide grin.

I sat up slightly, placing my head on the armrest, and lifted my hands to sign. At about a medium speed, I signed, ' _Shouldn't you be guarding the garage or something?_ '

Sideswipe's grin widened and he signed back, ' _I'm on break. Did you miss me?'_

Over the past week, Sideswipe had somehow convinced me to only sign to him. It helped his learning process a lot. The mech had gone from understanding little to being able to hold a conversation. I was more surprised in myself. There were a few things I had to look up and re-learn, but it came back fairly easily. Granny found out only a couple days ago that I knew ASL and was overjoyed. She could easily answer any questions I had since.

 _'Why the hell would I miss you?'_ I signed with a smile then turned my attention to Jazz, "Can you hand me the remote control?"

Jazz smirked, "Oh, _now_ I'm allowed into your conversation? When you need me for somethin'?"

I nudged him with my foot, "Hush, and hand me the remote. I'll put on a garbage horror movie if you do."

"Sold." Jazz replied before scooping up the remote from the armrest beside him and handing it to me. Since I didn't feel like turning on Netflix, I just scrolled through the channels until it landed on ' _SyFy_ '. Lucky for me, or for Jazz really, some werewolf movie was playing, but I didn't recognize it as one I had seen.

Grimlock moved so he was sitting in the same position behind the couch Sideswipe sat on. This way he could see the TV as well. About half an hour into the movie, I was already bored. However, I was much too content to move. Not only was the couch a trap of comfort, but Jazz was absentmindedly massaging my feet. I only considered it an absentminded action because all his attention was focused on the movie playing. Grimlock and Sideswipe seemed just as enamored by the unrealistic gore playing on the digital screen.

So instead of watching the movie, I turned my attention to watch my mechs. Jazz sat in the same position he had started in with one hand resting on the back of the couch and the other squeezing my foot. His face was drawn in serious lines as he focused intently on the movie. Grimlock had been the only vocal one in the room. He remained lying down, but anytime a character did something stupid on screen resulting in someone's death or his or her own, he'd grunt and mutter something insulating about my race. Seeing the decisions made in this movie, I was mostly inclined to agree with his comments. Sideswipe, on the other hand, was leaning forward now. His elbows resting on his thighs and his eyes were wide. I stared at the entertained emotions on his face in amusement when something odd caught my eye.

Sideswipe was one of the few mechs in the house who had a holoform with scruff. His lower jawline was unshaven, but never out of place or messy. It suited him very well in my own opinion. The dark brown stubble seemed to match his carefree personality. However, at the moment, there was something stuck in his scruff. It was on the right side of his face closer to his ear than his chin. I narrowed my eyes and realized the light patch wasn't paint or something caught in the stubble. It was just blond hair. Sideswipe had a patch of blond stubble among the dark brown. I continued to stare at it, half expecting it to disappear and just be an exhausted hallucination on my part, but the opposite happened. The patch grew.

"What the hell?"

Jazz's grip tightened around my foot, "What's wrong?" I could feel Jazz's gaze on me and I could see that Grimlock had raised his head in my direction, but I kept my gaze locked on Sideswipe who now stared back at me in concern. His eyebrows scrunched together, a question in itself.

"Sides." I breathed and sat up in my seat, "Your face."

"My what?" Sideswipe questioned and raised a hand to feel his cheek.

Jazz turned to look at Sideswipe and I swear I could hear a muted chuckle come from him. I shook my head, "You're turning blond! What's wrong with your holoform?"

Sideswipe's face paled of all emotion before his holoform disappeared entirely in a quick flicker of light. Worry grabbed a hold of me and before I could register what was happening, I was off the couch and rushing through the foyer. Jazz called after me, but didn't follow. I took the stairs two at a time and didn't stop until I burst into my bedroom. Ratchet's holoform was sitting on the edge of my bed while Wes sat in the desk chair and Optimus' holoform stood off to the side.

"Is everything alright?" Optimus questioned in concern.

My eyes shot down to the few-parked cars sitting against the wall. A lot of the mechs had moved their alt forms elsewhere. Prowl and Wheeljack typically parked in Peter's room in the same way Bluestreak and Bumblebee parked in the twins' room. The only three mechs who stayed put in my room were Ratchet, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe. I walked across the room, ignoring the stares, and sat down in front of Sideswipe's alt mode.

"Hey!" I barked at him then knocked on his front hood, "You can't sit there and hide from me."

Wes cleared his throat, "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" I cried in frustration and turned my head slightly to look at Ratchet, "I think Sides' holoform is malfunctioning. Can you get him to talk so we can fix it?"

Ratchet scoffed, "You say ' _we_ ' as if _you_ would have anything to do with the ' _fixing_ ' procedure." He shook his head, "The chances of a holoform malfunctioning is slim. If it were happening we'd be able to detect the code degrading."

"You say ' _we_ ' as if _I_ would feel anything." I threw his own words back at him and he glared at me in return.

Sideswipe groaned and I turned my head back to him. He seemed to sink down on his tires. Optimus knelt down beside me, "Sideswipe, is all well with you?"

"Nothing is wrong." Sideswipe began to transform so Optimus offered me a hand to pull me up and away from the mech. I stayed by Optimus' side while Sideswipe rotated his shoulders. "My holoform is fine."

"Then why was your scruff turning blond?" I motioned toward the same spot on my own cheek. Ratchet let out a defeated sigh making Sideswipe's shoulders slump. "Sides?"

He groaned before beginning to sign to me, ' _Can we talk about it later_?'

It was always harder for me to understand his sign when he was in his bipedal mode, but I made do. I frowned and signed back, ' _No, now.'_

_'Alone then?'_

Wes chuckled, "I can't believe you taught a Cybertronian sign language."

"To be fair, he mostly taught himself." I argued lightly, "I just help him practice."

"Still."

Sideswipe heaved another sigh before marching forward and scooping me up. I argued about being carried, Ratchet argued about being careful, but Sideswipe ignored every complaint and walked out into the hall. At first, I thought he was taking me to Aubrey's bedroom, it seemed that's the place we had more than one heart to spark, but he turned to the right and set me down in the twins' room. I sat down on the edge of Taylor's bed and watched as he shut the door.

"Why are we in here? I thought you were taking me to Aubrey's room."

Sideswipe twisted in amusement, "Well I didn't wanna be in there right now so I figured you'd _definitely_ not want to be in there." I opened my hands out in a universal ' _why_?' motion. His smirk grew, "You didn't know? Your sister and her mate interfaced in there this morn-"

" _No_!" I covered my ears and shook my head, "No, no. Just stop, you little devil."

"I thought you were curious?"

"I don't ever need to know anything about the intricate details of my sister's sex life? Ok? Husband or no husband, it's just- no. No." I shook my head in disgust. "They can do whatever the hell they want as long as I know nothing about it." Sideswipe laughed and took a seat right in front of me. He was big enough that the top of his head still came about mid way up on my face. I glared at him, "How would you like it if you knew all about Sunstreaker's exploits?"

Sideswipe's grin grew, "Well, considering the two of us have the same spark-"

"Oh shut up. Nevermind. I hate you." For the briefest moment I had forgotten the two of them were connected in such a way. I'd blame it on the exhaustion. What did that mean for their personal, private lives though? Did they…? Nope. Nevermind. I was way too tired to let my mind trail down that rabbit hole. I huffed and crossed my arms, "Explain what the frag is going on with your stupid holoform."

Sideswipe's smile faltered slightly and the mech looked slightly embarrassed and ashamed. It was beyond odd to see that kind of expression on Sideswipe's face and I almost didn't even recognize it. His eyes darted away and he scratched at the base of his neck, "It's really nothing, Aj."

"If it's nothing then just tell me."

He sighed before forcing his eyes back to mine, "I lied to you."

My eyes narrowed at him, "You lied to me? About what?"

"It was by omission mostly." Sideswipe reached forward and grabbed my hand. His fingers played with the silver autobot bracelet briefly before settling on drawing figures on my wrist. I stayed silent and waited for him to continue. "Wheeljack told you that our holoforms are based on our sparks. It's what we would look like as humans. Sort of. And that's true."

"Then what isn't true?"

"I let you believe that my holoform was the same way, but it isn't. Mine is different." Sideswipe admitted in a melancholy tone. "You know how Jazz had them reprogram his holoform to change his optic color?" I nodded once. "Well, I had Ratchet reprogram my holoform completely to look how I wanted it to."

I blinked in surprise, "Your true holoform isn't the one I've seen?" He shook his head and I continued, "Then what do you look like?"

"I look a lot more like Sunny's holoform. Not identical. Not like human twins." Sideswipe replied, "But more like brothers than we do now as holoforms." He paused again but continued to trace circles on my wrist, "It's just a different program I run through my holoform systems, but it glitched today for some reason. Maybe it's these bodies or something…" Sideswipe shrugged, "Wheeljack can fix it when he gets back."

I shook my head, "I wanna see it before he does."

"Aj-"

"Seriously, Sides. Why did you change?"

Sideswipe forced a smile, "Sunny and I looked enough alike that humans were getting us mixed up. They started avoiding me too and that was no fun so I had Ratchet write me a new program."

I knew he was lying. I could see it on his face. Maybe it was something I wouldn't have been able to tell when I first met him, but I was getting surprisingly good at reading Sideswipe. Both in bipedal mode and holoform. I shook my head at him, "That's not it. Maybe it's a part of it, but there's more to it. You can tell me, you know?"

Sideswipe stopped tracing shapes on my wrist and instead his grip tightened around my hand, "I just…I didn't like it, Aj."

"Were you…insecure about it? I mean, I haven't seen an ugly holoform yet. Cybertron is obviously the planet of damn supermodels."

Sideswipe chuckled and shook his head, "You haven't met many Cybertronians, babe."

"Everyone is insecure about something Sideswipe." I reassured him, though it seemed weird to do so. Sideswipe was always such a confident mech in everything he did. I couldn't picture him being insecure about anything, "For example, I'm the ugly sister."

Sideswipe narrowed his eyes at me, " _Hey_ -"

"I don't mean it like that. I mean, I kinda do, but listen." I shook my head and readjusted my hand so I was the one holding onto him, "I know I'm not ugly, but I also know I'm not like Aubrey. She's _gorgeous_ , inside and out. Sometimes I feel like a hobo when I go out with her in public, but I stopped letting that bother me. Don't let anything or anyone stop you from being you."

Sideswipe shook his head at me with a sigh, "You're killing me, babe. You know that?" I narrowed my eyes at him, but he responded by pulling my hand closer to his face. My instinct was to tug away and question him, but the look in his eyes told me I could trust him. This was Sideswipe after all. He dragged my fingers to a spot above the left side of his lips, "Feel there and down."

He let go of my hand, but my fingers still hovered above the spot he led me too. Cautiously, I let my fingers brush against his face. I was expecting to feel the smooth texture that I could see, but my fingers brushed against something rough. I followed the rough, jagged line down to his lips all the way to the end of his chin. It didn't stop there though. The line continued all the way down his throat until his armored neck plate hid it.

"Sideswipe?"

"It was a fight. Back when we were gladiators." His voice was quiet and rough, "It was during our prime, when we were the most popular. I got cocky and one of the mechs we were fighting got a good hit in. Sliced my faceplate up real good. I lost a lot of energon, Sunny had to finish the fight for both of us." Sideswipe paused and his eyes got a far away look in them, "I saw how bad it looked when they were patching me up. It was _ugly_ , Aj, and…and ugly gladiators don't sell. It's bad for business." Sideswipe grabbed my hand and pulled it away from his face, "They used some tech. It was off world tech, Ratchet doesn't even know how it works, but it was a cosmetic program. It hides the scar in this form, but it's still technically there which means when I go over to holoform..." He dropped my hand, "The others don't get it. Other mechs have no problem with scars showing on their holoform. Pit, Ironhide's holoform walks around with the scar over his face no problem…Wheeljack too. You've seen the thin scar on the side of his holoform's face, but it's different. They got those scars _protecting_. I got it in an underground fight for credits."

"Hey, Sides-"

"And maybe it _is_ a vanity thing. I can't _help_ it though." Sideswipe was rambling now, his eyes were distant like he was lost in a memory. "That's how Sunny and I grew up. I'm usually better at hiding it, but that scar just ruins it all. We have to look _perfect_ , Aj. We have to _be_ perfect, we have to-"

I leaned forward and set my hands on his shoulders, "Sides! _Stop_!" His eyes grew clearer as he focused back on me. I bit my own lip in thought. "You… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring all this up. I get it. I'm sorry. You don't have to show me anything or explain anything more."

The urge to say 'sorry' again surfaced, but I knew it didn't really change much. Hearing the small memory he had just shared cut me deep. The way he talked about gladiators being sold. It made me livid.

Sideswipe pulled my hands away and began to transform back to his alt mode. Despair settled in my stomach as I thought the worst. Had I said or done something wrong? Comforting others had always been difficult, but I wanted to be there for Sideswipe as much as I could. As much as he'd let me.

There was energy in the air suddenly. I recognized it as a holoform forming beside me. I stood up as the holoform slowly took shape, seated on Taylor's bed. An unfamiliar man was now sitting in front of me with his head down, but I knew it to be Sideswipe. I took in the similarities first. His skin tone was the same and so was the spark spatter that looked like a tattoo on his left arm. That's about where it ended though. This holoform's shoulders were more broad than the other one. His body shape looked more like Sunstreaker's now. He wore a plain white t-shirt and sweatpants with the red autobot insignia over the pocket. The default outfit for holoforms.

Sideswipe slowly stood up and I realized another similarity was the height. He was still the same height. The sides of his head were shaved very short and he used a hand to push back the medium length dark blond hair that sat on top of his head. When pushed back it seemed to stick up in various directions messily. He stared down at me with the same blue eyes with a dark indigo undertone. His face was now more square and stocky than oval and lean in shape and his chin was less angular and more broad. This holoform had scruff as well all around his mouth and up his jawline, but it was a tad bit longer and didn't go all the way back up to meet his short sideburns. There was a gap between the two.

"Hi, babe." He smiled and the first thing I noticed was he didn't have dimples anymore. The second thing I noticed was the scar. It started between his nose and lips, off to the left side of his face, and went down past his lips, down his chin, and onwards to his throat. The scar was jagged around the edges, not clean and thin like Wheeljack's, and it caused the left side of his upper lip to be raised slightly more than the right. This caused his face to no longer be exactly symmetrical as it was before. "Humans used to ask questions when they saw it too. I was never a fan of reliving those memories."

"And I made you do it anyway." I mumbled in shame.

Sideswipe shook his head, "You're different, babe. We're connected by a magical, fake bond, remember?"

"I like this holoform better." I said honestly. The look on his face told me he didn't believe me, but it was the honest truth. Seeing his old holoform, I thought it fit him perfectly. It was all I had seen and known though, and it definitely fit him well so it made sense. However, seeing this holoform now? It clicked way more than the other did. "I'm serious, Sides. I know you hate that scar and you have every reason to, but it's just another shitty day that you beat. It's another stone on the path that led you here today."

I grabbed his hand and brought it up to the right side of my face. He narrowed his eyes in confusion, but I dragged his hand toward the back of my skull where I knew an indented, jagged line would be. His fingers found it and traced the old scar as I let my own hands pull away from his.

"Boss did that to me a long time ago. Back when I first started working for him. He hit me in the back of the head because he said he didn't want to scar up my face." I explained, "I hated thinking about that memory, thinking about that scar, and for the longest time I was glad it was hidden in all my hair. Now though? I wouldn't care if it were visible because it's just more proof that I was stronger than him. I survived and he didn't. And all those shitty days, all those hits, led me here." I lifted my hand to cup the side of his face, letting my thumb trace the scar that cut through his lips, "This is just external proof that you're stronger than your demons."

I grinned and pushed myself up to my tiptoes so I could press my lips against the corner of his lips where the scar was more prominent then pulled away, "I don't care which holoform you choose to use, my favorite you will always be the bright, red idiot."

Sideswipe grinned and I turned to leave the room. As I pulled the door open he called out to me making me turn around. There was a soft smile on his features, "You're special, you know that? To me?" I opened my mouth to reply, but he pasted his typical wide grin on his features making the holoform's face light up in the same way Sideswipe's real face would anytime he smiled. "And you are, without a doubt, the _loveliest_ damn human in the universe."

"Oh, please." I rolled my eyes.

"I know this for a fact, babe." He replied cheekily, "Because you're the only human Sunstreaker has ever wanted to paint." I began to argue, but he didn't let me, "He never drew a human until we came here. And he draws all of you, all the time, yes, but you're the only one he's ever wanted to really paint. Drawing he likes, but painting is special to him. And if he was here right now, he would offline me for saying so."

I smiled and I could feel heat on my cheeks from an embarrassed blush. I lifted my hands and signed to him, ' _You guys are important to me too. Dork.'_

Without waiting for him to reply, I left the room and walked down the hall to my own room to grab a pair of workout shorts, sports bra, and tank top. Luckily, Ratchet hadn't been in the room to question me. After changing in the bathroom I hurried downstairs to grab a pair of my tennis shoes. I was exhausted, yes, but it was mostly my mind that felt it. My body was restless. Hopefully, a jog would settle my weary mind and be a good release of physical energy.

"You going out for a run?" Wes questioned as he left the kitchen to stop me at the front door.

"Yeah, but if I don't leave in the next two seconds, Ratchet is going to put a screeching halt to that plan." I replied and pulled the door open just as Ratchet's voice yelled out my name from the garage. Wes followed me out, stepping into a pair of tennis shoes sitting on the porch, and jogged beside me down the porch and away from the house. "What are you doing?"

"Mind if I join you?" Wes asked with a grin.

I noticed he was already wearing clothes that could be used for working out in. Sweatpants and an old t-shirt. With a shrug, I nodded, "Sure, but I figured you would've gotten enough of a work out this morning with my sister."

"W-What?" Wes stumbled, but I continued my long strides without pause. A shit-eating grin decorated my face as he struggled to regain his composure and catch up.

* * *

 

Thundercracker stared out the kitchen window curiously. Ratchet had stormed out of the garage just a klik ago, trying to catch the femme before she left, but missed Aj by a few nano-kliks. She had run down the street with the new human male by her side. It confused him to no slagging end.

A little over an orn ago, Aj was more than content with hating the male with every fiber of her being. Now though? Now she was almost friendly to him. There were times when he'd catch sight of her glaring at the back of his helm or shooting him a dirty look, but it always seemed to pass. She always seemed to move past the anger.

Thundercracker didn't see her as the forgiving type.

He rubbed the back of his neck with his holoform's servo and forced himself away from the window. As he moved to go upstairs, he wrung his servos together. He felt restless. It came from the lack of time in the air. The ache wasn't as noticeable in his holoform, one of the reasons why he didn't mind staying in this form, but it was still there. Thundercracker knew that if he were in his bipedal mode, his wings would be twitching and sore.

He hated, more than anything, being grounded for long periods of time.

As he reached the top of the stairs, the mech he was looking for came into sight. Sideswipe's alt mode was parked outside of the open bathroom door. As Thundercracker stepped closer, he heard the tell tale signs of a holoform being dismissed and Sideswipe transformed into his bipedal mode nano-kliks after.

He came to a stop and after Sideswipe was fully transformed and settled, the red mech shook his helm, "What? Can I help you?"

"What were you doing in there?" Thundercracker asked with narrowed optics. Sideswipe scoffed, but made no move to answer him. It didn't bother Thundercracker all that much because he didn't really care what the mech was up to. The question had just been a reaction. He forced his servos to his side, "I have a question about Aj. I thought you might know the answer."

Sideswipe's optics became curious, "What is it?"

"Why is she so…civil to the human male? She wanted to offline him not long ago."

Sideswipe let out a short laugh, confusing him further. The frontliner crossed his arms and leaned casually against the wall, "Isn't it obvious?"

"If it was would I be asking?"

The mech chuckled again, "Her sister asked her to play nice." Sideswipe must have noticed the confusion written on his face. "Aubrey asked Aj to give him a chance. So she is."

"Why?" Thundercracker pressed.

Sideswipe frowned, "Haven't you noticed? Aj is the type to put other's needs before her own. Despite all the big talk of ' _doing whatever the hell she wants_ ', Aj's actions almost always follow the line of putting everyone but herself first." Thundercracker couldn't put a digit on the tone Sideswipe held. It wasn't disdain or disappointment, but there was a negative undertone. It almost sounded regretful or worried. "But with her sister? I don't think there is anything in all the worlds that Aj wouldn't do for her."

"I see." Thundercracker replied in a low voice. It made sense now and he partly wondered how he didn't see it before. He could also understand Sideswipe's tone now. The thought of some lowly human having that much control over someone he found he cared for made his tanks turn uncomfortably.

Thundercracker didn't like Aubrey, he didn't like Wes either for that matter. Forgiving was not in his nature and considering their actions had hurt Aj and the younglings at some point, he saw it fit they didn't deserve his forgiveness even if he were the type to hand it out. That didn't mean he outwardly showed his thoughts. Thundercracker just put up with them in the same way he would end up putting up with other, random organics once he got back to their own universe. The only humans he sincerely enjoyed the company of was Joshua and Rosie, to a degree.

His holoform heaved a sigh as he once again has to remind himself that there were other humans. Aj and the younglings were very much human. The new, strange bond that sat at the edge of his spark made it difficult to remember that. For all sense and purposes, they didn't give off a human reading. Due to all the spark radiation they absorbed, they gave off very Cybertronian like energy signals. Aj, who always tended to keep her true emotion to herself, didn't give off a very big energy field, but it was still there. It only grew easier to read when he went through the upgrade allowing him to feel her strong emotions over the bond. The twin younglings gave off huge energy fields and bit back no emotion whatsoever. Peter's was more subdued, but the distaste he felt toward Wes was almost palpable.

Aj and the younglings were human. He needed to remember that.

" _You know, talking to you isn't so bad_." Sideswipe suddenly said in cybertronian. Thundercracker raised his holoform's eyebrow at the statement, an action he saw Aj do often. Sideswipe grinned, " _Don't think this changes anything though. My jetpack is itching for a round of jet judo."_

The mech stalked away leaving Thundercracker in the hall alone. His servos began to wring together again like a nervous tic. At this point, he would welcome the dangers of jet judo if it meant being in the air again.

* * *

 

Wes was a good running partner. He didn't fall behind, which wasn't a big surprise considering he was supposedly the American version of James Bond or something, and best of all he didn't talk. I wasn't a huge runner. I did the trick of getting my blood pumping and my head clear, but I much preferred sparring or practicing on a bag then running around the neighborhood. However, the times I did run I came with the goal of just running. I didn't want to have a conversation I just wanted to sweat and forget my troubles.

"Hey, I got a question."

Looks like I commended him too soon.

I rolled my eyes and focused on the sidewalk under my feet. We had been running maybe thirty minutes now and our direction was talking us back to the house. However, it'd be another ten minutes or so before we were actually there. We ran out pretty far.

"We had something special happening, Wes." I replied while trying to keep my breathing steady, "Don't screw it up with words."

Wes chuckled and kept quiet. The two of us continued on down the road. We kept going until the house was in sight, it was small and in the distance, but it could now be seen.

"Hold up." Wes slowed to a jog then to a walk. I forced myself to match my pace, despite wanting to continue forward, "We need to talk."

"About what?" I pressed. Sure, I was on friendly, civil terms with the guy, but that didn't mean we were buddy-buddy. Hell, we were still far from it. The terms of our peace were still very fragile in my eyes.

"I want us to all go on vacation. Aubrey and me, the kids, you." He said and for a minute I was positive I had heard him wrong. Did he just say vacation? I blinked in confusion, but he just kept on, "I was thinking maybe we take a long weekend. Leave tomorrow and head to Florida. Panama City Beach isn't too far and the weather isn't too cold anymore. We can rent out a condo and just…relax. All six of us."

I shook my head, "Tomorrow is Thursday."

He smirked, "It'd be a long, long weekend. The kids could use it and so could you and Aubrey. Plus, it'd be a good opportunity to talk to the kids about traveling to another universe." He shrugged, "I wanted to get your opinion though, I wanted to know if you thought the mechs could handle staying home alone."

"They aren't toddlers." I scoffed in reply.

Wes nodded, "Exactly. With toddlers I wouldn't have to worry about a fight breaking out and my house burning down." He wasn't wrong. I bobbed my head in agreement, but didn't offer him verbal acknowledgement. "They seem ok, but I don't want to risk it if you think it'd be too much."

"They'd be fine." I said. My hand drifted up to touch my abdomen. The wound had healed over entirely, but my entire abdomen was still sore. Honestly, I was still surprised that I could run around like this.

"You ok?" Wes asked with real worry saturating his voice. He stepped toward me with an outstretched arm, but I shook my head in response.

"I'm fine."

Wes sighed, "Honestly, when I saw you were leaving for a run I was a little shocked. You're recovering extremely well." He paused before continuing, "I had a friend who got shot and he was down for months."

"Where did he get hit?" I asked curiously. That had been the recovery time I was expecting.

"It was a gut shot too, but the bullet pierced his stomach. The doctors said it wasn't pretty." Wes got lost in a memory and a part of me wanted to press him on it. I was honestly curious about this guy and his past. In my opinion, I had every right to be curious. He was with my sister after all and it was my job to make sure the skeletons in his closet didn't hurt her anymore than they did. Besides, the guy was a real life super spy. The stories I heard from Jazz were hard to connect to considering it all happened on Cybertron. Wes was an American human super spy. "You must be a really good healer."

I scoffed in amusement, "If I wasn't, I would've died a while back in the pit."

The two of us reached the end of the driveway. A part of me expected Ratchet to burst from the house and drag me back inside cursing my stubbornness, but the medic was nowhere to be seen. In his place though was my favorite autobot saboteur.

Jazz's holoform rose from where he was sitting on the porch steps when Wes and I came into view. He smiled at both of us, "Nice run?"

"I'd say so." Wes replied and walked toward the house. I lingered where I was, my eyes darting down the street. Being outside made me feel less tired. The run had done what I intended and cleared my head. I knew the moment I stepped inside though my thoughts would cloud over again and exhaustion would set in. "Aj?"

I shrugged, "I kinda wanna go around the block one more time."

"I don't think that's wise. You shouldn't push yourself too much. Super healing or not." Wes argued.

"I'll go with 'er." Jazz clapped Wes on the shoulder reassuringly before walking over to me. Jazz wore the same outfit as earlier. He tilted his sunglasses down to look at me, "But we ain't runnin'. We can walk. Deal?"

I nodded with a tight-lipped smile. Beggars can't be choosers, and I wasn't about to start being picky now. I'd just take what I could get. Jazz grinned and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets before falling into step beside me. I gave Wes a quick wave before Jazz and I began to walk down the sidewalk together. The two of us were silent, but it was a comfortable one. After about five minutes of walking, I could feel Jazz sending me glances.

"What, Jazz?" I breathed.

"Nothin'."

A chuckle fell from my lips and I turned my head to see him wearing a smirk, "Nothing my ass. What do you want? Why'd you come with me?"

Jazz shook his head, "Maybe I jus' like bein' 'round you, sweetspark."

I scoffed, "You're looking for an answer. I can tell. You got that look on your face."

"I'll have you know, that I would love nothin' more than jus' enjoyin' your presence." Jazz replied. He paused and tilted his head, "But, I do have somethin' to ask."

"Mhmm."

Jazz chuckled to himself before stopping where he was. I paused as well and turned to face him. His smile softened and his accent fell away, "Do you want to come with us to our universe?"

"We've discussed this two weeks ago, Jazz." I raised an eyebrow at him, "The kids, Wes, Aubrey…me. We're all going with y'all."

"I know that, but do you want to?" Jazz emphasized. He took a step closer to me and pushed his sunglasses to rest on top of his head. I could now see his holoform's soft brown eyes, "You'd go anywhere those younglings went, but I want to know if this is what you wanted."

I hesitated in confusion, "Well, yeah. Of course. I love you guys." Jazz didn't reply and continued to stare at me. I shrugged, "I mean, I guess I haven't seemed super excited, but I am. There are aspects of it that I'm worried about. Namely, being stepped on by a pissed off 'con, but… I know the truth now. I can't live without you guys."

As I spoke, the exhaustion I had felt earlier seemed to seep back into my bones and mind. It felt like I had aged years in only a few seconds, like the air had been sucked from my lungs. Jazz's hands cupped my face and forced me to look back up at him. It was only at that moment that I realized my gaze had fallen to his feet.

"Aj? What's wrong? Are you feeling ill?" Jazz pressed in worry.

I shook my head, "I'm just tired I guess…"

"You haven't been recharging well."

"No." I agreed. "I've been having nightmares. Do…Do cybertronians have nightmares?"

Jazz shook his head, "Not like humans. Sometimes when we recharge our processors will replay memories, but that's it. It can only be our own memories."

"Oh." I breathed. That sounded better than what I was stuck with. As much as I would hate it, I could handle reliving some old memories. Sure, it would be painful, but I survived them once before I could do it again. These nightmares though…these were different.

Jazz's thumb lightly brushed against my skin, "They're just nightmares, sweetspark. None of it is real."

"I guess, but…" I paused to try and find the right words for what I wanted to say. Things were going so well right now. Aubrey was back in my life and we were working on a better relationship. I had the three best kids in my life that loved me and forgave me for all I was. Boss was dead and gone, I never had to step into the pit ever again. I was best buddies with the cutest puppy. Not to mention, I had a group of mechs to support me and just be my friend. Hell, I was even getting along with Wes to a degree.

When was the last time my life was this good? Even while recovering from a bullet wound, I was on cloud nine. At least, I was supposed to be. Why wasn't I?

The tips of Jazz's fingers pressed into the skin at the back of my neck as his thumbs traced my jawline, "Talk to me, sweetspark, please."

"Something _bad_ is going to happen, Jazz." I whispered while letting my eyes settle on his. "Something terrible, I can feel it."

Jazz shook his head, "No. No, it's not, Aj." I nodded in argument, but he didn't stop, "Everything is ok and it's going to stay that way."

"That's not how my life works, Jazz."

"It's different now." He replied firmly.

"How?" I questioned with a frown, "How is it different?"

Jazz answered without missing a beat, "Because you have me now." His jaw clenched momentarily, "I can't-…I can't promise you that nothing bad will ever happen to you again, but I can promise you that you'll _never_ be alone."

His words were comforting, but it looked like he wanted to say more. As if there were words hanging off the tip of his tongue. He let his hands fall and took a step back, "We should go inside. Ratchet isn't happy with you."

"When is he ever really happy with me?" I joked in an attempt to hide the dread of having to go back inside.

Jazz chuckled, "I think you'd be surprised by that answer."


	34. Drabble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosie finds some curious questions in the mailbox and takes it upon herself to get them answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not technically part of the main storyline. On FF, I asked readers to send in any questions they had for the characters of this story and they did. This is the characters answering questions.

* * *

_"Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?" -Dustin (Stranger Things)_

* * *

 

Rosie pulled up to the familiar house and threw her car into park before gathering up her purse and stepping out into the cool air. These days it seemed she spent more time here than her own home, but she wouldn't have it any other way. The mechs were an interesting group to get to know, Aubrey and Wes were good people, she could just sense it, the kids were amazing, and Aimee Jane has always been a very important person to her.

She briefly stopped on her way to the porch and took a detour to check the mailbox that sat out front. She pulled the plastic door down to see a single white envelope leaning against the side. Curiously, she pulled it out and checked the address, but there was none there. On the way up to the house, she opened the letter up and began to read the couple pages that had been in it. Her eyes narrowed in confusion at the sight of multiple questions lining the page. They were specific both in content and whom it was directed toward.

"Hi, Rosie!" Bumblebee chirped as she stepped into the warm house. She glanced up to smile at him.

"Hi Granny!" Taylor and Tyler yelled as they sprinted through the foyer and into the living room. She chuckled and watched as Bumblebee's holoform chased after them with a wide grin. She stepped into the kitchen where Aubrey was washing dishes and placed her purse on the dining table.

Aubrey glanced over her shoulder, "Hey there, Rosie. How are you?"

"I'm fine." She replied offhandedly as she read through the questions. Though the questions should have brought worry and concern, something about the questions felt right to her. Rosie didn't feel they were a danger. In fact, the questions made her curious more than anything. She pulled a pen out of her purse. It'd take no time at all to get these questions answered. "Hey, Aubrey. I have a question for you."

Aubrey glanced back over at her quickly, "Oh? Ok. Go ahead."

Rosie glanced down at the paper to read it word for word, "You are going to make sure Wheeljack fixes the microwave before he leaves right?"

Aubrey let out a light laugh as her face split into a bright smile, "Oh that. Honestly, it doesn't really bother me all that much. Besides, we'll be leaving with the mechs now." She shook her head, "It's Aimee that's really bothered by it."

"What am I bothered by?" Aimee Jane asked as she breezed into the kitchen. Rosie was scribbling down the answer.

"The microwave door." Aubrey replied, "And whether it'll be fixed before we leave."

Aimee Jane was already half way through the kitchen heading to the garage. She groaned, "Jackie better fix it!"

"But we'll be gone."

Aimee Jane paused at the archway and spun around to look at them, "So? It's the _idea_ of it. He _broke_ it, he _fixes_ it."

She was gone after the statement and Rosie shook her head in amusement before walking out of the kitchen with her paper and pen in hand. Rosie made her way to the living room where she had seen the kid run in. Tyler and Peter were in there on the couch. Peter was watching TV as Tyler bounced on the couch. Taylor was nowhere to be seen anymore, but Bumblebee's holoform was standing at the back of the couch.

"Oh, we could play Jenga!" Tyler suggested to the smiling Bumblebee. "We can get Blue to come down too!"

Rosie walked over, "Tyler, I have a question for you." Peter reached over and grabbed Tyler by the arm dragging him down to a seated position without tearing his eyes from the TV. She read, "How's cadet training with Jazz going?"

Tyler's face broke out into a grin as he jumped back to his feet to bounce on the couch, "It's so good! Jazz says I'm his best cadet ever. Right, Bee?"

Bumblebee nodded, "That's what I hear."

"I'm gonna do just what Bee does. He's a scout." Tyler nodded.

Rosie quickly jotted that down before looking to Bumblebee, "Can I ask you something?"

Bumblebee's bright eyes widened in surprise, "Me? Uh, sure, Rosie."

"Are you going to keep the racing strips when you go home?"

He chuckled and lifted a hand to rub the mess of blond hair on top of his holoform's head, "Oh, hah, I think I just might." He crossed his arms with a smile, "I mean, I really like the alt mode I have here and the paint job is really neat. Plus, the door wings are starting to grow on me. Although, I'd have to convince Ratchet to let me keep the door wings."

"If my opinion means anything, I think the racing stripes are very cute on you." Rosie replied after writing down his answer. He chuckled and thanked her as she began to walk out. Her eyes caught sight of Barricade's holoform lingering in the back hallway. He was on his way to the back porch when she caught up to him, "Barricade! How are you?"

Barricade never really bothered to glare at her anymore, but he also wasn't one to start up conversations. He hummed in response, but she didn't let that deter her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Soundwave's bipedal mode standing by the kitchen's archway.

"Prowl and you have very similar paint schemes. Were you an enforcer as well?" Rosie asked and prepared her pen to take down the answer. Barricade scoffed in response and stepped outside without further response. She probably could have predicted that.

Soundwave walked over to her and stopped a few feet in front of her, "Previous occupation: Barricade was an Enforcer of Kaon. Date of Resignation: Vorns before the war."

"Why thank you, Soundwave. Stay there, I have a couple questions for you as well." She flipped through the two pages. "First, have you, Jackie, and Starscream factored in the possible time distribution of crossing dimensions? This, of course, is in hopes that you don't end up 100 years after you left."

Soundwave nodded, "Complication: Taken into consideration. Solution: None available."

Rosie waited to see if he was going to elaborate, but when he didn't she continued on. "Ok, now, answer if you'd like, but…when you get back, what is the first thing you and your cassettes are going to do?"

Soundwave didn't immediately answer. He stood there staring ahead, though Rosie couldn't pinpoint exactly where he was looking due to the facemask, but she waited patiently. The silence grew awkward before Soundwave turned around and walked away. She didn't know much about these cassettes, but Aimee Jane had mentioned they were like kids to him. Rosie understood his hesitance to share and moved on down the list.

She made her way upstairs next and was happy to see the seekers, all three in their holoforms, about to walk down the stairs. She stopped them with a smile, "Can I ask you three something?"

Starscream looked like he wanted to continue on, but Thundercracker came to a stop and Skywarp agreed instantly with a cheeky grin. She turned to Starscream first, "Starscream, are you happy to be using your science background again?"

The mech looked taken aback by the question briefly. His lips twitched up in a brief smile, "I suppose so." He pulled his shoulders back and tilted his chin up slightly, "If nothing more than to show these Autobots what a true mech of science looks like."

Thundercracker rolled his eyes, but Starscream either didn't notice or didn't care. Rosie had one more question for him and it was the same she directed to Soundwave, "Have you factored in the possible time distribution of crossing dimensions?"

"What do you take me for?" He scoffed, "Of course I've considered the possibilities of a time drift. I don't see why any of this concerns the like of you."

This answer didn't entirely fulfill the question either, but there was one more mech who could expand on the subject. However, that could be done later. She turned to Skywarp who was beaming in excitement. She chuckled, "Skywarp, have you ever miscalculated your warping while getting used to being a toy?"

The mech let out a loud, cackle of a laugh before shaking his head, "No! Never! I am a master of warping no matter what size."

Thundercracker, who stood a step behind, shook his head with a deadpanned face. Rosie knew that was closer to the truth considering Aimee Jane had mentioned, a while back, that Skywarp had warped right into a wall right in front of her. She chuckled in amusement, "One more and it's for you, TC."

"Yes?" He pressed, but his voice was wary.

"Have you thought about asking Aj if there is a place that model planes are flown often?" Rosie read the question and then continued to read the comment below it, "You could pretend to be a super fancy model plane in order to fly for a little bit. I bet Aj would love to help you."

Thundercracker paused, "Hm, I hadn't thought of that."

"That's an awesome idea though!" Skywarp nudged his seeker brother. "We could get to fly again! You have to ask Aj. She likes you best." He turned to Starscream, "Screamer, tell TC to ask Aj for us."

Thundercracker shifted in his stance awkwardly before nodding at Rosie before hurrying down the stairs without waiting for either seeker. Skywarp and Starscream followed quickly though. Rosie wondered why Thundercracker seemed so wary to ask Aj. She'd say yes to him, after all.

Rosie didn't ponder more on it and instead began to head toward the medbay where she was almost positive Ratchet would be. Lucky for her, he wasn't alone either. Ratchet was sitting at the desk in his holoform with his arms crossed and a glare focused on Wheeljack, who was in his bipedal form, standing across from him.

"Oh, hello, Rosie!" Wheeljack greeted happily, "How are you today?"

"I'm good, thank you. I have a few questions for you and Ratchet though."

Ratchet turned in his seat slightly, "What questions?"

She didn't have to look at the paper to ask this one to Wheeljack, "Jackie, have you and the others factored in the possible time distribution of crossing dimensions?"

His face lit up, "That's a very good question, Rosie! You see, the time difference is something we've worried about since the very beginning. Not only the factor of possibly going through the portal and coming out at the wrong time, but also the pace at which it moves overall. Does time move here the same way it moves in our universe? Has the time we spent here equal to the time in our universe or has it been longer even?" Wheeljack shrugged, "Unfortunately there is no way to find that information and though we plan to set the portal's destination as specifically as possible, there is no telling what could happen. It's all very interesting."

Rosie smiled and quickly tried to write it down. That answer was much more specific than the other two. She looked up to Ratchet, "How long was your formal training? If converted to the standard human training of about seven years, would your training be longer or shorter?"

Ratchet frowned at the question, but she could see Wheeljack tilt his head off to the side as he considered it as well. The medic scoffed, "Converting our time to human years, although a somewhat interesting concept, seems more than ridiculous. Obviously our times are so vastly different that-"

"Ten years!" Wheeljack interrupted as the fins on the side of his face lit up in amusement.

He nodded in the medic's direction as Ratchet rolled his eyes, "I suppose that's correct. I had additional training after that for my specialty, however."

"What's your specialty?" Wheeljack pressed.

Ratchet scoffed, "You know my specialty, you dumbaft."

"Rosie doesn't."

The medic sighed and his eyes softened slightly, "My specialty was primarily in sparkling care."

Rosie was somewhat surprised to hear the grouchy medic had more or less been a pediatrician. However, memories of seeing him interact with the kids came to mind and suddenly she was less surprised.

"Is that all?" Ratchet asked.

"I have one more for Wheeljack." She replied and turned to face the engineer, "You are going to fix the house before you guys leave right?"

Wheeljack's eyes widened and he momentarily looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Ratchet turned to stare at him with a questioning gaze of his own. Wheeljack chuckled, "Uh, well that was the plan. Eventually, of course. However, now that they're coming with us I don't need to, right?"

"Aj is going to _offline_ you and her weapon of choice is going to be that fragging microwave door." Ratchet replied.

Rosie chuckled to herself before thanking the both of them and heading out. At the end of the hallway, Wes and Taylor were coming out of her room, but they paused briefly as Taylor excitedly began to speak to Sunstreaker's holoform who was leaning against the wall outside the closed office door. In Taylor's arms was Bear. Though, the puppy was too large was Taylor to really hold and his bottom legs drug across the ground.

"Let Bear run off, Taylor." Sunstreaker said and the little girl set the dog down. Bear barked before rushing down the stairs. Rosie could see him lose his footing and go tumbling down the last few steps, but that didn't deter him and he hurried into the kitchen.

"Taylor, can I ask you something?" Rosie asked.

"Yeah!" Taylor cheered and ran toward her to hug her side. After a quick squeeze she pulled away, eager to hear what Rosie had to ask.

"Do you want to be painter like Sunstreaker when you grow up?" Rosie asked and she noticed Sunstreaker's holoform stiffen at the sound of his name. She continued regardless, "Do you even want to maybe be his student?"

Taylor frowned at her and brought her hands up to rest on her hips in an argumentative manner, "Do I want to be? I'm already his student, Granny. Right, Sunstreaker?"

The little girl always put such emphasis on his full name and said it with such respect. It made the older woman smile. Taylor whipped her head around to stare at the yellow mech's holoform with big, blue eyes. Wes chuckled at his daughter's cute antics as Sunstreaker shifted awkwardly under her gaze, "Uh, yeah. I suppose."

Taylor grinned happily and turned back to Rosie, "See."

"Well what do you want to be though, Taylor?" Wes knelt down with a warm smile, "An artist?"

"Hmm." Taylor wrapped her arms around her father's neck absentmindedly and Wes curled his arm around the small girl as well, "I don't think so. I really like drawing and stuff, but Aj says I can be whatever I want to be so I'm going to be a Cybertronian."

Wes' eyes widened, "Oh, well, I'm not sure that's what Aj meant when she said that."

"Aj's _never_ wrong." Taylor replied bluntly before slipping out of his grasp and racing downstairs calling for her twin. Sunstreaker like out a snort of amusement, most likely at Taylor's last comment, and even Rosie couldn't help but chuckle. The amount of faith that little girl put into Aimee Jane was astounding. Rosie wasn't surprised though.

Wes slowly stood up, "Well that was interesting. Where did that question come from?"

"Can't an old lady be curious?" Rosie replied without bringing too much attention to the paper in her hands. Wes was the kind of paranoid guy who worried a little too much. "I have a question for you too before you walk away."

Wes smiled and crossed his arms, "Ok, what is it?"

"Aren't you glad you didn't buy anymore transformer toys for your kids?"

He let out a small chuckle and glanced over at Sunstreaker who hadn't moved and just continued to watch the two humans in front of him. Wes shook his head, "I only kept buying them because Aubrey told me how much Pete loved them and then the twins. You know, I nearly bought them the entire dinobot set."

Rosie's eyes widened and even Sunstreaker's holoform seemed to flinch. Having Grimlock around the house was a struggle enough at times; the older woman couldn't imagine having another mechanic dinosaur walking about.

"I'm gonna go check on the kids downstairs. Anything else?" Wes stepped toward the stairs. The office door opened and Sideswipe's holoform stepped out before he shut it as well. Rosie briefly caught sight of Optimus and Prowl in the room.

She turned her attention back to Wes who had reached the stairs and smiled, "Oh, one more thing. Don't ditch the mechs."

Wes lifted his hands in mock surrender before glancing at Sunstreaker, "I had no plans to."

He headed downstairs without another glanced. Sideswipe cleared his throat and leaned against the wall by his brother. He grinned and resorted to Sign Language to get his message across. He signed, 'Rosie, what's with all the questions?'

Rosie guessed the word had got around that she was asking questions to everyone in the house. The mechs gossiped as much as the women luncheon group. She smiled at him, and spoke since her hands were full, "It's nothing to worry over. I have some questions for you and your brother though."

Sideswipe grinned and rubbed his hands together in excitement, "Awesome. Bring 'em on!"

"Alright, Sideswipe", Rosie glanced down at the paper, "Do you have any tips for someone learning sign language?"

He nodded, "Pit yeah! Of all the languages I've learned, ASL actually hasn't been too hard. Especially if you put real effort into it. I'd say practice all the fragging time and try to learn in an environment where at least one person is already fluent in it." Sideswipe motioned toward her, "You and Aj have been a Primus sent blessing for me. I could learn all the rules and vocab on my own, but it doesn't really come together until I started conversing with the two of you."

Rosie nodded, jotting that down, "Also. Sideswipe, how much do you really love Bear?"

Sideswipe jut out his lower lip in a pout as Sunstreaker chuckled under his breath. The red mech's holoform scoffed, "It makes no fragging sense why that organic hound doesn't like me! It likes Sunny!"

"Don't call me that." Sunstreaker replied nonchalantly.

"Whatever, I won't have to deal with it soon enough." Sideswipe's cheeky grin returned.

Before Rosie could voice her confusion, Sunstreaker shook his head, "Bear is coming with us, slag for brains."

"What!?"

"Did you think we were just going to leave him here?"

"Well…" Sideswipe began slowly only to stop and let out an annoyed groan.

Rosie bit back a grin and turned to Sunstreaker, "Have you watched famous painters like Bob Ross or James Gurney during your time on Earth?"

"Not those two specifically, no. I have looked into some various styles." Sunstreaker shrugged, "I like it. It's…interesting."

"Sunny doesn't like much of that 'modern' stuff though." Sideswipe put air quotes on the word. He had stopped pouting long enough to rejoin the conversation. "He says it's pointless, has no spark, and the fraggers who buy it are dumber than a pile of cogs."

Sunstreaker didn't argue his brother's words and Rosie assumed he was referring to the simple pieces of artwork that artists sold for millions. Like a blank canvas with one red dot in the middle.

"Anything else?" Sideswipe pressed eagerly.

"Yes, one for the both of you." Rosie glanced back down at the paper, "What do you think of Aj having a spark bond with Thundercracker?"

Sideswipe's smile faltered and Sunstreaker's eyes narrowed slightly. The red mech's holoform glanced back at his brother as they spoke to each other without actually saying any words out loud. Finally, Sideswipe looked back at her with a shrug, "Well it fragging sucks that she's bonded to a bunch of 'cons period." He crossed his arms again, "The fact that she actually kind of likes the seeker is what grinds my gears."

"She only likes him because of the setting. That'll change in our universe." Sunstreaker scoffed. Both mechs seemed like they wanted to say more, but they kept their mouths shut.

Rosie took that as a sign that this line of questioning was through and quickly pressed for information on what was going on in the office. Sideswipe was quick to explain that it had been a small meeting, but she could go in now. As Rosie stepped in, leaving the door open behind her, she noticed Prowl and Optimus weren't alone in here. Bluestreak was here as well.

"Hello, Rosie. We heard you were here." Optimus greeted. He was in his bipedal form while both other mechs were in their holoforms.

Bluestreak smiled happily in her direction, "Did you come in to ask us questions too? Bee sent me a comm saying that you had asked him and some other mechs questions."

"I am, actually." She glanced down at the paper, "For you and Optimus Prime." Rosie smiled, "I'll start with you, Blue. Did you help Bee learn to manage his door wings? Also, did you guys make up a secret code using your wings as signals? Like Ratchet incoming?"

Bluestreak let out an amused laugh before bobbing his head up and down, "Of course I helped him! I mean, I did as much as I could. I'd help Bee out with anything, and getting used to door wings as a full-grown mech isn't very easy on your own. I'm Praxian and most Praxians get door wings attached to their youngling frames, it's just a part of our heritage really." Bluestreak shrugged, "But it wasn't until after I joined the Autobots that I had the door wings refitted for duty. It made them way more sensitive and without Prowl's help I never would've gotten used to it." He turned to look at Prowl who nodded slightly, "Bee's door wings came with the extra sensitivity that is used during battle, but he's done really good getting used to it. I told him everything Prowl told me. And…wait, what was the question?"

Rosie chuckled and repeated the second question that he had forgotten about.

"Oh right!" Bluestreak chuckled, "We don't have signals like that, but it sounds like a good idea! Although, I don't know if I'd even wanna try and hide from Ratchet." Bluestreak's holoform's face paled slightly, "He's scarier if he finds you hiding."

Optimus chuckled to himself at the words but nobody in the room disagreed. Prowl cleared his throat, "What question did you have for Prime?"

This was one of the more serious questions that came on the list. Rosie nodded to herself before reading it off, "Do you think that this experience will help create a future peace treaty to end the war?"

Optimus paused in thought and let out a low hum. After a moment he spoke, "I am hopeful, especially since over the last few human weeks things have seemed very…peaceful, but I am not foolish." Optimus paused briefly, "As much as I would like to bridge some sort of understanding between the two factions, I can't let this experience, or any hope of it, blind me. I must stay ready and alert above all else."

Rosie gave him a warm smile, "Good answer. I wish there was more I could do for you mechs."

Optimus shook his head, "You've done more than enough. You, Aj, and Joshua are our closest adult, human allies. We would be lost if it hadn't been for you three." She noticed he hadn't mentioned Aubrey or Wes, but to be fair the mechs hadn't known either of them for very long yet. "Do you have any other questions for us?"

"Just one." Rosie replied, "Where is Jazz hiding out at?"

"He's in the garage." Prowl answered. He paused with a far away look in his eyes and Rosie recognized it as the one the mechs got when they were in their holoforms using the comms. "Megatron, Soundwave, Grimlock, Ratchet, and Aj are in there at the moment as well.

Rosie voiced her appreciation before leaving the room. She gave the twins a quick wave before heading down the stairs. She could hear all three kids in the living room along with Bumblebee and Wheeljack. As she stepped into the kitchen, Aubrey and Wes glanced over at her. The two had been leaning against the kitchen counter speaking in whispers with grins on their faces. She waved them off, letting them know she had no need for their attention, and continued into the garage.

Before she even opened the door, she could hear Ratchet arguing with someone. She'd bet her money it was with Aimee Jane. Her assumptions were confirmed when she opened the door and caught sight of Aimee Jane laughing at something while the medic glared at her. Ratchet and Soundwave stood at the machine, both in bipedal form. Across the garage, closer to the metal door, was Grimlock lying curled on the floor with Jazz and Aimee Jane sitting on the ground leaning against him. Jazz was using his holoform and had his arm wrapped around Aimee Jane's shoulders. Something told Rosie though, that the only reason Grimlock was allowing Jazz to lean against him was because of the grinning young woman.

"Oh come on, Ratchet." Aimee Jane winked. Ratchet scoffed and turned his back to her as Rosie walked along the edge over towards the three lazy bums in the corner.

"What's up, Rosie?" Jazz greeted. "Come to ask us questions?"

"Questions?" Aimee Jane pressed, "What questions?"

Rosie smiled, "I have a few questions I need to ask."

"Ask 'way." Jazz encouraged while Aimee Jane stayed more skeptical.

Rosie decided to start with the cheerful mech who seemed to have no problem with the thought of prying questions, "What drew you to love terrible sci-fi movies?"

"Sometimes things are so bad that they're good." Jazz shrugged with a bright smile.

Aimee Jane shook her head, "B-movies, especially the sci-fi/horror kind, do not fall under that saying."

Jazz leaned his head against hers as he ignored her statement entirely, "Plus, you humans are so creative with that kinda stuff. I don't know how you guys think up that stuff!"

"Hm", Rosie nodded and read down the list. There weren't many questions left, "Do you have different styles of visors? Maybe like one that look like a pair of glasses?"

Jazz let out a loud, amused laugh. It died down after a few seconds, but he didn't move to answer. Aimee Jane elbowed him after a moment and shook her head, "No, wait, don't laugh! Answer it!"

"Really?"

"Yes really!" Aimee Jane argued, "I'm curious too, now."

Jazz smirked, "Well what do you think, sweetspark?"

"I think that if you don't you've wasted a perfectly good opportunity." Aimee Jane replied. She broke out in a wide grin, "You need a pair shaped like disco balls!"

"Why?" Jazz bit back another laugh.

"Uh, why the frag not?"

"Language!" Ratchet barked over his shoulder before Rosie could even consider scolding her. He didn't see Aimee Jane stick her tongue out at him in response.

She turned her attention back to Rosie, "What do you got for me?"

"Why are you so afraid of the mechs burning down the house? Is it common sense or something else?" Rose read.

"Hell yeah it's common sense!" Aimee Jane replied and ignored the glare Ratchet shot her way. She continued, "It's also from experience though. I mean how many times did I come home or wake up to find something on fire?"

"Twice." Jazz answered the rhetorical question, "It only happened twice."

She scoffed, "Well that's two times too many."

"Yeah, ok, Red Alert." Jazz grinned at her and Ratchet let out a bark of laughter at his words.

Rosie continued, "Do you think you'll ever go back to school? Or would you rather become Ratchet's apprentice?"

Aimee Jane twisted her lips in thought as other mechs in the room tuned in to what her answer would be. After another moment she shook her head, "I don't think so. That part of my life has kind of passed. Going back to school would feel like taking steps backwards for me. Plus, I'd have to somehow miraculously get reaccepted to a medical school." Jazz opened her mouth and she pointed at him with an interruption, "And by reaccepted I mean fairly. No meddling Cybertronian help involved." Jazz shut his mouth and she shrugged, "Although, I still need to find something to do. Too bad my only skills are technically illegal." Aimee Jane smirked, "Hey Ratchet, can I be your apprentice?"

Ratchet let out a loud scoff followed by a round of laughter. He didn't offer any answer beyond that. Aimee Jane nodded with a wide grin, "I think that's a maybe."

"That's almost all my questions." Rosie flipped through the paper finding only two more questions that needed asking.

"Ask me Grimlock." Grimlock turned his neck so he was facing her. She smiled at the timing. Before she could voice the question though the door opened and Aubrey poked her head in curiously.

"Aimee? The kids are looking for you."

Aimee Jane pushed herself up, "I'll be back."

She jogged out and Rosie focused back on Grimlock, "Why are you so jealous of Bear when Aj shows him affection? Doesn't she show you the same amount of love?"

Grimlock scoffed and blew out a puff of hot air that sent steam seeping from his nose, "Why you old organic ask that? Me Grimlock don't like that question."

Jazz kicked his legs out and folded his hands behind his head as he leaned against Grimlock even more, "Come on, Grimlock. Play along, mech."

Grimlock shook his body sending Jazz forward. Rosie chuckled as Jazz pushed himself up off the ground to stand by her. The dinosaur scoffed again before speaking, "He organic hound is always bragging. Thinks the dinobot pet loves him more. Stupid hound."

Rosie narrowed her eyes in thought. His words made it sound like he could somehow understand the small dog. Wait, could he? Somehow? Grimlock turned his head again and closed his eyes. He was obviously done with this conversation.

"Is that all of 'em?"

"Actually, no." Rosie shook her head and turned to face Jazz, "I have one more for you."

"Oh?" Jazz replied, "And it is?"

"What do you think of Aimee Jane having a spark bond with Thundercracker?"

Jazz's smile faltered for only a fraction of a second. It was so quick that Rosie wondered if it had actually happened or not. Jazz shook his head, "I don' mind at all. Once we get back home it won' really matter." He shrugged and Rosie realized this sounded a lot like the twins already. His attention briefly drifted to focus on someone behind her before coming back, "Aj an' the younglings can hang out with them an' they can enjoy that bond for now 'cause the moment we get to our universe, they're never gonna be 'round the 'cons again."

Rosie suddenly felt like Jazz wasn't really talking to her anymore. His gaze had drifted again and when she glanced over her shoulder she realized Jazz was having a stare down with both decepticons, but primarily Megatron. Ratchet made a sound akin to clearing his throat, but neither of them moved. The garage door opened and the trance was broken. Aimee Jane drifted in with a smile and shake of her head, "The kids wanted to show me their game of jenga. They have Bee lying on the floor in his bipedal mode with the jenga blocks stacked on his chest. He's still kicking their ass at the game though. Even with Bear bouncing around him. Bee and Taylor are ridiculously good at that game for some….reason…. Did I, uh, miss something?"

She glanced around, but Jazz grinned at her, "Not a thing, sweetspark. We were talkin' 'bout how Grimlock 'ere speaks organic dog."

"What do you mean?" Aimee Jane pressed with wide eyes. Her smile grew, "Wait, wait, are you shitting me?"

Ratchet spun around and began to scold her and Rosie took this as her cue to sneak out. It took her no time at all to fold up the questions and stick them back into the envelope. It did, however, take her a couple minutes to find tape to close the back of it. Later on in the evening, as she was leaving, she paused by the mailbox to stick the unaddressed envelope in. If the strange letter had somehow found its way here she was sure it could somehow find its way back.


	35. Hatred

* * *

_"Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." –Buddha_

* * *

 

"Daddy says that we can go searching for seashells and he'll let us go swimming with him-"

"But only if we wear our floaties-"

"Yeah, and then mama says we can go to the movies too!"

"And we don't have to go to bed early!"

I grinned as Tyler and Taylor bounced in front of me excitedly. Peter was sitting to my left on the couch, while the twins danced in place. Both of them were too excited to stay still longer than thirty seconds. They had been woken up this morning and got ready for school as per usual only for Aubrey and Wes to pull them aside before they walked out the door with the news that they were all going on vacation to the beach this weekend. To say they were happy was the understatement of the century. The kids were beside themselves in excitement. Even after Aubrey explained to both of them that none of the mechs were coming with.

Taylor gasped mid-rambling sentence, "Aj! Can we take Bear with us!?"

"Well I don't know…" My nose scrunched up in aversion.

"Please, please, please!?" Taylor and Tyler both begged now.

I sighed, "We'll see."

The kids cheered and rushed off crying for Bear and for Bumblebee and Bluestreak. Peter let out a low sigh and leaned against my shoulder. I smiled and wrapped my arm around him.

"Why can't you come with us, Aj? It won't be as fun without you."

Yesterday, when Wes had explained his plan it had sounded like a good idea. I haven't been to the beach in years and I knew going with the kids would be a blast. However, sometime last night I had turned down the invitation with the plan to spend my weekend a little differently.

"Someone has to baby-sit Grimlock." I joked and Peter couldn't help but crack a smile. At the sound of his name, Grimlock leaned forward and peeked his head into the living room while the rest of his body laid in the hallway in front of the back, sliding door. He let out a low growl. "You'll have plenty of fun, regardless of my presence."

Peter sighed again, but he didn't argue. The truth of why I decided to stay behind had nothing to do with the dinosaur shaped mech. I trusted these guys enough to leave them alone for a weekend. There was something I needed to do this weekend though and it involved someone I owed everything to.

The plan was to spend this entire weekend with Granny. Kind of like old times, but without the lies and fighting ring. It was long time due. I mean, soon I'd be gone again, leaving her behind and this time I wouldn't be able to jump on a plane and come back to her. I was determined to leave the right way this time with the proper good-bye that she more than deserved.

Aubrey breezed into the living room, "Ok, so we're going to leave around 1 in the afternoon after lunch. That way we don't have to stop. Optimus said we all need to have some sort of meeting though before we leave."

"Meeting about what, mom?" Peter sat up and asked.

Aubrey's eyes widened as she came further into the room. She must not have noticed the small boy curled up against my side. She shook her head, "Just boring stuff. Day to day operations and what not." Peter scrunched his nose up in confusion at his mother's vague answer. Aubrey was quick to change the subject as her wide eyes darted to mine, "Can you do me a favor, Aimee?"

"Sure." I replied and tore myself away from Peter to stand up. I ruffled his hair with my hand, creating a tangled mess that he groaned at, before shooting him a cheeky grin and following Aubrey out of the room. She led me into the kitchen where Thundercracker, Prowl, and Jazz's holoform sat at the dining room table while Wes scribbled on a piece of paper while talking on the phone. I still wasn't sure if she actually needed me to do her a favor or if this was still just her trying to avoid Peter's question. Aubrey hadn't exactly mastered avoidance yet like I had. "Hey mechs."

The three holoforms greeted me in turn before focusing back on whatever it was they were whispering about. Aubrey turned to face me, "How do you feel?"

"Er, good?" I replied with a shrug. Last night, I had actually managed to get a few hours of sleep. None of which were plagued with nightmares or terrors. My body still ached, unsurprisingly, but I was whole. I was whole and for the moment it didn't feel like I was losing my grip on sanity. All in all, good was an apt term for my condition.

She shook her head, "Wes is on the phone with some old friends and I'm still packing the kids' bags so I was wondering if you could run out to the store for me?" Aubrey smiled, "I know you've been whining about being cooped up in this house and neighborhood."

"I'd love to, but my ears are still ringing from Ratchet's rant yesterday." I crossed my arms. The moment Jazz and I had got back from our walk, Ratchet had whisked me away upstairs so he could chew me out on the dangers of exercising while still injured.

"I already talked to Ratchet. He agreed as long as you took a mech with you and didn't strain yourself."

I scoffed, "You should've started with that. Where's the list?"

Aubrey chuckled and pulled a folded slip from her back pocket. I unfolded it to see her neat handwriting, but she read it off for me anyways, "We just need some basics like sunblock and a pack of water bottles. Also, Tyler needs a new pair of flip flops, he destroyed his, and the twins need new arm floaties."

"The kids made it sound like they already had floaties."

Aubrey crossed her own arms this time, "They did. I sent Wes out to get them from our summer bin in the garage only to find that Wheeljack, Soundwave, and Starscream had already rifled through it."

"So?"

"Apparently, Jackie used their floaties for something on the machine." Aubrey shrugged.

My gaze drifted over to the mechs at the table who were watching Aubrey and I now. Their own conversation must have ended. I shook my head, "What the fuck would he use floaties for?"

Prowl was the one to speak up, "I am honestly not sure at all."

"Well", I folded up the list and shoved it into my own pocket. This was one of the few mornings this week where I had woken up and changed from pajamas to actual clothes rather than house clothes. Of course, my actual clothes still consisted of just jeans and a hoodie, "I guess now I just need to grab my partner in crime."

Aubrey grinned brightly, "How about you take Jazz?"

Jazz's holoform stood up with a smile of his own. However, I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at Aubrey. In the same way she was lousy at avoiding things, Aubrey was also lousy at being subtle. I briefly chewed on my lip in thought, "Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Aubrey let out an awkward laugh.

Wes set his phone down on the counter and came over to wrap his arm around Aubrey's waist, "I'm sure Jazz is too busy preparing for that meeting later today. He is an officer after all." Prowl let out a snort of laughter at the notion, but Wes continued, "Sunstreaker's free isn't he? Or Sideswipe?"

Now I narrowed my eyes at Wes. Him and Aubrey were having a silent argument as they stared each other down. Wes had a small smirk on his lips while Aubrey wore wide eyes and a slight pout. My gaze drifted over to Jazz who was making his way over. He clapped once, "I don' know what's happenin' 'ere, but how 'bout we head out, sweetspark?"

"The sooner this stuff is bought the better." I agreed. Aubrey's pout slipped away as she beamed happily. I would almost call her smug. Without missing a beat, I walked right past Jazz who turned his head to follow me with his gaze. My own eyes were set on Thundercracker who looked shocked as I clapped him on the shoulder with a smirk, "But TC was my car buddy the last time I needed a babysitter due to my health. Why break the pattern?"

Wes chuckled in amusement as Aubrey crossed her arms. Jazz's holoform looked tense, I could tell, but he didn't let his small smile falter. Thundercracker slowly stood up and my hand dropped away, "I'm not sure-"

"You are the best one for the job. Now come on, TC." I scooped the truck keys off the spot by the fridge and waltzed over to the front door where my shoes were haphazardly lying off to the side. "We'll go to the nearby Wal-Mart so you can keep your real self here."

Thundercracker was standing to my side as I pulled my shoes on. He didn't seem overly comfortable, but he always seemed that way anytime a lot of attention was on him.

"Where are you going?" Sunstreaker's bipedal form came walking down the stairs with a glare. Once I stood up I realized his heated look was directed at Thundercracker's holoform. "You're going with him?"

I looped my arm through Thundercracker's, "We're going shopping, and we'll be back soon, _relax_."

Sunstreaker scoffed and threw his arm forward as he neared the bottom of the steps. I raised my arms and caught the item he had thrown through the air. It was my wallet. "Oh hey! I needed this!"

"Yeah, and apparently you were just going to walk out without it."

I grinned, "Thanks, SpongeBob. You're a real pal."

Sunstreaker groaned, "Seriously, femme?"

"If it makes you feel better, if you're SpongeBob that makes Sideswipe Patrick in my eyes." I joked.

Sunstreaker leveled his glare at me, "You're going to run out of those soon."

"Nope. I can go for _vorns_." I joked and pulled Thundercracker out of the house with me. Halfway to the truck I gave Thundercracker a sheepish smile, "I totally lied just there. I am seriously running out of nicknames. I'm in big trouble." Thundercracker's shoulders relaxed as he let out a low chuckle of amusement. The two of us got into the truck, "You aren't still in the running right?"

"No." He shook his head as I started the truck, "I was one of the first two mechs to drop out. In my defense though, at the time I hadn't cared that much about it."

I chuckled and glanced in his direction, "But now that you've gotten to know me and see how clever and witty I am, you care a whole lot more. Huh?"

"Something like that." Thundercracker replied warmly with a low chuckle of his own.

* * *

 

Aubrey shot her husband a glare as the front door shut. Wes shook his head, playing dumb, and shrugged innocently. Rather than press further she turned to look at Jazz who's brow was furrowed as he silently communicated with Prowl's holoform. It only took a moment for Jazz to realize her attention was on him and turn to greet her with a small smile, "Yeah, Aubrey?"

She had quite a few questions on her mind. They swirled around, all begging to be voiced, but the one to slip from her lips wasn't the one she expected, "Did Ratchet do something to Aimee?"

"Other than consistently scold her for everything?" Prowl questioned as he pushed himself up from the table.

Aubrey smiled but shook her head, "No, I mean, my shoulder healed pretty fast, I'm fine now, but her injury was so much worse. How is she…ok?"

"I wondered that myself actually." Wes added. He set his hand on her hip and pulled her closer.

"We're…not sure ourselves." Jazz admitted with a frown. It didn't seem like he planned on explaining further.

Prowl cleared his throat, "Your sister heals better than any human we've seen before. Not only speed, but in quality as well. Ratchet believes it to be a miracle that she's survived for as long as she has doing what she does." He shook his head, "I have no answer for either of you, but I know Ratchet plans to find an answer the moment he has the proper equipment."

"Are you saying my sister is going to be Ratchet's new science experiment?" Aubrey questioned in worry.

Jazz pressed his lips together, "Ratchet cares 'bout your sister too much to ever even consider somethin' like that."

She could believe that. In the short time spent here so far, it was obvious the medic had taken Aimee under his wing, so to say. Her sister reciprocated the feeling. It was clear to see.

"If you'll excuse us." Prowl nodded before him and Jazz left the kitchen.

Aubrey slowly spun where she stood to face Wes who pulled her even closer. She pointed at him, her finger flicking the tip of his nose, "I got a bone to pick with you."

"Oh?" Wes grinned, "And that is?"

"You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about." She argued lightly, "I was trying to get Aimee to go with Jazz and you were absolutely _no_ help."

Wes shrugged, "I made a deal."

"A deal?" She pressed.

"Sideswipe said he'd put a good word in for me with Pete if I kept Aj from going anywhere with Jazz. To the best of my ability at least."

Aubrey let out a gasp of surprise before pushing her husband in the chest. He chuckled, but she pouted in response, "I can't believe you!" Her pout slowly turned to a small smile as he grinned at her, "Stop that! I'm mad at you!"

"Exactly how mad?" Wes asked before leaning forward to press his lips against her neck. The kisses quickly turned to nuzzling and Aubrey shrugged her shoulder in a poor attempt to escape from the tickling sensation as her laugh rang out loudly.

* * *

 

He scared her. Megatron could tell that Aj's older sister feared him. The female didn't outwardly avoid him or act in a negative manner around him, but he could see it in her optics. There was worry and anxiety. Distress and unease. Even when he was in holoform, the organic tensed in his presence. He wasn't upset at this prospect, pit, he wasn't even surprised.

Despite his uncanny ability to unnerve her, she didn't act differently when he was around. She remained cheerful, kind, and lively.

Aubrey was _exactly_ what Aj was not.

Megatron had kept a close optic on her since she came, her and her mate, and he hadn't been the only one. He wondered if the others made the same observations he did. They had to have. It was so painfully obvious.

Everything about them was as different as night and day.

Aubrey walked with a bounce in her step; her pedes seemed to float as her shoulders remained light with no cares. Aj walked confidently with a hint of caution. Her steps were sure and heavy, but she kept to her balls of her pedes in preparation to run or fight.

Aubrey wore no masks. What you saw was what you got. She was unguarded in her actions and in her emotions. More so, she was incredibly easy to read. Every line of her faceplate gave away what she felt internally, it gave away the thoughts that drifted through her processors. Aj, on the other servo, still remained guarded. It was hardly as bad as it used to be, but she still held parts of her self back. Granted, it had become easier to read what she thought. The femme's large, bright optics simply gave away too much once you got to know her, but Aj still tried to hide herself away.

Aubrey spoke softly, she tended to ' _beat around the bush_ ' as humans would say. Aj spoke bluntly, she got to her point.

Aubrey was gentle. Aj was the definition of tough love.

Aubrey seemed to constantly wear a kind, sincere smile, but Aj was more often seen with a smirk.

Megatron wasn't entirely sure how these two had become so different. They had started off in the same place after all, had gone through the same trials as younglings. Were they even true sisters? The similar faceplate structure would suggest so.

The Decepticon warlord was interrupted from his thoughts by a nagging comm. He opened the line and at the sound of Starscream's voice he regretted the decision immediately.

_::What exactly is your plan if Aj's energy is unable to push through the veil and send us home? You refuse to address this issue!::_

Like the seeker had mentioned, this wasn't the first time Megatron had been asked this, but it seemed pointless to address. Mainly because it was just as obvious as the differences between the sisters.

No matter how much Aj had protested that she didn't care whether they left or not last time around, he could tell she didn't want them to go. That must have been the reason why the portal wasn't pierced open. Aj's energy refused to let them leave. Now though? With the plan of her and the others coming along with the mechs, there was no doubt in his processors that the portal would allow them access. Soundwave would put on a good show toward the Engineer and CMO when it came to setting up the portal with the extra energy he had somehow found, but it all came down to Aj's readiness to go.

She was ready now and nothing would stop them.

He deleted the comm line with a huff only for a new voice to grab his attention.

"Um, Megatron?"

The mech turned around slowly, careful not to let the large arms of his bipedal form scratch the wall. Aubrey stood a few feet behind him. There was fear in her optics, but a bright smile on her lips.

"I'm making a batch of, uh, of coffee for some others." Aubrey shifted in her stance, "Would you like some?"

Aj _avoided_ what she feared. She was _threatened_ by what she didn't understand. Aubrey, however, met her fears with patience and thoughtfulness.

"Yes, I would." He replied and she nodded, "Thank you."

It was very strange, indeed.

* * *

 

I stopped drumming my hands against the steering wheel to smirk at Thundercracker who was sitting beside me in the truck, "Ok, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you think the kids are going to like their floaties? I think it's a solid 11." The shopping trip had gone swimmingly and I had bought everything Aubrey needed. The floaties I had bought for the twins were transformer themed. One wing had Bumblebee on it and the other had Optimus Prime. "Although, I'm starting to realize that only Bee and OP are ever on these things. I've never seen a Wheeljack themed t-shirt or Barricade floaties. Have you seen any?"

Thundercracker didn't reply to my question, but it hadn't been asked very seriously anyways. It just seemed odd that he flat out ignored me though because our conversations had been pretty light and rather fun up till now. I glanced over at him to see he was no longer lounging in his seat lazily and instead was sitting upright with his eyes glued to the side view mirror. My eyebrows scrunched in confusion, "TC? What the hell are you looking at?"

I looked in my own mirrors, but I didn't catch sight of anything out of the ordinary. We were about halfway home, in the downtown area, but the sidewalks we drove past weren't very crowded.

"We're being followed." My eyes widened. Had I just misheard him? Obviously I had because there was no way in hell he had just said what I thought he just said. "I noticed the dark blue SUV as we were leaving your neighborhood. It started following us again."

"Are you sure?" I pressed. My voice was strained as a pit of fear began to form in my stomach. Who the hell would be following Thundercracker and I? The only logical answer fell to Wes' terrorist buddies. This was just fucking fantastic. A group of angry, evil terrorists were stalking me in a blue SUV. Was this my life now?

"Very sure." Thundercracker replied. There was a beat of silence before he pointed out my side of the windshield, "Turn at that light." I followed his instructions. My eyes were constantly darting to the very obvious dark blue SUV now. It was too far back for me to see who was behind the wheel though. "Keep going straight now. Soon I'll be in comm distance."

I kept driving straight, my eyes glued on the car behind me, as the blue SUV got closer and closer. As we got toward the edge of downtown I realized the person driving was a guy in a baseball cap. My eyes danced from the road back to the mirror just in time to see the driver lift his hand in a small wave. It hit me like a bag of bricks in that moment and I nearly slammed on the breaks. I knew him. I fucking _knew_ him.

"Aj?" Thundercracker pressed as I spun the steering wheel forcing us onto a small abandoned lot behind two buildings. It looked like it used to be the parking lot for one of the nearby places, but now it was overtaken with weeds and debris. "What are you doing?"

The blue SUV parked behind me and I barely even registered Thundercracker's words as I ripped off my seatbelt, turned the truck off, and rushed out of the cab. Suddenly, it felt like my shoes had been filled with concrete. I was stuck in place, right outside the driver's door, as the man slowly exited the SUV. He pulled off his baseball cap, tossing it into the car before shutting the door.

"Hey, Aj." Kyle breathed. His soft green eyes, the ones I had fallen hopelessly for, were glued to me unwaveringly. His messy blond hair looked a shade lighter and his skin seemed a shade darker, but he was still the same Kyle. Straight, strong jawline and a slightly crooked nose from the many times it had been smashed and broken. It occurred to me then how much I wanted to break his nose myself.

This was the man I had trusted with everything. This was the man I had let into my life after being so scared, so afraid, for years. This was the man I thought I could have a life with.

Yet, as he stood before me, wearing plain clothes and a warm smile, all I wanted to do was smash my fist into his unbroken nose. I wanted to break his jaw and let him choke on his perfect, white teeth. More than anything, I wanted him to feel pain the same way I had when I found out about his betrayal. The sight of him made my blood boil. Seeing Boss had made me angry, sure, but it had filled me with fear more than anything. Seeing Kyle? All I felt was revulsion. There was a ball of hatred in my core that made my hands shake and my vision go red.

"How _dare_ you?" I breathed between clenched teeth. His smile faltered and I took an unsteady step toward him, "How fucking _dare_ you?"

"Aj-"

"Are you stupid or suicidal?" I growled and took another step toward him, "If you had any sense of well-being, you'd get back in that damn car and leave before I do something that will get me arrested."

Kyle's shoulders slouched in dismay as he put his hands together. His fingers laced together as his thumb pressed against his palm. It was a nervous tic of his. He shook his head, "Aj, I'm sorry, I just came here to explain- I _needed_ to talk to you, I-"

"You don't get to say you're sorry!" I screamed and lunged forward only for arms to wrap around my waist and hold me back. It took me a moment before I remembered Thundercracker was still here with me. "You put them in danger you asshole! You put _my_ kids in _danger_!"

"That wasn't my intention!" Kyle argued loudly, "I was trying to save you, Aj. I had a plan-"

I scoffed, " _Save me_?" I tried to break out of Thundercracker's grasp, but he held me tighter, "Boss tried to kill me, Kyle! He showed up at the house with Joey. I got _shot_!"

Kyle's face paled as he slowly rubbed his face with his hand. He began to shake his head again, as he shifted in place, "I know. I heard. I-I didn't want it to happen like that. I didn't think-"

"You're fucking right you didn't slagging think." I spat.

"Aj." Thundercracker mumbled in my ear.

I slumped against him in exhaustion. This anger, this hatred, was tiring. It made my arms and legs heavy and it made my chest ache in pain, "What did you think was going to happen, Kyle? Boss was going to be ok with what you did? He was going to leave me alone?"

"Aj, I left to make a place for us." Kyle took a step toward me. Thundercracker stiffened at his movement, I could feel him. "In Italy. You said you always wanted to visit there. I left with the money and made a place for us. I was going to come back for you." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I just couldn't- I thought that if I didn't tell you my plan you would have plausible deniability. Boss wouldn't blame you for anything."

"He _did_ blame me. I nearly _died_ for _your_ mistake. My kids could've-" I couldn't bring myself to finish the statement. I pointed to his car, "Get in that fucking SUV and leave. I don't ever want to fragging see your face again."

"No." Kyle blurted and my eyes narrowed. "Not without you."

It was like his words reignited the fire burning in my chest. Exhaustion be damned. I wanted to rip him limb from limb even if it meant causing myself bodily harm. Did he honestly think I'd ever go anywhere with him?

I tried to pull away from Thundercracker, but he held me back. I finally managed to tear my eyes away from Kyle to look at the mech holding me. Thundercracker's features were hardened. I had never seen his holoform look so tense and angry. The mech looked dangerous.

"Let me go." I said quietly and his gaze softened slightly as it fell to me, "Please."

Thundercracker hesitated before releasing me. I wasted no time and crossed the space to stand in front of Kyle. It took every ounce of willpower not to lunge at him and claw out his eyes. He stared back at me with a hopeful look of all things.

"I found a villa. It's by the-"

"I don't want to go anywhere with you. Ever." I interrupted venomously. "Kyle, I- I _hate_ you. After everything I told you about my dad and my sister…you still _lied_. You still turned your back on me."

Kyle shook his head, "I had a plan."

"I don't care."

His face grew desperate, "Please, you have to come with me. I've heard rumors, Aj. He's looking for you now." Kyle reached out for me, but stopped when he saw me tense, "Boss' brother is coming for you. He heard what happened too. He's looking for revenge, Aj."

"Boss doesn't have a brother." I rolled my eyes, "That was just some stupid rumor-"

"No! It's true." Kyle argued loudly, "He lives in Vegas. Him and Boss weren't close, that's why Boss never talked about him, but they were still brothers! He- Everything I've heard points to Boss' brother being worse than Boss himself. You need to come with me. I can protect you."

I shook my head, "You can go fuck yourself."

"Aj-"

Without thinking, I lashed out and punched him in the jaw. His head snapped to the side as my knuckles throbbed. I scoffed and turned to walk away when his hand clamped around my forearm tightly. He pulled me toward him with frustration and anger in his eyes, "Don't just blow me off! I came to warn you, to try and save you! Why are you being such an ungrateful _bitch_!? Those kids are a useless weakness and your _cunt_ of a sister-"

Suddenly, I was pulled back, out of his grip, and Thundercracker pushed past me. Kyle let out a cry of pain as Thundercracker shoved him against the side of the SUV hard enough to make the entire car rock.

"You do _not_ touch her." Thundercracker snarled. He pulled him back just to shove him against the car again, "You do _not_ speak of the younglings like that. You do _not_ say anything bad about the ones _she_ cares about."

"Get the fuck off me." Kyle tried to get loose and became surprised when he couldn't. Kyle was a hell of a good fighter. He should've been able to escape and throw a few hits of his own, but this wasn't a human holding him to the car. Kyle didn't stand a chance against a mech. "What the hell?!"

Thundercracker slammed him a third time and the driver's window cracked at the force, "I am _no_ Autobot, _human_. There is no order keeping me from _ending_ your existence."

It was only then that I realized how serious this had become. Cars were starting to slow down as they passed us. The few people who had been around were growing curious. I set my hand against Thundercracker's back and leaned forward, "We have to go, TC. It's ok, I'm ok."

The mech didn't immediately react to my words, but after a few more seconds he threw Kyle to the ground. His fists were balled up and pressed against his thighs. I wrapped my hand around his wrist and began to tug him toward the truck. Thundercracker let me pull him along and I force myself to keep moving forward despite Kyle calling after me. If I turned around, if I made eye contact with him again, things would go badly. I'd attack again or worse I'd let Thundercracker follow through on his threat. The two of got into the truck and I wasted no time in peeling out of the parking lot.

"Is your cell phone still in here?" Thundercracker asked in a strained voice.

"Glove box." The mech pulled open the drawer in front of him and dug through it until he found my crappy burner phone. It started ringing in his hands. "How did you-"

Thundercracker flipped it open, but offered it to me, "It's your 'bots. They don't believe me."

"What?" I narrowed my eyes, but took the phone, "Hello-"

"Aj, are you alright?" Optimus asked urgently. My eyes widened in surprise. I didn't really know what to expect from this phone call, but I never would've even guessed that Optimus would be on the other end. "Aj?"

I shook my head as if he could see that, "I'm fine, OP. What's going on? Why- Why are you- I'm…confused."

Optimus let out a low sigh on the other end of the line, "Thundercracker told us the male who betrayed you showed up again. He said you were ok, but we didn't…" He paused before continuing, "We could feel your anger over the bond. We wanted to hear from you ourselves."

"Oh." I mumbled. The bond had completely escaped my mind. I briefly wondered what it felt like for them to experience my strong emotions in that way. "Sorry, I- I am fine. We're on our way home now."

There was silence for a moment before a new voice came onto the line, "Babe, did that slagger hurt you?"

"Kyle is a pest." I spat bitterly, "I'd like to see him try and lay a punch on me."

"That's good to know, but I was talking about the fragging seeker." Sideswipe replied and the anger in his tone made his voice come out almost like a growl. "He lost his temper, I know he did. Did he hurt you?"

I nearly let the truck roll off the road in surprise, but caught myself at last minute, "What? _No_! TC, he…he _helped_ me. He wouldn't hurt me."

"You don't know the 'cons like we do, Aj. We-"

"I gotta go. See you soon." I quickly hung up and let the phone fall to the seat between us. Rather than looking to Thundercracker, I kept my gaze on the road as my knuckles tightened around the leather steering wheel.

Thundercracker must have been close enough in that parking lot to comm them about the situation, but that hadn't been enough for some of the mechs at home. Sideswipe had sounded so sure that Thundercracker had something to do with my flare of anger. Even Optimus had sounded genuinely worried.

As I pulled into the neighborhood, something I had known all along really hit me. This rivalry between the Autobots and the Decepticons, this hatred they had for one another, it ran deep. It made me wonder how this whole 'living in their world' thing was going to work. Apparently, hanging out with Thundercracker like I did today wasn't going to be as easy as it was now.

"Are you alright?" Thundercracker asked as the truck rolled onto our street.

I glanced over at him to see he was still tense, "I will be."

The moment I parked the car, there were people spilling out of the house. Thundercracker grabbed all the bags and jumped out of the passenger seat. I rushed around the front of the truck to help him, but Aubrey who reached me first cut me off. She was ranting about how the mechs had gone tense and how some nearly rushed out of the house. Ratchet and Jazz were outside as well, they came closer asking me questions, but I couldn't focus on their words. My gaze followed Thundercracker's stiff shoulders as he slunk into the house.

* * *

 

I wondered when was the last time we were all in the same room like this. Although, the kids were upstairs with Bluestreak and Bumblebee so I guess not everyone was here. I let my hands wrap around the warm mug filled with hot chocolate as Bear napped in my lap. Aubrey had made it for me, but being drugged by Ratchet kind of ruined the drink for me.

My eyes glanced around the room awkwardly. I was sitting at the head of the dining room table with Aubrey to my left and Wes to my right. Across the table from me was Optimus Prime who had Megatron to his left and Wheeljack to his right. Soundwave stood between Megatron and Optimus and had refused the chair that Aubrey offered to bring in for him. Every other mech, minus the two babysitting upstairs, stood scattered around the kitchen. They were all in their holoforms to preserve space. Even Grimlock was here. His body sat in the foyer as his head rested on the kitchen floor with bored eyes.

"So", Aubrey cleared her throat. Wes was tense in his seat, his hands clasped together, "How do we begin?"

Optimus offered a small smile, "I thought we could start with Wheeljack catching us all up to speed on the status of the project, explain the specifics to all of you, and then we could answer any questions. Then anything else can simply go from there."

"Sounds fun." I bobbed my head, "So what's the deal, Jackie?"

Wheeljack's holoform cleared his throat and a slow smile spread across his features, "Well, to begin, let me first state that the machine is still running as well as it was last time."

Sideswipe's holoform, who was lazily draped across the counter top of the island counter, snorted, "Is that a good thing? The thing didn't work last time."

Prowl shot the mech a glare, one Sideswipe ignored entirely, while Wheeljack shook his head, "The machine was not at fault for the failure last time around, you see- Well, that's kind of getting ahead of myself. Let me start again", Even though he was in his holoform, I could picture Wheeljack's fins lighting up brightly, "The machine is working well. It's in good condition and I'm thankful for Starscream and Soundwave's expertise." He scratched at the side of his face, "Although, we did alter some of the processing circuitry in an attempt to fine tune the portal selection manner. That way we can get sent as close to where we left physically. The plan is to go through the portal and end up on the battlefield we were on when we first went through the accidental portal."

"Where exactly was that?" Wes questioned.

"Our ship, the Ark, is located in Oregon." Optimus answered, "The battle we were involved in was outside of Portland."

Aubrey let out a soft hum as her eyes darted toward me, "I've always wanted to go out west."

"I've always wanted to travel through a portal made of spare parts to an alternate universe." I replied. Aubrey gave me a deadpanned look and I grinned in response.

Wheeljack spoke up, "I'm not really sure how much I should explain when it comes to the details of the project. Maybe it would be easier if we jumped to the portion where you ask questions? Then I'll know what direction to go in."

"Ok, I'll start." I pushed the mug away from me then buried my hands in Bear's fur, "What's different Jackie? Why is it gonna work this time?"

The mech smiled, "Right! Good question! I have the answer to that now thanks to Soundwave." He motioned toward the holoform that stood at the table, "He was able to find energy that I was not able to pick up on. Most likely because I wasn't looking for this kind of energy. You see, the reason why the portal didn't work last time is because although we had enough energy to create the portal we didn't have enough to actually break through the barrier that separates our universe from yours."

"Current energy levels: Sufficient." Soundwave stated. I had grown used to the way the mech spoke, but it was odd to hear him speak that way while looking human.

Wheeljack continued, "Exactly. Soundwave was able to find an energy source located in this house, or rather under it. This house sits atop a strong pocket of…hmm, well, there really is no word in your language to describe it. We have a term for this kind of energy because of how unique it is and how, well, useful it can be." As Wheeljack spoke he became more and more excited, "Regardless, now that we know that it is here, Soundwave is able to use an algorithm to tap into this energy and essentially punch through the barrier allowing us to travel!"

"What about when we're gone?" Aubrey asked. "An entire family disappearing from a suburb will be noticeable."

Wes was actually the one to first speak up, "I've been working with Prowl on that actually."

"Yes", Prowl nodded, "I offered to start working on wiping your existence from all digital records, but Wes pointed out that this would catch the wrong kind of attention as well."

"I've been talking to my boss, Nick, and he's going to do that for us." Wes added, "When we go, it'll be in the news initially, he can't stop that, but he'll make sure it becomes a cold case real fast. He's also going to make sure no attention is drawn to any local friends we're leaving behind."

I chuckled, "This sounds like a government conspiracy in the making. Your super spy pals weren't surprised to hear this request?"

"Hardly." Wes shook his head, "We come across some really weird shit."

Megatron's voice grabbed the attention of the table, "We need to discuss the timeline. I'm sure I speak for all mechs when I say we're able to leave at this moment. When are you ready to leave?"

His gaze was on me throughout the entire question, but I looked away to Aubrey and Wes. The two seemed to be having some sort of silent conversation with just their eyes. It must have been something they spoke about before. I shook my head, "The sooner the better, right? I told all of you about what the slagheap named Kyle said." No one in the room corrected my language, "Boss' secret brother is looking for my head, or something… If we don't want to deal with that, which I'd rather not, then we need to leave soon. I have no idea when he might be here. There's also Wes' terrorist buddies to consider too."

"Actually, Nick has them cornered." He smirked, "They got stuck out in Paris and it looks like they might finally be taken down. He called me with the news earlier today." Aubrey grinned with him, "He offered to fly me out to complete the mission, but I told him I had a important, highly classified breifing to attend."

Aubrey and a few other mechs chuckled at his joke, but I stared at him in surprise. He chose to _stay_. He had the opportunity to leave, to deal with the people that plagued his life, but he had said no. Wes chose to stay here with Aubrey, to stay with his kids. Eyes were beginning to dart my way, Wes' included, and I shook away the shock. I cleared my throat, "Great, so _my_ shitty life is the only one threatening us. Glad things are back to normal."

"Not this coming new week, but the one after is the kids' spring break." Wes commented, "I think we should leave then. I can talk to Nick about clearing out this neighborhood, that way if something does go wrong or if the energy levels flux or whatever, we won't have witnesses."

"How will he do that?" Optimus asked.

"Send them on vacation to wherever. Tell them they won a free trip to Disney or something. Nick has the funds to send a few streets away."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "The more you talk the more scared I get of the people you work for."

Wes just smiled in amusement. The meeting continued for another ten minutes or so as details were discussed and hammered out. My mind started to wander though and I had a feeling there was a lot I missed. As long as they knew what they were doing though, I'd be all right. What I needed to do was contact someone and see if I could get more details on Boss' brother. The problem was, I didn't have many friends back home to call and ask questions to. I also couldn't go back and as Kyle without actually murdering him, so that was out. Maybe Wes' scary friends could figure something out.

The group in the room was beginning to disperse. Bear had woken up and jogged away from me. Some mechs walked out and some just turned their holoforms off and disappeared. I grabbed Wes' attention before he rose from his seat, "Dude, you think your pal Nicky can find out more about Boss' brother? See if we can figure out when they might come knocking?"

"He can try. I don't see what that would hurt." Wes shrugged, "What's his name?"

I bit my lip, "Er, well, I don't actually know his name. I thought he was a rumor until like two hours ago."

"Oh, ok." Wes nodded, "Well what's Boss' name? Full name that is."

"I don't actually know that either."

"You don't know his last name?"

"I don't even know his first name." I admitted sheepishly. Wes raised an eyebrow at me and I just shrugged, "He just went by Boss, ok?"

Wes crossed his arms, "What do you know about Boss' brother then?"

"He lives in Las Vegas? Runs his own illegal ring of fighting, I assume." I tried to think back to all the rumors I had heard over the years, "Some people said he was more into drugs and prostitutes than actual fighting, but then others said he was into cock fighting. Cock as in the chickens not-"

"Yeah, I get it." Wes interrupted me. "So you basically know nothing?"

"Uh, yeah. Basically." I rubbed the back of my neck, "So, you think your friend is up for the job?"

Wes chuckled, "I'll give him a call tomorrow. He's busy today."

"Busy kicking terrorist ass, yeah?"

He nodded, but before I could press further the sound of Taylor humming filled the kitchen. I glanced over my shoulder to see her dancing toward us. She wrapped her arms around Wes' legs and he didn't hesitate to scoop her into his arms. She beamed at him, "Daddy, will you play a game with me?"

"Of course, hon. Anything you want." He replied and began to carry her out of the kitchen.

"Can Tyler and Pete play too? Oh and Bee?" Taylor asked.

"Sure."

I watched them walk toward the living room before grabbing my cup of hot chocolate to dump into the sink. Aubrey had left the room already with all but one mech. I set the empty cup down in the sink and turned to look at Megatron who sat in the same seat he had during the meeting. His holoform continued to just stare at me. I shook my head, "Take a picture, Megsy. It'll last longer."

"Why are you and your sister so vastly different?" He blurted.

I blinked in surprise and slowly came toward the table, "Um, what?"

"The two of you are nearly opposites. Black and white, night and day." Megatron looked perplexed, "Why?"

I chuckled and leaned against the back of the seat in front of him, "We just… _are_."

"The two of you had the same upbringing. She came out of it soft and you…" Megatron tried to explain his reasoning. He wasn't able to finish his statement, but I heard enough. I knew what he was thinking.

It was hard to put my own thoughts into words as well. I sucked in a quick breath and shrugged, "We took on the stress of our mom dying, of our dad leaving, differently. We endured the same situations, but we…had different coping mechanisms." I lifted my gaze from the table to Megatron's own eyes, "She's stronger than I am." He raised an eyebrow, questioning my statement without any words. I smiled and nodded, "When everything happened to us, I chose to be bitter. I chose to be bitter and angry and I chose to hate the world. Aubrey chose to smile, she made the decision to be happy regardless of what life threw at her. I took the easy way out."

"I see." Megatron replied slowly.

"All her hardships, they just made her kind."

There was a short silence between the two of us, and that brief moment of nothing behind said was the only reason why I heard the start of a faint argument in the living room. I stepped away from the table, to stand in the kitchen archway, just in time to see Peter stand up from where he sat on the couch, "I already told you! I _don't_ want to play, and _stop_ calling me Pete!"

Peter whipped around to storm out of the room. He spared me a quick glance before running up the stairs. My eyes landed on Wes who was sitting on the living room floor between Taylor and Tyler. His face looked so broken and hurt that my own heart ached. He noticed my gaze and tried to hide his pain with a smile directed toward the twins who asked questions. Without hesitating, I turned and ran up the stairs.

"Is everything ok?" Ratchet asked. He stood outside my room.

I nodded, "I'm gonna take care of it, Ratch."

He walked into my room and I stepped into Peter's. The boy was sitting in the middle of his bed with a comic book held between his hands. He hadn't opened it yet. Instead, he just stared at it with twisted lips and tense shoulders. I shut the door behind me, "Hey, Pete?" He looked up at me, "We need to talk."

"I don't wanna talk about Wes, Aj."

"Well we need to." I replied firmly.

Peter shook his head and his face grew angry, "I _don't_ want to play board games with him! I _don't_ want to talk to him!" He let out a frustrated scoff and threw the comic book toward his desk, "I _hate_ him, Aj!"

" _Don't say that_." I snapped and crossed the room. Peter looked shocked at my raised voice. I hadn't meant to snap at him, but it couldn't be helped. To hear my Peter say that word, to say he hated his father, with such venom and determination, filled my soul with dread. I felt hatred today staring at Kyle. I felt the way it filled every inch of my body, the way it infected my mind, and made my vision clouded and red. I got to see how prolonged hatred turned to bias in the way Sideswipe glared at Thundercracker when we first came home. _Hatred ruined people_. It took the best of someone and poisoned them. "Peter just- just _don't_ say that, ok?"

Peter let out a frustrated sigh, "Aj, you don't- I can't- I _really_ don't like him, Aj."

I came over to sit on the bed beside him, "Yeah, I'm picking up on that, buddy."

"He _left_ us." Peter said softly. "He explained why and I- I- I get that, but it still…it still hurts, Aj. What if he leaves again?"

I nodded, "I see your point, but I could've left too. You gave me a chance, and though I have hurt you, I'd like to think there's more pros than cons."

Peter gave me a light smile at my comment, "It's different with you though."

"Not really." I argued. "There's always going to be a chance you get hurt, Pete. I wish that wasn't true, but it is. When you care about someone you automatically give them the opportunity to hurt you, but that's better than the alternative. It's better than shutting them out and being alone. Trust me on that."

"Even to people who have hurt me before? I'm supposed to give them another opportunity?" Peter argued.

"People deserve a second chance, Pete." I said firmly. Giving second chances was hard as hell and I wasn't exactly the role model to follow in that sense, but if anyone could master it it would be Peter Williams. He was too good to be bad at it. "Here's the thing, Pete. Wes- Your dad, left you without any contact or answers and regardless of his reasoning that was a dickhead thing to do, pardon my french." The boy laughed at my language, but I continued, "But I really do think you should give him a chance."

Peter's laughs died down, but he didn't look so angry and closed off to the idea anymore, "Why should I? Really?"

"There are a lot of shitty fathers out there who bail on their kids. I know one personally, but I don't think Wes falls under that category."

Peter's eyes narrowed, "He _did_ bail on me!"

I nodded, "Yeah, Pete, he did, but he also did something those shitty dads don't do. _He came back_." Peter's eyes softened and I set my hand on his shoulder, "He came back to you and he's truly sorry, Peter. Call it a guess or intuition, but I honestly don't think that man is _ever_ going to leave you again. Not if he can help it."

"How do you know?"

"Well", I pulled my hand away, "He had the chance to go to Paris today and finally get revenge on the people who ruined his father's life and ruined part of his."

Peter's eyes widened, "He did?"

"Yeah." I replied, "Yet, instead of kicking ass in Paris he's downstairs playing Monopoly with your brother and sister. Which _isn't_ super fun. You know how Tyler cheats in that game."

Peter chuckled and paused in thought, "What if I do give him a chance and I still don't like him?"

I couldn't hold back the loud laugh that erupted from my lungs, "You know what?" My laughter turned to chuckles. "We'll cross that bridge once we get to it, little man. _If_ we get to it. Right now, I'm just asking that you give the poor chump a chance." I clapped him on the back, "Kinda like the one you gave me."

Peter nodded and the two of us pushed off the bed to leave the room. I walked down the stairs with my arm slung around his shoulders.

"Thanks, Aj."

"That's what I'm here for, kid." I replied and lightly pushed him toward the living room where Tyler was loudly counting fake money while Bluestreak corrected him every other number, "And tell Tyler he better not cheat."

Peter nodded before heading into the living room and taking a seat with the twins who excitedly cheered at his presence. The kid said something and Wes grinned with a nod. Taylor, who was pulling him into a hug, distracted Peter, and Wes lifted his gaze to meet mine. He nodded with a small smile and I shrugged in response. If someone like me got a second chance in life then this guy definitely deserved one.

"That's a good thing you did, sweetspark."

I turned and walked over to Jazz who was leaning against the kitchen wall, "I'm known to do nice things every once in a while."

"You ok?" He asked. Nothing was wrong with me, but I did feel extremely tired. Tired enough to even go to sleep early tonight.

Rather than answer, I wrapped my arms around him and leaned against his chest. Jazz didn't hesitate to wrap his own arms around me. With a tired sigh, I just stayed there and let him hold me up. Aubrey, Wes, and the kids would be leaving for the beach in less than an hour and I'd get to spend the entire weekend with Granny.

* * *

 

_I was surrounded by darkness. So much that I couldn't even see my own hand if I held it up in front of my face. Standing there, alone and in the dark, I suddenly realized I was dreaming again. I remembered Aubrey, Wes, and the kids leaving for the beach with Bear in tow. I remembered going to bed. This was another nightmare, but it was different. Never before had I ever realized I was having a nightmare until after I woke up from it._

_"Hello!?" I yelled, but got no response. If I pinched myself would I wake up? The movies always made it seem like that was the solution. Before I could even try, the darkness began to disappear as the area around me slowly lightened up. I turned, hoping to notice something about my surrounding area. My eyes landed on another person. "Hey!" I walked toward them even though it was still too dark to make out any details of the person. All I could see was that they were walking toward me as well._

_Then the sight was clear. It was me. The person I was walking toward was me._

_The darkness was gone, replaced by an odd light with no source, and now I could see that I had been walking toward a mirror that seemed to stretch on to the right and left endlessly. Despite the fact that I was wearing my ratty pajama shorts and shirt, my reflection wore jeans, boots, a flannel shirt, and my usual leather jacket._

_I lifted my hand to touch the mirror, but my reflection didn't move. A hand slowly appeared on my reflection's shoulder and the thing that looked like my mother slid out from behind her._

_"Here we are again." She hummed in disappointment._

_"I want to wake up." I declared and dug my nails into the skin of my arms. It did nothing but make me grit my teeth in pain. I pushed harder, I'd draw blood if I had to. "I want to wake up_ now _."_

_She chuckled, "You can't wake up. This isn't a dream. This is your future."_

_She lifted her hand and caressed the side of my reflection's face. Carefully tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear. The same way my mother would so many years ago. She wasn't physically beside me, just in the mirror, yet I could feel her fingers against my cheek._

_"Get the hell away from me. Leave me the fuck alone!" I barked._

_"No." She dropped her hand and stared at me, "I've said this so many times, repeated it over and over, but you don't get it. You don't understand."_

_I scoffed and stepped toward the mirror, there was thunder in the air, "Oh, I understand just fine. You want me dead."_

_"I don't want you dead, Aj." She replied. It seemed strange to hear my mother's voice address me by my common nickname. "It just has to happen. You need to die, it's the only way to end the line of defenders. Your mother took the first step needed to destroy the lineage, but without your death…it will come back."_

_"What the frag are you even talking about?" I cried in confusion. "Nothing you say makes sense!"_

_"That's why we're here." She said softly, "You will not take me for my word so I will show you the consequences of your actions. I will show you the path you are destined to walk."_

_With those words she faded away and the mirror became foggy. I tried to wipe it away with my hand, but the fog was on the other side of the mirror. It slowly dispersed and I could see myself again, but my eyes widened at the sight of my unusual reflection. My features were the same, the build of my body was the same, but it was like everything else differed. My hair was long again, braided down my back, and my blue eyes seemed dark and lifeless. My reflection wore a sleeveless black dress that draped to the ground covering both my legs. The outer material was sheer and it glittered in shades of white, purple, dark blue, and light pink. It looked like the night sky. Around my lower arms and hands were silver…gauntlets of sort. What really caught my eye was the dried blood that seemed to be splattered on the strange gauntlets. It mingled with a dried, dark blue splatter that reminded me a lot of energon._

_A dark red image began to form on the mirror between us. I watched as the familiar symbol I had found with the three-headed snake like figure was drawn. When it was completed, my reflection stepped forward and set her hand against it. With a bright flash of light, it disappeared as quickly as it had come and now my reflection's eyes glowed a bright blue._

_"Walk with me." My reflection hummed. She turned to the right and began to walk away. After a moment of hesitation, I followed her side-by-side with only the mirror between us. "Let's find your family."_

* * *

 

A vorn ago, if someone had told Optimus that one day he would be standing across from Megatron in a human kitchen, speaking peacefully rather than fighting, he would have hardly believed it. Yet here he stood in his bipedal mode staring at the dark gray mech. The human day had gone fairly well, all things considered, and it seemed like everything was going according to plan. Aubrey, Wes, and the younglings had safely arrived at their destination with the organic hound, the project was well on it's way, ready to be of use, and Aj was healing well.

"Brother." Optimus spoke cautiously.

Megatron shook his helm, "Don't. I know what you plan to ask of me. Don't, Optimus."

"Can't we be done with this? Can we not put aside this endless battle and come to a better solution?" Optimus question. He longed for peace. He craved it more than anything. The leader was hesitant when it came to dealing with Megatron period, he had been betrayed by the mech one time too many, but he would never forgive himself if he didn't at least bring the subject to the table.

Megatron tensed, "That is not for me to say."

"Of course it is." Optimus replied sharply. "You can end this. If you gave up this cruel crusade and worked with us, we could-"

"There will always be those out there fighting for the Decepticon cause."

"We can end that belief together." Optimus replied. He received no response and this frustrated him to no end. He could see the change in Megatron's demeanor. He could see the mech he used to know in those dark red optics. The mech he thought had died, his brother in arms, had suddenly returned and the energon-thirsty warlord had vanished. "Can you at least promise me a temporary peace when we travel through the portal? Enough time to get our new friends settled and to safety."

Megatron shook his head, "I cannot promise that."

"Megatron-" Optimus growled.

_::I do not know what will happen when we cross through that portal, brother. You should remain prepared for anything and everything.::_

The sudden comm message had startled Optimus, but not as much as Megatron's words had. He planned to push further. Optimus could see that Megatron wanted to explain more, to confide in someone, but the world came to a screeching halt around him as pain flooded his spark. It was so sharp that he didn't initially realize that it wasn't his own physical pain. The pain came from a bond. Optimus could see Megatron's own pain, own shock.

The pain was _fear_. Intense, processor-numbing fear.

A high-pitched scream erupted through the house and suddenly Optimus was moving. His pedes left dents in the stairs as he stormed up them, Megatron and other mechs following behind him. A flash of red and yellow streaked in front of him from the office to the medbay where more screams erupted.

Optimus wasn't sure who was where or how they all managed to fit into the small medbay, but when he entered the medbay his spark ached in pain again. Aj was thrashing about the berth, her optics shut tightly, screaming at the top of her lungs. Water dripped from her tightly shut optics. Ratchet, in bipedal mode, was on the bed trying to hold her down.

"Youngling, _wake up_!" The medic cried before quickly barking in cybertronian for the other mechs to back away from them. "Aj, it's a _nightmare_ you need to wake up!"

Aj's optics snapped open suddenly as he body stiffened and stilled. There was so much fear and panic and pain there. Optimus could see it in her optics and he could feel it in his spark. She began to hyperventilate as she sobbed hysterical. Aj sprung forward and clung to Ratchet's chassis. She was yelling now, but it was words this time yelled between bouts of sobs, "I _killed_ them! I-I-I- Ratchet, I _killed_ them. They were _dead_! _My kids were dead_! The-They were- _No_!"

"Shhh. It was a nightmare young one. Shh." Ratchet replied soothingly as he carefully wrapped his arms around her.

Aj clung to him tighter, "Don't le-leave me. Don't let me go. I'm sorry. I'm so so-sorry."

Her face was buried against his chassis as she sobbed. Optimus didn't know what to do. It pained him to see her like this, but he felt useless standing there watching. Ratchet's gaze met his and a comm was sent his way.

_::Get everyone out. Now.::_

Optimus nodded, "Every mech is ordered to leave the medbay." Voices rose in argument but it squashed it quickly, " _Now_."

The mechs began to file out of the room one by one. Optimus gave the femme one last glance. She shook and cried in Ratchet's arm as he cradled her gently. He turned and left the room to see Grimlock standing outside the door. Down the hall by the stairs were Jazz, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, and Wheeljack. While others had cleared the second floor, they remained.

 _"Don't order us away, Prime._ " Sunstreaker spoke roughly in sharp cybertronian. Optimus could hear it in his tone though, it was a request. Sunstreaker would follow any order he gave, but he was pleading, in his own way, for Optimus not to do that to him. " _She needs us_."

Optimus nodded, "No one is to enter the medbay until Ratchet deems it otherwise."

"Grimlock is guard." The dinobot rumbled from behind him. Optimus watched as he transformed to his alt mode. The metal dinosaur was almost too big for the small hallway. Grimlock was forced to lay down and his tail rested up against the wall, but he made do. "No mech get near dinobot pet."

Optimus nodded and forced himself to walk away from the door. He wanted to purge the image of Aj thrashing and sobbing from his memory banks, it was painful to see, but there was no place in this house he could go where he wouldn't hear her continued sobs.

Morning came quickly enough, but it felt like vorns before Optimus received a comm from Ratchet requesting his presence. The sobs had stopped human hours ago, but it still haunted his processors. Optimus quickly went upstairs to see Jazz leaning against the office door archway while the twins sat on the floor in front of the bathroom door leaning against each other.

Their optics all snapped to him as their frames tensed. They wanted in. He knew that. He knew that just like he knew Thundercracker had been pacing the downstairs hall since he was kicked from the medbay. It wasn't their turn, however, and Optimus could admit to himself that he wanted to be in there as well. He gave them a quick nod, one to Grimlock as well, before slipping into the room.

Ratchet sat on the berth, his back against the wall and the femme in his arms. She was recharging soundly, leaning against Ratchet's chassis, but the area around her optics were swollen and red.

"She cried herself to recharge." Ratchet mumbled. "The berth would be more comfortable than me, but every time I try to set her down she goes into fits."

"Your presence calms her." Optimus offered.

Ratchet vented out a sigh and lifted his optics from her faceplate to his, "I _can't_ fix this, Optimus. I can't rid her of these… _nightmares_." He scoffed in frustration, "What am I supposed to do?"

"I think this is enough for her, old friend." Optimus replied. He stepped closer and let his shoulders relax, "I didn't know we could feel anything over the bond this strongly. Her anger at seeing the male was nothing compared to this."

"Sunstreaker knew." Ratchet commented. "Back when he was the only one feeling the bond. I commed him earlier. What he felt a little over a joor ago was the same thing he felt before. He was the first one in. He thought she was offlining."

It explained why Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were curled up together like they were. The twins always seemed to revert to that position after long battles and trauma. A spark scare like that could without a doubt be considered a trauma.

Downstairs, the sound of a phone ringing could be heard, but he paid it no further mind. Someone would answer. The ringing quickly stopped and Optimus nodded. He shook his helm, "Do you think she'll remember this nightmare?"

"As much as I want to hear about it, to understand it, I hope she doesn't." Ratchet replied. "She was screaming that she _killed_ them, Optimus. She was screaming that the younglings were…" He couldn't even finish the statement, "I hope it didn't make it to her memory banks."

The sound of a holoform forming in the room made Optimus turn toward the sound in curiosity while Ratchet tensed protectively. Wheeljack's holoform took shape and there was panic drawn on his human like features.

"What the _frag_ are you doing in here, Wheeljack?" Ratchet barked in a whispered tone. He glanced down at Aj, "I said no visitors yet!"

"I'm sorry, Ratchet. I'm sorry." He shook his helm, "We _have_ to wake her now."

Ratchet looked livid, "Are you slagging kidding me? She needs more fragging recharge and this is the first peaceful rest she's gotten since-"

"You _don't_ understand, Ratchet." Wheeljack pleaded. It was only then that Optimus and Ratchet noticed the worry and dread on the mech's features. " _I'm_ the one who answered the phone downstairs. It was-… We _need_ to go _now_. The call came from the _hospital_."


	36. Remember

* * *

_"Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would, I'd never leave." –A.A. Milne_

* * *

 

Hospitals had always creeped me out to some degree, but thanks to my last stay here I had come to almost liking the place. They had saved me after all. This sterile building filled with very un-sterile people had slightly grown on me. Now though? Right at this moment?

I hated hospitals.

Probably because right now I was filled with more fear than I've ever felt before. My palms were sweaty, my body was shaking, and I was just barely holding on. It was a fucking miracle that I wasn't curled up in a ball on this white tiled floor sobbing my eyes out. I would rather face Boss a hundred more times than be here in this situation. At least up against Boss I had some semblance of control. I could do something.

Here? Right now? I was fucking useless. All I could do was sit here on an old, worn down chair waiting. Waiting and waiting and waiting. I wasn't good at waiting.

Last night I had spent hours trapped in a nightmare pleading and begging to wake up, but now I was praying that I was still there. That this was just a continuation of that God-awful dream and that none of this was actually happening. There was an awful pit in my stomach that told me that prayer was hopeless. This was happening. The antiseptic smell that burned my nose was too real. The sounds of intercoms and background conversations and heart rate monitors were too life-like. The solid arm around my shoulder was heavy and tangible. I was stuck in this reality.

The doctor was back and he was talking, but he might as well have been one of the adults from Peanuts. I couldn't hear a word he said, it didn't register for me. Someone was pulling me up, leading me towards a door, and finally I understood. They were done. I could go in. My feet were on autopilot as I walked into the small hospital room. The windows were open letting in plenty of sunlight that brightened the room. The TV in the corner was off and the only sound I could hear was the heart rate monitor by the bed and my ragged, sobbing breaths.

There she was lying in bed with her eyes peacefully shut. She wore a plain hospital gown but the blankets tucked in around her covered most of it. Her arms were out though with an IV stuck in the crook of her left elbow. Her gray hair still looked perfectly in place, despite her condition, but now she looked so much older than I usually pictured her. Granny looked like she had aged years since I last saw her.

I thought I could handle seeing her like this. I thought I could toughen through it and be strong, but God I was breaking. In my mind, I wasn't just seeing her lying there resting. I kept seeing her dead, broken body. Eyes open, but unseeing, stuck behind a mirror turned to glass where I couldn't reach her.

A hand squeezed my shoulder, but I brushed it off and rushed forward. I grabbed Granny's unresponsive hand and collapsed into the chair by her bed. My head hung forward, resting on the side of her stomach and I just sobbed.

* * *

 

Sideswipe's spark ached and spun. It was a strange feeling. On one side, he could feel excitement from the younglings. Whatever it was they were doing had all three of them happy enough that it actually translated over the bond. On the other side, he could feel Aj's agony. He didn't know how it was for all the other mechs, but for him and his brother the agony was at the forefront. Both emotions were strong, but Aj's was nearly palpable. He had seen through his brother's memory what it had felt like the night she had gotten shot, but it wasn't until last night that he got a taste of it himself. Her jagged fear left them staggering. The two of them had nearly fallen into gladiator mode.

 _'How is she?_ ' Sunstreaker asked over the bond.

Rather than answering, Sideswipe stepped back into the doorway so his brother could see what he did. Aj was draped over a recharging Rosie crying. The sobs had died down after the first couple breems, but she was still leaking fluids from her optics.

 _'She's still shaky from last night. This just made it worse._ ' Sideswipe thought.

He stepped away again because it hurt him to just watch her. Optimus was sitting in a chair across from the door, Jazz was pacing the hall, and Ratchet was off to the side speaking to Rosie's doctor. Sideswipe still didn't know the details. All he knew was that the older female had the equivalent to a spark attack. Except apparently the spark attacks humans had were a lot worse than the kind they had.

: _:According to Megatron…::_ Optimus spoke over the comm unit, probably to keep nosy humans out of the conversation. _::The seekers just arrived at Rosie's home.::_

Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp had flown over to Rosie's house to get supplies. That way Aj wouldn't have to later. It was a risk to let them do so, but their options were pretty low at this point. It's not like they had another car.

"Should I start tryin' to get in contact with Aubrey?" Jazz asked aloud.

"Pit no." Sideswipe blurted before Optimus could reply. Sunstreaker's agreement rang clear over their bond. "Leave them out of this for now."

Jazz stopped pacing to level a glare at him, "They _need_ to know."

"What difference will it make if they're here right now?" Sideswipe argued, "They can't change anything. Just let them enjoy themselves for now."

"While Rosie lies in the hospital?" Jazz scoffed.

"It's what Aj would want."

Optimus stood up, "Hold off on reaching out to them for now."

Sideswipe glanced back into the room and every inch of his being urged him to go in after her. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that Ratchet said she needed her time alone. He'd ignore the medic if he didn't know that Prime would force him to obey.

All three mechs stiffened as Ratchet's holoform walked back over with a frown, "She's fine. She'll recover, but she'll be weaker than before. The doctor says this wasn't her first spark-… _heart attack_. That wasn't surprising to him though. Apparently once you have one heart attack you are predisposed to have more."

"Sunny and I saw her take medicine more than once." Sideswipe spoke up, "Did that have anything to do with it?"

Ratchet nodded, "That's probably what they gave her after her first incident." The medic scoffed and shook his head, "Honestly, this system of care is so _frustrating_. It seems like there are almost no real fixes. It's just chemicals and drugs used to postpone injury or fight back symptoms. Why don't humans have _real_ repairs?"

Optimus let out a soft hum and allowed the medic to complete his rant entirely before speaking, "Did he state where she was found?"

"Yes." Ratchet sighed, "She was volunteering at the younglings' school this morning. Helping some teachers. The attack happened there and the school called for an ambulance. Rosie had no emergency contact on file, but one of the teachers came along and made sure Aubrey's home was contacted. She must have known they were close."

"Primus." Jazz mumbled and turned around shaking his helm.

Sideswipe could tell that Sunstreaker was passing along the information back at the house. He crossed his arms across his chassis and leaned against the wall behind him. The mech had no mock bond to Rosie, but he was worried all the same. Every mech in this universe cared for the older female. Even Barricade respected her to some degree.

"Can we go in with her yet?" Sideswipe blurted. He lifted his gaze to focus on Ratchet. The medic narrowed his own optics in response. It was what Sideswipe expected from the mech.

 _'He's not going to want anyone in there with her.'_ Sunstreaker commented. The medic was always overprotective, but that trait went into overdrive when he was worried.

Sideswipe stepped toward him, "You can't help them both at the same time. You check on Rosie and I'll sit with her."

There was a pause of silence between the three mechs before Ratchet nodded in agreement. Jazz stepped forward, "Ratch-"

"I need you and Optimus to run to the front desk. Tap into the system and initiate Rosie under the same insurance as the others." Ratchet interrupted. Early on, when Tyler had been hospitalized, the problem of human money came up. Tyler was under his mother's insurance policy and it was all covered, but the mechs quickly learned that policy didn't cover their favorite accident-prone friend. As it turns out, hacking into human systems wasn't overly complicated and 'Cyber Systems' insurance company was created. It was how they paid for Aj's surgery and hospital stay and it was how they'd pay for Rosie's stay if she couldn't cover it herself. Honestly, it'd be great if they all could just stop getting hurt, period.

Optimus set his servo on Jazz's shoulder with a quick glance. The saboteur nodded once before the two of the turned and walked down the hall. Ratchet motioned toward the doorway, heading in himself, and Sideswipe hesitated only a brief moment before walking in behind him.

* * *

 

"I'm sorry." I whispered. The blanket muffled my words. "I'm so sorry."

I didn't know how exactly, but I knew this had to be my fault. It couldn't have been a coincidence that Granny ended up in the hospital after my nightmare last night. I was warned wasn't I? Warned that I was a danger to everyone I loved. I didn't even really know what that meant though.

"Aj, babe."

Sideswipe was standing by my side, I could feel his presence. Slowly, I lifted my head up and let my eyes focus on Granny. She hadn't woken up yet, she hadn't even moved. There was a hand on my shoulder as Ratchet came into view. He gave me a quick worried glance before looking over Granny's vital for himself. Him and Sideswipe were obviously here, but it just occurred to me that I had no idea who else had come.

"Ratchet." I spoke up and flinched at the crack in my voice. Quickly, I cleared my throat, "Is she…Did the doctor…?"

"She'll be fine, youngling." Ratchet replied softly, "She just needs some rest."

I nodded and Sideswipe carefully pulled me up out of the chair. Finally, I turned to look at him and saw the concern drawn all over his holoform's features. Without missing a beat, he pulled me forward into his chest. Sideswipe's arms wrapped around me as I just leaned against him.

"Sunny wishes he was here right now too." Sideswipe whispered, "He's going to come later though, with some others."

"Take her down the hall toward the cafeteria. She needs some food." Ratchet ordered. I didn't want to eat or drink anything. All I wanted to do was sit here until Granny woke up, but I just couldn't bring myself to argue. There was a pause in the room, as if the two mechs expected me to fight about it, but I just nodded in agreement.

Sideswipe cleared his throat and led me out of the room. He kept his arm draped across my shoulders and kept me tucked into his side. The two of us slowly walked down the hall to the medium sized cafeteria. It was fairly crowded, but I expected no less at this time in the morning. The mech led me to a corner of the room and sat me down at the table. He cupped the side of my face, "Stay here, ok? I'll be right back with some food. Don't move."

I nodded numbly and watched him disappear into the breakfast gathering crowd. My gaze drifted around the room. If I just sat here my mind would go back to where I didn't want it to go so I focused on something else. I watched the guy in the business suit angrily whisper into his cellphone across the room, I watched a mother stir a bowl of food for her grumpy toddler, there was a teenager sitting a table alone scribbling away in a notebook. I stared at a happy family sitting off to the side for longer than was socially acceptable when Sideswipe came back over with a plate in one and a cup in the other.

He set both down, the plate had eggs, bacon, and a biscuit while the cup was filled with what looked like coffee, and then he pulled a wrapper out of his pocket that had a fork and napkin inside it.

"I know you don't like coffee, but Sunny said it'd give you energy. Luckily, I remembered that if you had to drink it you liked it sweet. Like me." Sideswipe gave me a cheeky grin. I knew he was trying to make things better, but I couldn't bring myself to smile back. I just nodded and took a sip of the coffee.

Sideswipe sat down right beside me, rather than across from me, and draped his arm across the back of my chair. Rather than trying to eat I turned my head to look at him. His holoform wore a small smile, but the worry was still evident in his eyes. It was then that I realized he was still using his fake holoform. The one with dark hair. I had seen it yesterday during the meeting, but it didn't really click for me until this moment. My eyes slowly drifted to his lips that were unmarred by any scar or mark.

The mech cleared his throat, "Yeah, I know. These lips are just so slagging kissable." I looked back to his eyes and he shrugged, "I appreciated what you said…about me and my holoform, my real one, but… I'm just… not ready to walk around like that. I don't want to answer any other questions."

"I get it." I replied in a low voice.

"You should eat."

I shook my head, "I'm not really hungry, Sides."

Sideswipe sighed, "Do you…Do you need to talk about it?" I could feel my body stiffen and Sideswipe continued his line of thought, "Last night was… _rough_. You were so scared and we couldn't do anything. I just…I just want to help."

"Don't."

"Talking helps, Aj."

"I can't talk about it." I snapped, "If I talk about it then I have to think about it and then…"

My voice trailed away as my mind drifted. I couldn't stop the flashes behind my eyes. I couldn't stop my mind from replaying the nightmare over and over again. The bloody bodies, the broken bones, the screams of pain. I could still hear Peter sobbing and begging for the pain to stop. My stomach rolled and for a second I thought I was going to throw up right then and there. Sideswipe moved his arm from the chair directly to my shoulder and pulled me closer, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Forget I said anything."

"I wish I could forget it all." I mumbled and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. What I would give to forget. It was silent for about a minute before Sideswipe covered the hand on my face with his own and pulled it away. I gave him a tired, curious look and he just smiled in response before pulling his arm away from me.

Sideswipe began to sign to me, ' _You're officially at 38 nicknames now, you know? After using the one you did yesterday.'_

I shook my head and spoke aloud rather than signing back to him like I usually did, "Sides, I don't-"

_'Sign to me.'_

I hesitated, but the pleading look on Sideswipe's face made me give in. With a sigh, I signed back, _'Why do I have to sign to you?'_

 _'I need to practice_.' Sideswipe replied, _'I'm getting rusty.'_

_'You're almost better than me, you liar.'_

Sideswipe grinned, ' _You need to come up with more nicknames. The bet ends either when we leave or when you run out of them.'_

The light conversation continued, with Sideswipe mocking his brother, and I quickly realized why he wanted me to sign to him. American sign language was hardly my natural language and it still took a great deal of concentration to hold one single conversation. My mind couldn't focus on anything else when it came to signing.

Unfortunately, I couldn't sit here and sign about nothing with Sideswipe. I needed to be upstairs and the moment Sideswipe got a message from Ratchet saying they had moved Granny into a different room and that she was awake it took everything in me not to sprint out of the cafeteria.

"You didn't eat anything." Sideswipe argued as he followed me down the halls. People spared us passing glances and it was probably because I looked like a mad woman.

"My hands were a little preoccupied." I shot back. The mech grumbled under his breath in response and the argument stopped there. As we came to a fork in the hallway, Sideswipe grabbed my hand and took lead since he knew where the room was thanks to the medic.

My hand tightened around his nervously and my feet started to grow heavy. As much as I wanted to be in the room with Granny right now, a part of me was also scared. What if I made everything worse? What if I hurt her someway or somehow? Sideswipe squeezed my hand reassuringly, as if he could hear my poisonous thoughts, and shot me a small smile. In return, I planted my feet forcing him to stop as well.

"Aj? We're almost there, it's around the corner." He said with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I let go of his hand and threw my arms around his neck. Sideswipe took an involuntary step back in surprise but didn't hesitate to wrap his own arms around me tightly, "Aj?"

I rested my head in the crook of his shoulder and closed my eyes. Right now, I was a mess of a person. That nightmare had destroyed me. It shattered every inch of my soul and I wasn't entirely sure I'd ever be able to come back from it. Not completely. However, if there was one thing I was thankful for today it was for my mechs. I'd still be a blubbering mess sobbing in my bed if it weren't for them. Plus, it was a small comfort that last night I didn't have to watch my mechs die. I didn't hurt them. Not my big, strong mechs. They were impenetrable. Indestructible.

Sideswipe turned his head and I could feel a pair of lips on my temple before he whispered, "Let's go see Rosie, babe. You can do this."

I nodded and slowly released him with a heavy sigh. The two of us were walking slower now and as we turned the hospital corner, avoiding two nurses who turned at the same time, I spotted Optimus' holoform leaning against the wall across from an open door. He noticed me at about the same time and pushed off to walk toward us, "Aj? Are you well? Did you eat?"

"I'm not very hungry right now, OP." I replied. My eyes darted to the door again, "Is she…Did you see her?"

Optimus nodded, "I spoke to Rosie a moment ago. She seems well. Ratchet is pleased with her condition." He reached out and cupped the back of my head in a paternal manner. A small smile grew on his lips as he gave me an encouraging nod, "You are a brave, strong femme, Aj. You will get past this. You and Rosie both."

"Thanks, OP." I tried to keep my voice from shaking. I gave Sideswipe a quick glance over my shoulder before heading towards the door alone. Ratchet's voice was the one who stood out to me and it sounded like he was in mid-rant.

With a steadying breath, I stepped into the room. This one was a bit larger than the other and it was obviously a room that was meant for someone to heal in for a couple of days. It looked like the one I had stayed in not too long ago. Ratchet stood on the left side of the bed wagging his finger in Granny's direction in an almost comical manner. Granny was awake and looked exhausted, but she was smiling lightly at the stern medic. On the right side of the bed was Jazz's holoform watching the scene in amusement. Jazz was the first one to notice me only because Ratchet was really into his rant right now and Granny, like the kind woman she was, was actually listening rather than ignoring him like I usually did.

"Sweetspark." Jazz breathed and rushed over to me. My eyes widened when he scooped me up into a tight hug, but it wasn't unwelcome. I wrapped my arms around him and gathered the strength I was going to need from his embrace. He pulled away and cupped my face. He kept his voice low and unaccented, "Are you alright? How do you feel?"

"I'm fine, Jazz. I'm ok, I just need to…" My eyes darted beyond him to see Ratchet and Granny staring at us. Ratchet had a look of worry that I expected at this point, but I was surprised to see Granny look equally as worried to see me. Did she blame me for this too? Was she worried I'd make this worse?

Ratchet let out a grunt and walked over, "Come on. Give them a breem or two." He narrowed his eyes at me and Granny, "But if either of you strain yourselves, I swear to Primus-"

"Alright, Hatchet." Jazz let go of my face and the two left the room. One of them closed the door, I could hear it, but I kept my eyes on Granny.

She sat up in bed, scooting over toward the right side, and lifted her arms and spoke in a hoarse tone, "Come here, honey."

Tears fell from my eyes again as I rushed over and crawled into bed beside her. Granny didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around me and my reaction was to fold into her and cry harder. She lightly shushed me between comforting words while rubbing my back with her hand. We stayed that way for a long time. Until my eyes were dry and my chest hurt from crying.

"I should be comforting you." I mumbled pathetically.

"Oh don't be silly. I'm perfectly fine." Granny replied with a light chuckle. She was hardly fine. She could've died. I could've lost her forever. Just like in that nightmare. I wanted to tell her that. Tell her that she was wrong, but my voice just wouldn't work. She hummed lightly, "Ratchet told me you had a rough night."

I nodded numbly, "It was…it was bad, Granny. It was really, _really_ bad."

"Do you want to tell me about it?" To say it out loud, to speak about that horrific nightmare seemed like a God-awful idea. It was bad enough to have it banging around in my head like it was, but to say it aloud? To hear it in my own words? Wasn't seeing it enough? Granny squeezed my shoulder, "Aimee Jane?"

"It was _me_." I whispered, "It was me. I was just a- a spectator to my own actions. I had to watch as-" My voice broke and for a moment I wasn't sure I was going to be able to continue. Granny tightened her arms around me and in that moment I felt briefly whole again. "I had to watch as this…version of me, killed them. I killed them all. Wes, Aubrey, Josh, you, the ki- the kids." Now the words fell from my mouth freely. It was like word vomit. "There was…like a two way mirror between us. I was on one side and they were on the other. They were dying, the other me was…was beating them alive, but I couldn't do anything!" I didn't think I could cry anymore, but new tears sprung to my eyes, "I hit the mirror until my own hands bled, I screamed and screamed until I was hoarse, but I couldn't stop it. I couldn't save them from myself!"

"Hey, hey now. Shhh." Granny pulled one hand back to wipe away the stray tears streaking my face. "Stop that. It was just a dream, Aimee Jane. A horrific one, yes, but it's over now. You don't need to dwell on that. We're all just fine."

I shook my head, "You're in the hospital, Granny."

She narrowed her eyes at me, "Honest to God, Aimee Jane, if you try to blame yourself for my weak heart I swear…"

"No", I argued, "You don't get it. It felt like…like _more_ than a bad dream. There was something about it… What if I'm cursed?"

Granny scoffed, "Aimee Jane-"

"I'm a trouble magnet!" I cried, "A-A train wreck of a human being and I'm…I'm _dangerous_ , Granny."

"Dangerous?" Granny's voice rose in volume, "Hardly."

I sat up slightly, "I've hurt people, Granny. You know that. I'm a damn good fighter. It's probably the only thing I'm honestly talented at." She looked like she wanted to argue against that, but I didn't let her, "Everything I did in that dream…I'm capable of. I have the ability."

She slowly sat up as her facial features calmed. Granny took my hands in hers and squeezed them, "You're right." My heart fell to my stomach. It was something I knew, but to hear her agree hurt like hell. She pulled at my fingers, making my fists unclench, and brushed her fingertips along my knuckles, "I lost count of all the times I saw you come home with bloody knuckles, and I always knew that no matter how bad you looked, how bad these knuckles bled, I knew deep down that you gave out as much as you took, if not more. That there was someone out there in the same condition or worse." Granny lifted her gaze to meet mine, "But these hands could _never_ intentionally hurt someone you love, Aimee Jane. I know that with _every_ fiber of my being."

"Granny…"

"You aren't just some street fighter. You aren't some…some destroyer. You're a _protector_." I opened my mouth to point out the many years where all I fought for was money and fame, but she cut me off, "There were a few years there where you got lost, I know that, but you found yourself here. With your sister, with those kids, with those mechs…" Granny smiled, "You protect people, Aimee Jane. It's what you do."

I took a shaky breath, "What if I get lost again? What if I _forget_? What if…" Thoughts of my dream, of my fake mother speaking to me, came to mind, "What if someone changes me and turns me into a monster?"

"That's not how it works. You won't forget." Granny replied sternly, "And to answer your last question…who are you?"

"What?"

" _Who_ are you?"

My brow furrowed in confusion, "I'm…I'm A-" I paused and reworded my thoughts, "I'm Aimee Jane Bradshaw."

"That's right." Granny replied cheerfully, "And as far as I was aware, _nobody_ tells Aimee Jane Bradshaw what to do. She does whatever the hell she wants."

A chuckle left my lips and I couldn't help but smile in response to her using my own words against me. Granny pulled me back into a hug and I curled up against her side. Images of my nightmare were burned into my brain. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would ever be able forget them for as long as I lived, but being with Granny, hearing her comforting words, had eased my mind and soul. She comforted me in a way I knew no one else could. She comforted me like a mother would.

Besides, she was right about one thing. I would die protecting the ones I loved. I would do anything and everything to keep them safe and far from harm. Even if that harm was myself. Nothing, not even me, would ever hurt them. Not if I could help it.

"Do you remember when we first met?" Granny asked suddenly.

I let out a laugh, "Are you kidding?"

"I remember being so shocked when I heard that the police were going to escort over a sixteen year old girl to my foster home to be looked after. It wasn't as surprising that the police were involved after I caught sight of your busted up face and sneer."

"Excuse you, I was adorable."

"All you did that first week was curse and slam doors and call me Granny-"

"I only did that to annoy you."

Granny grinned, "And who would've thought that a little less than a year later I'd be scolding you for threatening other kids who tried to call me Granny."

I shrugged, "You're _my_ Granny. They could go out and get their own."

There was a knock at the door before it was lightly cracked open and Sideswipe stuck his head in, "Sorry to interrupt." His eyes darted to me and he grinned in relief, "There's someone here to see Rosie."

"Who?" I pressed in curiosity.

"Abramo."

Granny smiled, "Oh, let him in."

Sideswipe disappeared and Abramo took his place as the large man strolled into the room. He carried a bag of food in one hand and a concerned look on his face, " _La mia rosa, sei tu bene_?"

Abramo crossed the room and set the bag filled with to-go boxes off to the side. I slid off the bed and he reached for her hand. Without taking a breath, he began to rant in Italian, worry dripping off his tone. Granny squeezed his hand and clapped her other hand on top of his, "Abramo, dear, I am fine."

"I heard from Pam and hurried over. As quickly as I could, my rose." Abramo shook his head. He glanced at me, " _Patatina_! You must be so worried. I brought food."

I chuckled, "Thanks, Abramo. I'll give you two a minute."

"Grazie."

After one last glance at Granny, I left the room to give the two of them some time to talk. Abramo and Granny had always been really good friends. They had met through me. Stepping into the hallway, I was surprised to see only Sideswipe there.

"Where are the others?"

"Outside talking to the seekers."

"TC and them are here?" I pressed.

Sideswipe stuck out his lower lip, "Why do you sound so excited?"

I ignored him and pressed for even more information, "How did they get here? Don't we have the truck? Wait, did we take the truck?"

Everything that had happened this morning was basically one big haze. I didn't remember getting out of bed or even getting dressed. I glanced down at myself to see I was in my pajamas. Oh.

"They flew, but from what I hear they were careful and everything worked out well for them." Sideswipe said. He smiled, "You look better already."

"What?"

"After talking to Rosie. You have color in your cheeks again." Sideswipe said softly.

I rubbed at my cheek awkwardly before shaking my head at him, "You heard everything, didn't you?" Sideswipe didn't verbally reply, but the look on his face was answer enough. "Did the others?"

"No. Sunny knows, of course, but he didn't share that with the others."

"Thanks."

"What are you doing out?" Ratchet's voice rang out. We turned to see him coming toward us, "Is Rosie alright?"

Sideswipe crossed his arms, "Yeah, she's just got a new visitor."

Ratchet glared at him, "New visitor? She needs her rest. I only let Aj in there because I knew neither of them would stand for it if I didn't."

Rather than trying to argue with him about how Granny could handle one more visitor and how Abramo would do more good than harm, I walked toward him and wrapped my arms around his torso, burying my face into his holoform's chest. I remembered my nightmare vividly, but I didn't recall much about the time I spent conscious last night. However, I was vaguely aware that I spent most of it curled up to my favorite medic.

"What are you doing?" Ratchet asked gruffly.

"Thanking you. Again. For everything." I replied in a muffled voice. His arms wrapped around me in response. "Thanks for staying with me last night."

Ratchet hummed, "Of course, youngling. Just… _please_ stop scaring me."

I wished I could promise him that, but something told me that if I did it would be made in vain. We pulled away and Ratchet shot me a quick, warm smile. Sideswipe cleared his throat, "So hey, we didn't call Aubrey and them. Was that a good choice?"

My eyes widened in realization, "Oh God, they don't know do they?"

Ratchet shook his head, "Their presence wouldn't change anything and the younglings are having fun. We can feel it over the bond."

It must have been a lot of fun if the mechs could feel it. Ratchet was right too. If they knew, if they were here, they'd just be upset and worried. This was probably for the best. I'd check with Granny when I got back into the room to be sure, but I would bet my left kidney that she'd agree with us. "I think that's for the best."

The door opened and Abramo stepped out, "I must go open the restaurant, but I will check up later, _patatina_."

Sideswipe spoke something in Italian and Abramo nodded before walking down the hall way him, both speaking the larger man's native language. Ratchet set his hand against my back and the two of us walked back into Granny's room.

"Have fun with your bestie?"

"Abramo is such a kind man." Granny chuckled.

Ratchet spoke to her about the kids and she agreed, wholeheartedly, that the news of her heart attack could be broken to them when they return. I sat down on the edge of her bed while Ratchet took the seat right beside her bed.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

Granny smiled, "Perfectly fine, just a little tired."

"What even happened?" I asked.

"Without going to into the details, she had a heart attack while at the younglings' school." Ratchet spoke up before she could, "The medicine she took, while helpful, isn't perfect and humans become more prone to heart attacks after their first anyways. Honestly, the more I hear about human medicine the more-"

"Wait, wait." I interrupted him and stood up to look at Granny, "After their first? Is this your _second_ heart attack?"

Granny frowned, "Aimee Jane-"

"Granny!" I cried, "What? I-I- _When_? Why didn't you tell me?"

She sighed, "It was years ago, you were in New York. I thought you were in medical school at the time. I didn't want to bother you, it was a minor thing."

"Bother me? Minor thing?" I shook my head, "You had a heart attack, Granny. Oh my God."

Ratchet stood, "I'll give you two some more time, but if your voices rise above a certain octave again I'm coming back in. Both of you need rest."

I paid him no mind as he walked out. My eyes stayed on Granny, "I can't even…"

"It's fine, Aimee Jane. Bad hearts run in the family." Granny shrugged, "My mother was the same way."

I fell back into the chair Ratchet had been in and slumped down with a sigh. Heart attacks weren't out of the norm for her apparently. As she got older they would just get worse too. Two heart attacks was awful, but what if she had three?

"I have to stay." I thought aloud.

Granny narrowed her eyes, "Excuse me?"

"I can't leave with them. I can't leave you, Granny."

"The hell you won't." Granny replied sharply, "I will not have you miss out on this opportunity because of me."

I shook my head, "Then you come with us. The mechs wont argue and- and even if they did I can convince them otherwise. I know I can."

Granny sighed, "No, Aimee Jane."

"Why?"

"This isn't my adventure, it's yours." She replies softly, "Plus, I can't leave this universe. One day I'm going to pass on."

"Granny-"

"It's a fact of life, Aimee Jane. Everyone has to die eventually. Now for me, it's not going to be for a good long while. I can feel it." She smiled, "But when it happens, I need to be in this universe. I've already decided that once you and your family leave, I'm going back to Florida. I'm going to spend the last leg of my life in my old home. The one I had with my Freddie and when I go I'll be with him."

We didn't talk about it often, but I knew the Freddie she spoke about. Fred Tanner was her late husband. They had been childhood friends who grew up and fell in love. They married outside of high school and had a bright future ahead of them. After thirteen years of marriage, when they were in their thirties, Fred had gotten into a car accident coming home from work and passed away. About a year after that she moved up to Alabama and hadn't gone back since. Granny didn't really talk about him much and when she did it was only glowing words about the man. As far as I knew, she had never dated another man again. Fred was it for her.

"I don't want you to be alone." I argued, "What if you had been home alone this morning when you had the attack? Granny…"

"You shouldn't worry so much, dear. You'll go prematurely gray." I could tell by her tone that the conversation was over. She wasn't budging on her end and I knew from experience that Granny could be every bit as stubborn as I was. Internally though, I didn't let it die. There had to be an answer for this that didn't involve her being all alone. There had to be something.

* * *

 

Waiting for the mechs to rotate had been absolute torture. To sit in the house while Aj was suffering so far from him was just the worst. It helped to have his twin there, but seeing things through the bond was different from being there in person. Now though, he was close. Optimus and Sideswipe had come back in the truck to switch out with some people. Jazz and Ratchet had refused to leave and Sunstreaker knew that his twin would have done the same if the others didn't need them separated right now. The comms worked from the hospital to the house, but just barely. It was sketchy at best and tended to go in and out. That's why Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were taking turns. No matter how sketchy their comm bonds were the twin bond rang loud and clear. It was how they could keep connected and informed.

"Jazz says they're on the second floor on the East side. Room 213." Bumblebee spoke up. Him, Bumblebee, and Prowl had come this round to visit Aj and check on Rosie's condition.

 _'Grimlock is freaking the frag out.'_ Sideswipe grumbled over the bond, ' _He wants to be at the hospital and I think him and bossbot are about to wrestle it out.'_

Sunstreaker didn't bother to respond to him as the three of them headed up to the room. As they got close, the femme came into view. She was standing in the hallway talking to Jazz.

"-find her number for me?" Aj asked. He had missed the first part of the conversation, "I need it ASAP."

"Sure thing, sweetspark. I'll get workin' on it. You gonna be alright?" Jazz pressed. He lifted a servo to rest on the side of her arm.

Her optics glanced in his direction and she smile with a nod, "I will. Thanks Jazz."

Jazz and Aj walked toward the two of them. Bumblebee greeted her first with a tight hug and words of worry, but Sunstreaker kept his glare on Jazz who returned the heated look happily as he passed them.

"You can go in and say hi. She's feeling much better. Had a nap about thirty minutes ago." Aj shrugged. Prowl gave her shoulder a squeeze before the two of them walked by her to enter the room. Sunstreaker stopped in front of her and waited for her attention to fall on him.

Her bright optics drifted back towards him and a small smile filled her features. She was sad and anxious. Her smile didn't quite match the one she usually wore, but her optics had light in them. A light that Sunstreaker was worried he wouldn't see again with the way she looked this morning. She had been a shell, a ghost of her true self as Ratchet dragged her out the door.

"Hey there, you walking, talking caution sign." She chirped as cheerfully as she could. He couldn't even bring himself to be annoyed at the nickname. "How are you?"

Sunstreaker wasn't the kind to outwardly show his feelings and he sure as pit wasn't a ' _public display of affection'_ kind of mech, but he couldn't stop himself from stepping forward and pulling the shorter femme into his arms. Experiencing her fear and panic and pain over the bond had nearly sent him over the edge. He could only picture her lying on the ground bleeding, her optics fluttering closed as she offlined in front of him. Ratchet saving her only for it to happen all over again. Her arms tightened around his neck and he buried his faceplate into the crook of her shoulder. He needed the comfort of knowing she was here and safe, that she was physically online and well.

"I'm ok, Sunstreaker. I promise."

Sunstreaker took a step back and cleared his throat, "How is…how is Rosie?"

"She's doing good. She helped me more than I helped her that's for sure." Aj shrugged.

He motioned with his head toward the hospital room, "Bumblebee has a change of clothes in his bag for you."

Aj glanced over her shoulder, "He didn't mention it…"

"I think he was eager to see Rosie."

It was quiet between the two of them as Sunstreaker just studied her features, trying to see if she was honestly all right for the moment or just seriously faking it. She cleared her throat and grabbed my servo with her own, nodding her helm toward the room, "Come on, Pikachu, Rosie wants to see you too."

Sunstreaker let her drag him toward the room as Sideswipe sang over the bond, ' _That's slagging 40! She hit 40! Frag yes!_ '

The yellow mech tried to bite back the small smile that threatened to slip onto his features. He was not a fan of the _'nickname game_ ' as Sideswipe and the other mechs called it, but he was impressed that Aj had gotten as far as she had. Plus, by calling him different nicknames now it showed that she was trying. Despite what happened last night and what happened with Rosie, she was fighting to get back to where she needed to be mentally and emotionally. At that thought a surge of pride, one that matched his own, blossomed over the bond from Sideswipe. Their femme was a fighter. She never laid down and took a beating, no matter where the danger came from.

"Granny, look who else came along." Aj chimed. The old human looked her age at the moment. Sunstreaker could she the exhaustion in her eyes and body, despite her effort to hold onto her smile, and he felt powerless. Why did humans have to be so Primus fragging fragile?

"Sunstreaker." Rosie greeted happily. Prowl was sitting in the seat beside her bed as Bumblebee stood on the other side.

Sunstreaker nodded, "Rosie. How…How do you feel?"

"I'm fine." She replied warmly.

Bumblebee took off the book bag he wore on his back. It was Taylor's pink school bag, but right now it was filled with random clothes that Wheeljack had thrown in there for her. Prowl rose from his seat, claiming Jazz was comming him, and then left after a brief good-bye to Rosie.

"I'll be right back." Aj spoke up before slipping into the bathroom in the corner of the room.

"Sunstreaker." Rosie caught his attention. She motioned for him to come closer so he walked over and let his holoform drop down into the seat Prowl had been in. Bumblebee wandered back over to where he was on the other side of the bed. "Are you alright?"

The mech blinked in surprise, "Me?"

"You look…well, you looked scared, dear." Rosie shrugged. There was concern in her optics for him. It didn't surprise him. Rosie noticed a lot and more than that she always cared. Autobot or Decepticon, it didn't matter, she just cared.

Plus, she wasn't wrong. Sunstreaker had been shaken up and seeing this human lying in bed sick now put a ball of fear in his tanks. Humans were so fragile. They were so easily broken. Worse, it wasn't just outside factors that could break them. Rosie was sick because of her own systems and from what he heard from Ratchet, that wasn't something that could be fixed. Humans didn't have many fixes. They had patch jobs that barely lasted.

What upset him the most about this was that he was now bonded to a group of these fragile beings. As much as his processors and spark saw them as mechs and femmes, that's not what they were. The younglings were human. Aj was human. They were small and breakable and even if nothing went wrong, even if the mechs all succeeded in protecting them, they would live for maybe over a vorn. Maybe.

That made Sunstreaker's spark ache. His processor replayed the memory of what it felt like when Aj offlined. The absence in his spark. The nothingness.

"I'm fine." Sunstreaker replied more roughly than he intended. His optics darted over to Bumblebee whose face had crumpled in his own worry. He knew the scout understood what Sunstreaker was feeling. He knew that the scout had the same fears as him. They all shared the same fear these days.

"Well", The bathroom door opened and Aj stepped out with the book bag in hand. She had on a black, thick oversized sweater and denim shorts that could barely be seen because of the size of the sweater, "I like the sweater, but I don't know if I would wear this with jean shorts."

Bumblebee chuckled, "Wheeljack packed it. He said he wasn't too sure."

"He tried. Comm him and tell him I said thanks and that I love it." Aj smiled and pulled up the edge of the sweater to tuck it into the front of her pants. Now it at least looked like she had on a full outfit.

"Done." Bumblebee nodded.

Ratchet breezed into the room, giving Sunstreaker a quick nod, before walking straight over to Rosie, standing next to Bumblebee, "How do you feel?"

"The same as I did ten minutes ago when you asked." Rosie chuckled, "I'm fine, Ratchet. Thank you, but I'm fine."

Aj came over to stand next to him, "It's not as fun when he's nagging over you is it? Just wait until he gets to the rant about taking medicine."

"Oh, its not so bad." Rosie shook her head.

"Well when he offers you hot chocolate with an extra dose of morphine, I'm not gonna stop him." Aj joked. Sunstreaker smirked and stood up to offer the chair to her.

Ratchet scoffed, "Are you never going to let that go?"

"Probably not." Aj replied before shaking her head at him, "You can sit, it's fine." Sunstreaker rolled his eyes and set his hands on her shoulder, lightly pushing her down into the seat. She smiled and shook her head, "You're so stubborn, canary."

Bumblebee's grin widened, "That's 41, isn't it? That means Jazz's out!"

"Really? Jazz?" Aj questioned.

Sunstreaker narrowed his optics at him, "How do you know that?"

"Sideswipe commed everyone when she hit 40." Ratchet replied.

 _'It's true. I did._ ' Sideswipe hummed over the bond, _'Tell Aj I've never been more proud.'_

_'Shut the frag up.'_

Aj wasn't aware of it, but only two mechs remained in the bet. One was his annoying as pit brother who had bet that the femme could get at least 50 nicknames. The other was none other than Optimus Prime. He had said she could get at least 45. So in this case, Optimus would win if she could think up at least four more and Sideswipe would only win if she thought up nine more. Sunstreaker wasn't part of the bet, considering he was the victim of it, but if he had to bet on who would win he'd say the Prime. He'd put all his credits, and all his hope, in the large, regal mech.

 _'So little faith._ ' Sideswipe scoffed.

_'It's not a lack of faith, I just really want you to lose, glitch.'_

In fact, he would love to see the glitch lose right now.

"Get it all out of your system." Sunstreaker spoke up. He crossed his arms and Aj raised an eyebrow at him curiously, "Right now. Let's finish this, put an end to the game."

Aj smirked, "How so?"

"Throw everything you can at me. Every nickname you have left."

"Right now?" Aj clarified and he nodded in response. She leaned back in her seat in thought. He glanced up to see Rosie smiling in amusement while Bumblebee and Ratchet watched on in interest. "Banana Peel. Butterfinger. Lemonhead. Citrine."

"Citrine?" Sunstreaker pressed.

"It's a yellow jewel. It counts. I would've used it." Aj shrugged. She bit down on her lower lip and Sunstreaker could see that she was reaching for more, but grasping none. Optimus Prime was currently winning. He would win if she could come up with no more. "Goldfinch?" Sunstreaker narrowed his optics at her and she bobbed her helm once, "Goldfinch. It counts too."

He smirked at her, "Go on."

Once again she bit down on her lower lip in thought. Her optics brightened briefly, "Minio…" His smirk grew as she began to repeat herself. Sideswipe was screaming over the bond for her not to say it, as if she could hear him. She quickly shook her helm, "Wait no, I think I used that one. Did I use that one?"

Bumblebee opened his mouth, but Sunstreaker shot him a glare while speaking, "We can't answer that."

Aj groaned and went silent again in thought. Her faceplate lit up in excitement and he tried to keep his smirk from unfolding into an affectionate grin, "Belle!"

"Bell?" Ratchet asked.

" _Belle_. Like the Disney princess. She has a bright yellow dress and is oh so pretty." Aj winked at him and he couldn't help but chuckle.

Sunstreaker nodded, "Is that all you got?"

Her smile fell in frustration, "Um…Lego man. They're yellow."

She was getting dangerously close to 50 now. She was only two away which was impressive. Unfortunately, that meant Sideswipe was near victory. He was basically dancing over the bond.

"Ken doll." Aj grinned, "Because of your holoform."

"Ok. That it?"

Aj paused and tilted her helm. It looked like she was about to agree that that was all she had. At 49 she was gonna end the game. Of course, Ratchet chose this moment to speak up, "Are you sure you don't have one more nickname to use?"

Sunstreaker snapped his gaze to the medic in a glare and spoke over the commlink, : _:Whose side are you on?::_

Ratchet shrugged in response as Aj reconsidered her thoughts. Sideswipe buzzed in excitement, ' _Come on, come on, come on…Don't let me down, babe. Tell her I said that.'_

_'Shut up.'_

Aj's lips twisted in frustration as her eyebrows furrowed together in the middle. Slowly, realization dawned on her and her face broke out into a warm smile. Sunstreaker braced himself for whatever nickname she had thought of, the one that would push his brother into victory, but he hadn't expected what she said.

" _Sunny_." She beamed. Ratchet chuckled and began to speak to Rosie again as Bumblebee laughed and announced that Sideswipe had won, both out loud and over the comm unit. Aj turned away from Bumblebee's quick announcement to continually grin at him.

He didn't have to look over the long list of nicknames that Sideswipe kept because he would've remembered if she had called him ' _Sunny_ '. His smirk fell away and she look briefly concerned that she had done something wrong. He quickly offered her a small smile and spoke softly, "Don't call me that."

There was no heat or force in his words. Aj chuckled and focused her gaze on Rosie who was talking to Ratchet about her medicine. Sunstreaker continued to stare at her as Sideswipe celebrated.

* * *

 

"You don't have to wait out here with me, you know?" I spoke up and shifted in the plastic seat I was waiting in outside the hospital. Jazz turned his head to look at me and gave me cheesy grin in response, "I'm serious, Jazz."

He nodded, "I know ya are. How many times do I gotta tell you though? I like spendin' time with you, sweetspark."

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Really? Because I think you're just afraid I'm gonna fall apart again." He didn't reply to that and I sighed. About an hour had passed since Sunstreaker, Bumblebee, and Prowl arrived at the hospital. As far as I knew, they were still up there with Ratchet visiting, but I knew they'd be leaving soon to rotate out with some other mechs. I think the next mechs on the line up to come were Soundwave, Megatron, and…Bluestreak? Maybe? I couldn't remember.

"I jus' don' like seein' you hurt." Jazz finally spoke.

I gave him a soft smile, "I know. Sorry for being so hurt prone." Jazz chuckled and I continued, "And thanks for finding me her number."

"It was easy 'nough. Why did you call 'er and tell 'er to come though?"

An hour ago, I asked Jazz to find me Kaylee's phone number. Kaylee, also known as 'the teenager I beat the shit out of', was flying under the radar at the moment. Josh probably had a way to get in touch with her, but I didn't want to bother him with this. Besides, my saboteur got me what I needed. It worked out even more perfectly because she was in the area and I wouldn't have to wait for her to drive all the way from Auburn.

To be honest though, I wasn't sure what I was really getting in touch with her for. I had the beginnings of a plan coming to life in my mind, but it wasn't exactly super well thought out. It was more of a gut reaction. This was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about keeping Granny from being alone. Gut reactions had done me well thus far so why question them now?

"I'm hoping to figure that out before she gets here." I answered his question with a shrug.

The temperature outside the hospital wasn't too cold, thank God. Today was one of the warmer days and it was only the slight breeze that would bring goose bumps across my bare legs. I let out a tired sigh and sunk down in my seat. My body and mind was ready for a nap, but I was terrified that if I fell asleep I'd end up back in front of that mirror. Granny had talked me down from my edge, and I knew I wouldn't hurt the ones I loved, but I don't think I could survive watching it all happen again.

My eyes darted over to Jazz to see him still watching me. I chuckled at him, "I promise, Jazz, I'm not going to spontaneously combust. You can look away."

"Maybe I don't want to." He replied softly.

"Hmm?"

Jazz let out a breath, "What can I do to fix this, Aj? I'm rackin' my processor tryin' to come up with some…some solution, but I'm drawin' a blank."

I shook my head, "Maybe there isn't one."

"Aj-"

"Not everything has an answer, I think." I said slowly, thinking through my words, "Some things you just have to…to suffer through. Wait it out. Ride the storm. You know?"

Jazz furrowed his eyebrows and I could faintly see the outline of his narrowed eyes through the black glass of his sunglasses, "I don' want you to have to do that though. Ride the storm like you say. I wanna- I wanna take you out of the storm. Shield you from it. After everything… You shouldn' have to go through this too."

"I'll survive, Jazz." I gave him a reassuring smile, "I always do, don't I?"

Jazz looked like he wanted to argue but instead nodded, "Kaylee's here." I turned around to see the young girl making her way towards the two of us. We both stood up, but I was surprised when he grabbed my elbow and pulled me toward him. I glanced in his direction, "Luck doesn' last forever, sweetspark. I learned that the hard way, an' I don' wanna see you run out like I did."

I narrowed my eyes in curiosity, "What do you mean?"

"Maybe later." He replied and pressed his lisp to my temple before heading inside. I watched him go before shaking my head and focusing on Kaylee who was only a few feet away. Her long, dark brown hair was loose and hung around her face making her pale skin look lighter. She wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt, but my eyes were glued the fading bruise that shaded her left cheekbone.

Kaylee smiled, "Hey, Aj. Was that your boyfriend?"

"The hell happened to you?" I ignored her question and closed the space. "Are you fighting again? I swear to God, Kaylee-"

She rolled her green eyes and shook her head, "No. I'm not. This was…something else. You never answered my question."

"And you didn't answer mine."

I led her inside to the lobby where we could sit down and talk without the cold breeze biting at us. She followed me and dropped down on the small couch beside me. I raised an eyebrow at her, "So. Explain."

Kaylee sighed again, "Well…I took your advice. I got emancipated. The paperwork went through about a week ago. It's official."

"Congrats." I replied, but my eyes stayed narrowed, "I don't get how that explains what happens though."

"My mom wasn't happy with my decision to leave." She continued sadly.

My eyes widened and anger shot through me like an arrow, "Your…Did your mom hit you?" Kaylee nodded with a small shrug. I clenched my fists, "Where is she? Auburn?"

"I don't need you beating up my mother for me, Aj." Kaylee replied, but there was a small uplift of her lips. "I appreciate it though. Really."

"I'm just glad you got away from her." I sighed in frustration.

"Me too." Kaylee nodded, "I'm still not far enough though. It's actually perfect that you called me. I wanted to say goodbye."

There was a pause as I took in her words, "Wait. Goodbye?"

"Yeah. I want to get out of this area. I'm not sure where to yet, but any where is better than here and I have the funds to do so thanks to you."

That's when it clicked for me. This couldn't have worked out more perfectly in my favor. It had to be a sign of some sort. The universe was throwing it in my face telling me that this was the right path to take. Why else was everything actually working out in my favor?

"Kaylee-" I began.

She shook her head with a smirk, "No way! I answered you, now you have to answer me. Was that guy your boyfriend?"

"Um well it's not-"

"Aj!"

I turned around to see Bumblebee waving at me from the front door across the room. Prowl was next to him, but Sunstreaker was on his way over to me. He glanced at Kaylee, giving her a brief nod, before looking back to me, "We're heading out now."

"Oh you are?" I stood up and wrapped my arms around him in a quick hug. Sunstreaker wasn't a very huggy mech, but the incident last night and this morning must have softened the mech up because he hugged me back. "Thanks for coming, Sunshine." He raised an eyebrow at me and I grinned, "I gotta try out some of the older nicknames now. I feel like Sunny belongs to Sideswipe. I need my own."

"Primus, you're going to be the cause of my offlining." Sunstreaker mumbled before turning around and leaving.

I sat back down and looked at Kaylee to see her eyes wide and her jaw slightly slack. Quickly, I snapped in her face once, "You ok?"

"Is there a specific reason why you're friends with all these really hot guys?" Kaylee questioned, "Also, the blond guy by the front door…is he single?"

I lightly flicked her on the nose, "He's too old for you." Kaylee pouted in response, but I could tell it was in good nature. I grinned at her, "Now, you said you wanted to leave the area, right?" She nodded and I continued, "Well, I know exactly where you can go."

"You do?" Kaylee asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I do." I stood up and motioned for her to as well, "How do you feel about beaches?"

* * *

 

During the trip upstairs to see Granny, I briefly explained to Kaylee about Granny's condition, who she is to me, and how she planned to leave for Florida relatively soon. When we got close to the room I noticed Ratchet and Jazz talking outside in the hall.

"I'm sorry she's sick." Kaylee offered me. "It sounds like you really love her."

"I do." I replied and swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. As we got closer to Granny, I grew more nervous. I knew this was for the best, but it made everything more real. If I initiated this little plan of mine it meant that I'd soon have to say good-bye to Granny and I wasn't really sure I'd be able to do that anytime soon. Ratchet looked at us and I sheepishly smiled, "I'm taking Kaylee in to meet her."

Jazz nodded and pulled Ratchet further down the hall to continue their conversation. I led Kaylee into the room and watched as Granny sat up at the sight of us. Her eyes widened in curiosity and she cleared her throat, "Hello there. Aimee Jane, who is this?"

"This is Kaylee. The girl I fought. Remember?" I replied and realization dawned on Granny's face. I saw the older woman take in the sight of the tall, thin girl and the bruise on her face. I pulled Kaylee to Granny's side, "Kaylee, this is Ros…" My words trailed away briefly. I always introduced her as Rosie. That was her name after all. Only I called her Granny. Well, me and the kids of course. I smiled, "This is my Granny, Kaylee, and…and I think she can be your Granny too."

"Aimee Jane?" Granny questioned as Kaylee just stared at me in surprise.

I lightly motioned for Kaylee to take a seat and she did, "Granny, she's 16 years old." A chuckle left my lips at the coincidence of it all. I had been 16 when I first met Granny too. "She just got emancipated because her mom is a druggie. That's why she has that bruise. Her mom hit her." Granny's eyebrows furrowed and I continued, "She's trying to get out. Get a change of scenery and she says she's never even seen a beach in person before."

Granny understood my words in that moment and her features softened. I could feel tears threatening to show up and my throat was tightening so I just gave the two of them a nod before turning and leaving the room. I closed the door behind me and just stood there. The faint sound of their voices could be heard from behind the thick wooden door.

"Sweetspark?" Jazz spoke up. He walked over to me as Ratchet gave him a firm smile before walking away, mentioning that he was going to wait out front for the other mechs to come. "That was a good thing you did."

"I know." I replied with a crack in my words. "I just wish it didn't mean what it did."

He nodded and stepped forward with his arms outstretched. I didn't hesitate to bury my face into his chest.

* * *

 

I didn't dream of that mirror again. Even after days of falling asleep it didn't come back. The first night after I first had the dream, I stayed in the hospital with Granny. She told me that Kaylee had agreed to go with her to Florida, but then we didn't talk about her again. Instead we walked down memory lane as I laid in bed next to her. The two of us fell asleep in the middle of a conversation and everything was fine. The next night I had gone home to sleep, Granny needed to stay in the hospital for the whole weekend, but I still hadn't slept alone. The twins' holoforms had slept beside me and once again no dreams, good or bad, plagued me.

Sunday night, Aubrey, Wes, the kids, and Bear had come back. I hadn't told any of them about my nightmare, but they did finally find out about Granny. We all visited her that night. Peter had been old enough to understand the situation fully, but the twins weren't. They knew something bad had happened and they understood that Granny's heart had hurt her, but since we told them she was in good health and healing they were chipper and cheery. They sat in bed with her telling her about their weekend at the beach in full detail. That night I slept with Bear by my side and everything was ok. To be honest, I was afraid that the moment I chose to sleep alone, things would go downhill.

Luckily, I didn't have to. Bear slept with me every night and Tuesday night of that week Grimlock had somehow fit into my room and slept with me too. His head rested on the bed and his body curled up on the floor. Nothing kept nightmares at bay like your own personal fire breathing, metal dinosaur.

However, this morning would be a nightmare in itself, and I knew that no one was going to be able to keep it at bay. This morning seemed typical in every way. It was a Wednesday, the sun was bright and shining, the morning air was warm and comfortable, but none of that mattered. None of it mattered because this morning was the morning Granny was going to leave for Florida with Kaylee.

The house was loud and happy. The kids sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast with Granny. They were laughing about something and were all dressed for school. They'd go to class about the same time Granny left too.

"I wanna go to Florida." Tyler announced, "I wanna see an alligator!"

"It would eat you!" Taylor rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I turned away as Granny added something to the conversation. I couldn't say anything. I couldn't talk to her. If I did I would fall to pieces.

"Aj?" Thundercracker walked up to me, "Are you doing ok?"

"I don't really know, TC." I shook my head, "I don't know if I can survive today."

Thundercracker offered me a small smile, "You can. I know it."

I glanced away from him and glanced out the window in time to see Kaylee being dropped off by another teenager outside. The other girl climbed out of the car, gave Kaylee a tight hug, and I watched as the two said their goodbyes. The other teen drove away leaving Kaylee on the lawn with her single suitcase.

"Kaylee is here. Make sure all the mechs are in their holoform." I said to Thundercracker and he nodded in response. Wes' voice rose above the noise telling the kids they had to grab their bags. I rushed outside and shut the door tightly behind me. Kaylee noticed me as I made my way to her and her eyes widened.

"Aj? Are you ok?"

I stopped in front of her, "You have to make me a promise, Kaylee."

Kaylee's features hardened, "Anything you want."

"You watch over her, ok?" I said firmly. "Because she's going to watch over you. She's going to give you everything and she's going to volunteer at a million places because she's fucking Wonder Woman, but she overworks herself all the damn time and her heart just can't take that shit anymore and you make sure she takes her fragging medicine every damn day like clockwork and-"

Kaylee stepped toward me, "I promise I'll look after her just like she'll look over me. That's what family does right?" She offered me a smile, "Besides, you can always come visit us you know?"

But I couldn't. I couldn't come visit her and that's why this hurt so fucking much. The front door open and I glanced behind me and watched as a flock of people emptied out into the front lawn. It looked like every mech was out here, but Grimlock for obvious reasons. He must have said his goodbyes already or else he'd be crashing through the front of the house. Aubrey came over to greet Kaylee and I sidestepped and just watched as the mechs took turns hugging and speaking to Granny. She spoke to Wes, hugging him tightly, before turning to the kids. Taylor burst into tears first, but Tyler wasn't far behind. I guess it really hit them at this moment. The urge to curl up in a ball and hide came to me. Bear was inside so I couldn't pull him to my chest and hide in his fur. I was stuck here.

Granny turned around and her eyes landed on me, and it felt like my world just stopped. I wanted the earth to open up and devour me. I wanted to be anywhere but here. She smiled and walked toward me and I quickly began to shake my head. Tears were already dripping from my eyes.

Saying goodbye to her the first time, eight years ago, hadn't been this hard. I hugged her, thanked her for everything, and then jumped on a bus without a second glance over my shoulder. I barely called her during my undergrad years, despite her paying for most of my college education, and I never called her after I graduated. Hell, I hadn't called her even when I showed up back here. She had to show up at the damn front door. I was the worst of the worst. I was fucking scum of the Earth.

"Oh, don't you cry, honey." Granny chuckled, her eyes were already rimmed red, "I'll really lose it if you do."

"I shouldn't have ignored you." I said and my voice broke immediately, "I shouldn't have ignored you for all those years. I shouldn't have. I should have called you every day. I should have- I shouldn't have ever even left."

Granny closed the space and cupped my face. She used her thumbs to wipe away my tears, "Hush now. Leaving here was the best thing for you. You had to go."

I shook my head, "No. It ruined me. It ruined all the good you did for me. You did so much for me- so much and I just- I- I threw it all away." I was basically sobbing now and I wasn't sure I'd be able to even keep talking, "I'm so sorry! I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare apologize." Granny said firmly. Her hands tightened around my face, "Now you listen here, young lady. What you went through, all those obstacles, led you to where you are today. You had to take that path, you did, and I understood that. I never spent one moment upset at you for it, Aimee Jane. Not one." She paused, "I see a beautiful, brave, caring young woman who would put her life on the line for those she loves. A woman who despite being beat down over and over again, stood back up stronger than ever."

"Granny…"

"Every time you tried to say that you were broken or that you were damaged", Granny scoffed, "I never believed it. Because I have never seen anyone love with their whole being the way you do, Aimee Jane. You are a rare soul, and now you have your whole life in front of you and…and I want you to live it. I want you to live and love every moment of it. Take none of it for granted, never doubt yourself, and just live."

I bit back an ugly sob and shook my head, "I don't want-" I sniffled, "I don't want you to go."

"Aimee Jane Bradshaw. I have always wanted a child. Always. But after Freddie died, I knew…I just knew I couldn't have one with any one other than him. He was my everything. So I moved here and I opened a foster home because then I could-" Granny's voice broke and she forced her eyes downcast as she slowly shook her head. A moment passed before she looked back up with watery eyes. Her voice was strong now, "You…You are the child I have always wanted. Scars and all. Freddie…Freddie would've loved you and- and I am so blessed to have been a part of your life. To play the role that I did. I thank God everyday for that, Aimee Jane. Every day."

I shook my head, "I should be the one thanking God. I didn't deserve you. I still don't."

Granny was steadily crying now as her hands dropped to my shoulder. She lightly shook me, "Don't you say that. You listen to me. I won't be there to remind you so I need you to remember this." Her bottom lip quivered, "You are _not_ alone. You are loved. You are loved so, _so_ much and I am so very, very proud of you, Aimee Jane. I have always been and I always will be."

She pulled me into a tight hug and I clung to her for dear life. I knew I had to take this step to move on in my life, but God why did it have to hurt this much? I didn't want to let her go. I didn't want to watch her drive away.

"Thank you." I took a shaky breath, "I love you, Granny."

"I love you too, honey."

After another moment, I forced myself to let go and pull away. Granny beamed at me. She cupped my face lovingly one last time before moving toward her car. Kaylee came by me and squeezed my hand. I smiled and pulled her into tight hug, wishing her luck, and then letting her go. Kaylee got behind the wheel of Granny's car and the older woman climbed into the passenger seat. I waved at her and she blew me a kiss. The car started and after Kaylee shot all of a quick nod she pulled out of the driveway. I walked to the end of the concrete, so I stood with my toes on the road, and stared after the car until it disappeared from sight.

It hurt to say goodbye to her, but she'd always be with me really. I'd never forget her or the lessons she taught me. I'd never forget how she took a bloody, punk ass teenager and taught that pathetic sixteen year old how to love herself again. Granny was the angel that kept me from an early grave and there was no way in hell I'd ever forget that. Rosie Tanner would always be a part of me. She'd always be the most important part. The part that told me to hope and trust and love.


	37. Tribulations

* * *

_"She has been through hell. So believe me when I say, fear her when she looks into a fire and smiles." –e. corona_

* * *

 

"We're going to a universe! We're going to a universe!" Taylor and Tyler sung merrily as they sat on Grimlock's back bouncing. The dinobot was rocking back and forth lightly making the kids squeal and cling to him between their joyous song.

Bear squirmed in my lap and I realized then that while watching the kids play I had slowly stopped petting the pampered pup. With a low chuckle, I dragged my fingers through his fur and sunk down in my own seat. The entire house was, other than the room I currently sat in, strangely calm. Most mechs were in the garage watching as Wheeljack, Soundwave, and Starscream made final checks on the machine. I think Wes was in there too. Last I saw Aubrey, she was rushing upstairs mumbling something under her breath about packing, but she hadn't come down yet.

Peter, on the other hand, wasn't even here. Prowl had driven him over to his friend's house to play for the rest of the day. Kind of like a final goodbye for the ten year old. After tonight, he wouldn't get to see his friend again. Tonight he'd be walking through a portal to an alternate universe. Thinking those words reminded of how strange my life really was.

I wondered what this universe would honestly be like. We had all those meetings over the past week talking about what to expect and what are initials plans would be, but it was all speculation. According to the mechs, despite the fact that their lives back in their universe closely resembled the G1 era and television show, there was a lot that differed. For instance, their date was the same as ours. Here the year was 2015 and there the year would also be 2015. I took comfort in the fact that we wouldn't have to live through the thick of the 80's.

So far the plan was that when we got over to their side, we'd take temporary residence in the city closest to the Ark while they prepared human accommodations for us. The mechs said they wanted us to live anywhere we wanted, but it was obvious to see that most of them wanted us to stay in the Ark with them. Aubrey wasn't entirely sold on that plan yet, but that wasn't something we really needed to worry about now.

Right now, I worried about only two things. The first was that we all make it through the portal without spontaneously combusting or falling lost in some stranger universe. The second was the Decepticons. They were always silent during the meetings that focused on our future plans in their universe. Was it because they knew we'd be safer in an Ark full of unknown Autobots rather than a base of unknown Decepticons? Was it because they had full intentions of pretending this stint in our universe never happened? Or worse, did they have their own plan of taking us for themselves and using us as leverage over the Autobots for this Godforsaken war they were in? I didn't put much stock into that last theory, but apparently I was the only one. It seemed like most Autobots believed in that last theory and were on edge. I could feel it in the air.

Bear squirmed and began to whine again. Rather than beginning to pet him again, I ruffled his fur once and set him down before standing up myself. The pup took off towards Grimlock and the kids who were still playing.

"Be careful, guys." I called out on my way out of the living room.

"Me, Grimlock, always careful." The dinobot harrumphed. I rolled my eyes and didn't offer a reply. Instead, I made my way into the kitchen and pulled the fridge open looking for something to eat. The fridge was mostly bare. None of us had gone grocery shopping recently because we all knew that today would be our last day in the house. It seemed like a good idea except for the fact that I was starving now.

With a pout, I slammed the fridge door shut and turned to head upstairs. Right now, I could really go for a big plate of something Italian. It worked well because I also needed to stop by and say my final goodbye to Abramo. Now that I had a plan in mind I made my to my room to change into clothes that were socially acceptable for public wear.

To my surprise, when I stepped into the room I spotted Sideswipe's bipedal form lounging on my bed with Aubrey's iPhone in his hand. The small iPhone looked a bit comical in his large, metal hands. How the hell was he even using a touch screen? My eyes widened as I realized he had pulled on Aubrey's winter gloves over his large metal hands. They were the type with the material on the finger that works with touch screens. It was kind of ingenious.

He didn't look up at my presence and I just continued to stand in the doorway and stare at him. Seconds passed, but the mech was absorbed in whatever the hell it was he was doing.

"I know I'm gorgeous." Sideswipe replied, he tore his eyes away from the phone's screen to grin at me, "But you don't have to stare."

"What are you doing?" I asked and walked over to my closet. My hand paused on the doorknob and I narrowed my eyes, "Wait, do I want to know?"

"Nothing bad. I'm completely innocent at the moment."

I snorted at his reply and pulled the door open. The racer-back tank top I wore seemed all right to wear so I just grabbed a dark green plaid shirt and pulled it on over it, leaving it unbuttoned. It took me a couple minutes to find the pair of light wash jeans I wanted, but no time at all to slip them on and slip on a belt as well. When I finished getting dressed, I glanced over at Sideswipe to see his entire focus was back on the phone. The darker, circular portion of his eyes moved back and forth slightly.

"You're reading!" I cried in surprise. "Wait, what are you reading?"

Sideswipe shrugged, "Just this story I found."

"What?"

There was a pause before he pulled the phone to his chest and locked eyes with me, "Aj, do you know what fan fiction is?"

I blinked in surprise, "Uh, vaguely, I guess."

"Well there is a slag ton of it out there, all about us." Sideswipe smiled in excitement, "I mean, I saw it early on when I was looking up Sunny and I, but I never really looked at it, you know? Some of it is so good! I mean, some things I've seen are wildly inaccurate, but I've found a pretty neat one."

"You're…reading… fan fiction about _yourself_?" A slow amused grin grew on my features.

Sideswipe nodded and sat up, "Not just me. All of us. Well, not you obviously." He smirked and in a joking tone added, "Honestly, who'd read a fan fiction with you as the main character?"

"Oh, hardy har har." I chuckled and climbed onto the bed to grab Aubrey's phone. Sideswipe rolled over, not only making me cry out in surprise, but also successfully trapping me under his chest. My head barely peeked out over his shoulder, and he went back to reading as if he wasn't slowly crushing me. I laughed and banged my fist against his back, "Will you get off me, you lug nut of a mech?"

"I would, but I gotta finish reading this story." Sideswipe replied without looking at me, "I have until tonight to finish it and I have…30 more chapters to read."

I flailed under him for a few more minutes before giving up and letting my head fall back down to the bed. Since it seemed I was going to be here for a bit I gave up and just laid there. A thought occurred to me and I hummed, "Random people post those stories, right? Things get updated as they write more?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, whoever is posting this story you're reading now, did they finish?" There was a pause of silence and I continued, "I mean, sure you can read what they have up so far, but what if they didn't finish writing the story yet? I doubt there's fan fiction back in your universe."

Sideswipe stiffened and I turned my head in time to see him frantically looking for something on the phone. His face fell and I chuckled as he dropped the phone and hung his head in defeat, "Noooooo…"

"Not done, yet?"

"This isn't fair, Aj." Sideswipe ripped off the gloves and dropped more weight on me making me cough between my laughs, "If I hacked into public records and found out where the writer lived do you think I could visit real fast and-"

" _No_!" I cried between laughs, "You can't torment a fan fiction writer to satisfy your own curiosity. Now get off!"

Sideswipe grinned and lifted just enough that I could move slightly, but not enough that I could escape. He shifted a little so our faces were now across from each other, "What's the magic word?"

" _Fuck off_."

The mech gasped in fake shock, "Aj. You should really watch your language."

I smirked and pushed my face closer to his, "Maybe you should get your slagging aft the fuck off me before I-"

Sideswipe suddenly jumped off me, but before I could react he scooped me up and held me over his shoulder. I screamed in surprise, but it turned to a laugh as Sideswipe quickly spun around to leave the room, "Ratchet! Your youngling is threatening me! I feel threatened!"

"Sideswipe!" Ratchet's annoyed, scolding voice carried up the stairs.

Sideswipe scoffed, "You did the wrong, yet I'm still the one in trouble? Not fair."

"Will you put me down, you giant red, dork?" I chuckled, "I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me to visit Abramo-"

Sideswipe set me down quickly and I would fallen backwards if he hadn't caught me by the shoulders. He beamed, "Abramo? You're gonna go see Abramo?"

"Yeah. To grab lunch, plus I wanna say goodbye. I thought you might want to, too. He liked you a lot. Although, I just think it's because he's desperate for Italian conversations." I replied.

The mech smirked and transformed in front of me down to his alt mode. I watched as he reversed away back to my room. He turned his wheels sharply, disappearing into the room. A second later I heard the sound of a holoform taking shape and Sideswipe stepped out. He casually ran a hand through his dark brown hair and I tried not to show my disappointment that the blond, real holoform hadn't made an appearance.

"You ready, now?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, my wallet is still downstairs."

The two of us walked down the stairs in time to run into Ratchet and Wes. Sideswipe grinned sheepishly as the mech in his bipedal form began to chew out Sideswipe in Cybertronian. The mech backpedaled toward the living room, but Ratchet kept pressing forward with murder in his sea-green eyes.

"I'm glad I caught you. You going somewhere?" Wes asked.

"To get lunch for all of us at Abramo's." I replied, "What do you need me for?"

Wes crossed his arms, "Well, remember when you asked me to look up Boss' brother?"

I nodded slowly. Technically, I had asked him of this during one of our first meetings, but so far nothing had come up from the search. This was the first he was bringing it up and I was a bit scared of what he'd say, "What did you find?"

"Does the name ' _the Emperor_ ' ring any bells?"

"No." I shook my head with narrowed eyes, "Is that Boss' brother? Do neither of them have normal fucking names?"

Wes chuckled, "He might be. He's one of the…criminals that lurks around Vegas. He's one of the higher ups too, and based off Boss' description the Emperor is the only one that somewhat matches it. Blond and brown eyed."

"What's the news on him?"

Wes smiled, "He's still in Vegas. Nick sent a squad to keep track of him and so far it doesn't look like he's even made plans to leave."

Relief blossomed in my chest at the sound of that. We were in the clear. Wes' terrorist nightmare had been handled weeks ago and now my mess was officially cleaned up. All we had to worry about now was just making it through the portal.

"We can't take our things!?" Taylor's voice cried. She ran out of the kitchen with Wheeljack a step behind her.

The mech shook his holoform's head making the slight curls of his hair bounce, "We don't want to risk upsetting the machine's balance, Taylor. We've decided it would be best if all of you took only one bag. Perhaps your school bag?"

"But what about our toys?" Tyler ran over. Both kids had panic drawn across their features.

Wheeljack paused, "Er…"

"I gotta pick out my favorite toys!" Tyler cried and rushed past the two of us up the stairs.

Taylor was on his heels, "What if my Barbie doll house doesn't fit in my bag?"

Ok, so now our biggest worries were making it through the portal and fitting a dollhouse into a small school bag. I think we were sitting pretty all things considered. Wes chuckled and clapped Wheeljack on the shoulder once before jogging up the stairs calling out to Aubrey. I didn't spot her while up there so she must have been in her room.

Quickly, I stepped into the kitchen and grabbed my wallet and the car keys off the counter. My boots were still at the front door and I had slipped them on when Sideswipe ran out of the living room with a grin, "Let's go!"

"Sides!" I cried and stumbled after him as he grabbed my arm and tugged me out of the house. Ratchet yelled out one more thing, but the shutting of the front door blocked the words. Sideswipe took the keys from me and marched toward the truck to start it himself. With a roll of my eyes, I zipped up my boots and followed after the eager mech.

* * *

 

Aubrey sat on the carpeted floor with her back against the edge of her bed. She had come up here at least an hour ago with the intentions of packing a small bag of clothes for her, Wes, and all the kids, but that plan had gotten derailed early on. During her search for a bag to use, she found old picture albums in the bottom drawer of her dresser.

She chuckled as her eyes drifted to a photo of her and Aimee. She was around seven in the picture so Aimee had to only be about five. The two of them were lying in the grass with their different colored hair splayed all around them, tangling with each other and the autumn leaves they laid on. The picture was taken from above them.

The book she was flipping through was filled with old pictures of them. It was one of the only photo albums she still had of her childhood. There was a quick knock at the door and Wes poked his head in, "Aubrey?"

"Hey." She glanced up with a grin, "Come here."

"What are you doing?" Wes asked before settling into the spot beside her. He draped his arm around her shoulders out of habit and let his eyes drift across the open album in her lap.

Aubrey set the one she had aside and reached for a black album with gold trim, "I sent you photos all the time, I know, but there are still a lot you didn't see." She handed him the album. His eyes widened in slight excitement as he pulled his arm away from her and opened to the first page. Aubrey leaned against his shoulder with her eyes on the page, "It's of all of them. Peter, Taylor, Tyler… I was that mom that took pictures no matter where we went. I did it so that one day you could see it all too."

Wes' smile grew and a soft chuckle escaped his throat as he slowly flipped through the pages. There were Christmas pictures, Halloween pictures, Easter pictures, birthday pictures, and so much more. There were random pictures of mornings in the house and days out in the park. It was everything.

"Thank you." Wes said sincerely. He turned to Aubrey and pressed his lips against hers, "Thank you so much."

Aubrey grinned, "This is it. We get to finally be a family again. Like we've always wanted."

"I know." Wes leaned his forehead against hers. "Although, I can't say I imagined the small army of Cybertronians."

Aubrey laughed alongside him and the two continued to look through pictures together. They had plenty of time to pack later.

* * *

 

Abramo's restaurant looked like it was having a bit of a lunchtime rush. Sideswipe was forced to park the truck nearly a block away because of the lack of spaces. We walked toward the front door and the mech swung it open for me with a cheesy grin. I stepped through, motioning ' _thanks_ ' in ASL, and immediately began to look around the room for Abramo.

"Aj?" I spun around to see a familiar waitress come toward me, "Are you looking for Abramo?"

"Yeah, I am. Is he in today?"

She nodded and pointed towards the bar, "He's back in his office in the kitchen. You can head back there."

"Thanks, I was gonna place an order too-"

"The usual family sized deal?"

Sideswipe pulled me into his side, "Is she that obvious?"

I elbowed him in the ribcage as she said she'd put the order in. After a brief thanks, the two of us made our way through the busy restaurant to the kitchen. I had been here enough that all the waiters and waitresses recognized me with ease and didn't bother to stop and question either of us.

Abramo's office was a large room in the middle of the kitchen, off to side, with a large window as a wall so he could see what was happening in the kitchen. Sideswipe and I kept to the edge, to avoid the busy workers, and headed straight to the office. Abramo was sitting behind his desk on the phone and noticed us almost immediately. He waved toward us and we slipped inside.

"Un momento." Abramo whispered to us before going back to speaking Italian into the phone. My eyes drifted around Abramo's cluttered office. There were papers and items everywhere, but it made the office feel warm and almost home like rather than messy. The wall off to the right was a large bulletin board that was covered in pictures. Abramo had a huge family with more siblings than I could even keep count of. Being an Aunt to three kept me busy enough, but Abramo was an Uncle to God knows how many. He was the Uncle to at least a small army of children. Though he only had one son himself and no grandkids as far as I knew.

"Primus, is that you?" Sideswipe stepped forward and pointed to the same picture I had been shown at Christmas time when I stopped by here. The one of me on my 17th birthday. The mech didn't wait for me to reply and cooed, "Pit, you're so cute!"

I scoffed, "I was 17, Si- Scott." I corrected myself just in case Abramo overheard us, "I look the same."

"Exactly." Sideswipe grinned and leaned closer toward me, "Cute."

With a shake of my head, I pulled away from him. It sounded like Abramo's phone call was coming to an end. I walked over toward his desk as he hung up his phone and shook his head.

Abramo let out a sigh of frustration, " _Che palle_!"

It was a phrase I heard him say all the time, but I wasn't entirely sure what it meant. I just knew it signified he wasn't happy with something.

"What's wrong, Abramo?"

He shook his head, "My stupid, stupid boy. Do you know what he do?" I shrugged and bit back an amused smile. Abramo's son was always doing something ridiculous. "He's a getting a divorce. Again!"

"Didn't he just marry his second wife on Christmas?" I chuckled.

"Exactly!" Abramo let out a long phrase in Italian and Sideswipe laughed in amusement. He continued in English, "Why can't my boy find a nice, good woman like you, patatina?" He stood up and came around his desk to stand with us, "I'd ask to introduce you to him, but you deserve so much better than my stupid, stupid boy."

I grinned, "I'm sure he'll find someone, someday, Abramo." There was a beat of silence and I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "Anyways, remember when I said we'd all be leaving soon? Like _'out of the country, hard to keep in touch_ ' leaving?"

Abramo's eyes narrowed, "Yes. Why?"

"It's tonight." I replied sadly. Abramo's face fell and it felt like someone knocked the air out of me. I always felt like dirt whenever I made Abramo sad or disappointed. He was such a good guy. A while back when he was visiting Granny in the hospital, I told him that Aubrey, Wes, the kids, and all the soldiers, plus I, were going to have to leave. I left it vague and explained it had to do with some nasty business we got caught up in and Abramo understood. He offered his help, which I turned down, then gave all his support.

A slow, bittersweet smile was forced onto his features, "Well, the least I can do then is give you a warm, goodbye gift. You ordered food when you came, no?"

"You know I did." I chuckled.

He walked past the two of us, leaned out the door, and yelled something out in Italian. Someone shouted something back, like an acknowledgement, and he turned back to face us, "I send you extra food, all for free, of course. Plus, more dessert. You and Tyler eat so much tiramisu."

"You just make it too good, Abramo." I replied with a smile.

He motioned for us to take seats around his office and we did. We spent the next twenty minutes or so just talking. The conversation was mostly between Abramo and I with Sideswipe listening in. We talked about the old days, we talked about Granny and how she was settling in Florida well with Kaylee, and we talked some more about his stupid, stupid boy that he loved oh so dearly.

A waiter poked his head in with a smile and set two large bags of food on a counter off to the side. I stood up, "Thank you, Abramo. Not just for all the food now, but for everything else. This place…" I sighed and pressed my lips together, "This place was one of the only places I ever really felt at home. Here and with Granny. Thank you for that."

"No, no, no. Thank you, my _patatina_." Abramo stepped forward and pulled me into a hug that I returned tightly, "It was so good to know you. I wish for you only the best in life and only the richest of foods." I laughed and pulled away with a grin. He wagged his finger at Sideswipe, "You give us time, I need to speak to your Scott here."

Abramo pulled Sideswipe aside and began to speak in fast Italian. I stood by the bags and watched curiously. Abramo seemed rather serious faced while Sideswipe on the other hand looked a bit in shock. His eyes grew wider the more Abramo spoke, until finally the man stopped. Sideswipe cleared his throat and replied in the same fluid language. Abramo grinned and pulled Sideswipe into a tight hug.

"Now!" Abramo laughed and reached for his desk, "I need one last picture for my wall, _patatina_!"

"Aw, Abramo." I whined, but moved away from the food to do whatever he wanted.

He motioned for me to stand next to Sideswipe and I did. Sideswipe stiffened and I gave him a weird look that he promptly ignored. Abramo noticed and shook his head, "Act like you two like each other, hmm?"

Abramo added something in Italian and Sideswipe relaxed a bit. I wrapped my arm around his waist and he rested his on my shoulders. Abramo pulled the camera up to his eye and I leaned into Sideswipe with a bright smile. The flash went off and the picture shot out of the bottom.

The Italian man took it and began to wave it around so it would develop. He looked at it and cheered before flipping it over so we could see. For some reason, it felt strange to see Sideswipe and I in a picture together. We were both grinning though and the picture was a cute one.

I watched the man pin it up to his large board of family members then said one final goodbye. Sideswipe grabbed the food and the two of us left the restaurant. On our way to the truck, I glanced at him, "Hey, Sides?"

"Yeah?"

"What did Abramo talk to you about?"

Sideswipe's eyes darted over to me and he shrugged, "Just saying goodbye."

I raised an eyebrows at him skeptically, "It didn't seem like just a regular goodbye."

The mech just shrugged in response and I almost stopped walking in surprise. He was obviously hiding something, but whatever it was he really didn't want to share it with me. Rather than asking again, I left it alone and tried to think up a plan to get him to talk. He set the bags of food on the floorboard of the backseat before climbing into the driver's seat. I went to buckle my seatbelt, but when I noticed Sideswipe wasn't moving my hand stopped short of clicking the belt in. I let go of the belt and stared at him. He just sat in the seat staring at his hands that rested at the top of the steering wheel.

"Um. Sides?" I asked in worry now. Abramo liked Sideswipe so I doubted the man did anything to hurt the mech during the conversation.

Sideswipe turned his head to look at me. He nodded once, "Abramo said…He thought that I…"

I waited for him to finish his statement, but Sideswipe just sat there staring at me. When it occurred to me that he wasn't going to keep talking I cleared my throat, "Sides, you're freaking me out. What did he say?"

He groaned and dropped his head on top of his hands on the steering wheel. Despite Sideswipe's vagueness, none of this worried me or felt made me feel awkward. He turned his head slightly, and I couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. Sideswipe's lips twitched up in a smile and he turned his head back down with chuckles of his own.

"You're something else, Aj." Sideswipe sighed, but the traces of a smile remained. He chose to keep his head down as he spoke, "What I was trying to say is that Abramo thought that I was in-"

The passenger door suddenly swung open behind me and before I could turn and see who had yanked the door open an arm wrapped around my torso and ripped me out of the truck. I could see Sideswipe rushing out of the car on his side, but I focused my attention on struggling against the arms around me.

"Stop! I need you to come with me!" Kyle's voice huffed in my ear as he tried to drag me across the empty parking space toward a dark green truck. It was a different vehicle than what he had the last time I saw him.

I threw my elbow back with precision and felt satisfaction when I heard the crunch of his nose. He howled in pain, but didn't let go until I lifted my leg and kicked his knee and this blow caused him to loosen his grip on me. Before I could try and wiggle out of his arms, Kyle's grip vanished suddenly and I whipped around to see Sideswipe had ripped Kyle off and thrown him to the ground. In the blink of an eye, Sideswipe was crouched over Kyle throwing punch after punch.

"Sideswipe!" I screamed as Kyle managed to block one of Sideswipe's attack. He threw his own punch and Sideswipe stumbled back far enough that allowed Kyle to jump up and charge at the mech. Kyle tackled Sideswipe to the ground and began to try and hit him, but Sideswipe was evading most of the attacks.

My eyes glanced around and realized we had drawn the attention of the people walking around us. They stopped in shock and some were pulling out phones to either video the fight or call the police.

I ran over and knelt down to try and pull them apart, but Kyle swung back catching me in the mouth and I went sprawling back against the ground in a daze. It was stupid of me to not be ready for a hit. Sideswipe let out a cry of anger as a stranger rushed over and pulled me off the ground.

The older man tried to pull me away assuring me that the police would be here soon, but my eyes landed on Sideswipe who had flipped Kyle onto his back and was mercilessly hitting him.

"No!" I yelled and ran forward to grab Sideswipe around the shoulders. Kyle was groaning and not fighting back anymore. "You're going to get in trouble!"

Sideswipe let me pull him back and hold him by the arms. He was seething, though, as he glared at Kyle on the ground. Panic filled my body as I watched his holoform begin to flicker.

"You have to leave. Get out of here, Sides." I said firmly. His eyes shot to mine and I shook my head with a hiss, "Your holoform."

Realization dawned on Sideswipe and he took a step away only to stop, "I can't leave you here."

"Go." I replied firmly. His eyebrows furrowed briefly, his holoform flickered slightly, and then he turned and ran. Sideswipe disappeared from view as he ran down an alley between two buildings off to the side.

Some spectators watched him go, but no one tried to stop him. I walked over to Kyle and knelt down beside him. He groaned and slowly turned his head to look at me. He looked worse for wear with a broken nose and bloody features. It was almost normal to see him like this though. How many times had he stumbled into my apartment after a late night fight?

"You- You ok?" Kyle asked. One eye was swollen closed. "I didn't mean to hit you."

His words seemed off because of his nose, but I could easily understand him. I sighed and swiped his hair off his forehead, "I'm fine and I know, you _dumbass_."

"Just…" He groaned again, "Just wanted to save you."

"I don't need saving." I replied, "And even if I did, you went about it all wrong."

Kyle slowly sat up and I helped him get into a seated position. The sound of sirens could faintly be heard now. He sighed, "He's coming. Here."

"Who?" Kyle shot me a tired look and I rolled my eyes, "Boss' brother? He isn't coming."

Kyle shook his head, "He is. He-"

"I have…a friend." I chuckled to myself, "Who sent a squadron of super secret agents to keep an eye on the guy. He's still in Vegas."

"No. He isn't. He's going to be here tomorrow." Kyle replied firmly, "I know it. You have to trust me." I scoffed and tiredly rubbed at my face. My bottom lip was a bit sore. I licked my lip curiously and found a sore spot on the right side. The tang of copper was familiar on my tongue. "Please, I'm sorry…for everything, but you need to leave."

"I'm leaving tonight." I replied quickly. The sirens were louder now. Most of the crowd had dispersed but some remained. The older man who helped me up and a couple others stayed behind. "I'm going far away. Boss' brother won't ever find me."

Kyle bobbed his head once as a police car pulled up to the area. The officer parked behind the empty space. Kyle looked at me with sad eyes, "I really am sorry."

"I know."

"You don't seem as mad anymore." Kyle said with a tinge of hope in his voice.

I was beyond pissed at Kyle. I don't think I'd ever really be able to forgive him for what he did, regardless of his intentions, and him trying to hurt Sideswipe hadn't made me happy. However, I was leaving tonight. I'd be gone forever and I'd never see this guy again. The officer got out of the car, briefly speaking into the radio hooked to his shoulder, and walked over.

"I forgive you." I lied.

Kyle's face softened and the officer stood in front of us. He held his hand out to me, "Ma'am, we got a distress call to this location. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I took his hand and he helped me up. His partner got out of the car and walked over to talk to Kyle as the officer with me walked over to the spectators. It seemed like Kyle wasn't talking at all to the officer in front of him.

"I saw the whole thing. That man pulled this woman out of her car and tried taking her away." The older man spoke to the officer. "Her boyfriend got out of the car and the two fought. I don't know where the boyfriend went. He ran off."

The officer turned to me after the other spectators said similar things. They were sent away and he stood with me on the sidewalk, "You're Aj Bradshaw, aren't you?"

"Yeah, do I know you?"

The officer with curly brown hair shook his head, "No, ma'am. I saw you around the station with Sheriff Thompson a while back. He mentioned you sometimes." I nodded and he got back to his questions, "Can you explain to me what occurred? In your own words?"

I decided to go along with the most popular story the witnesses were assuming, "Um, I was getting food with my boyfriend. We were sitting in the truck talking when Kyle, that guy, came by and pulled me out of the truck. He's my, um, he's my ex-boyfriend. The relationship didn't end well."

The officer jotted it all down, "We're going to be taking him in regardless because of the vehicle, it's stolen, but would you like to press charges?"

I shook my head, "No. He's a moron and I know it's not going to happen again."

"Alright, can I ask where your boyfriend went?"

I shrugged and lied, "Good question. I don't know."

He seemed skeptical, but moved on with his job. I watched the two of them move Kyle to the back of the police cruiser. Kyle never took his eyes off me and I stared back. He offered me a small smile, one that I forced myself to return before the police car pulled away. I sighed in annoyance at the thought of the food that was growing cold in the truck. Quickly I turned to get back in the car when a familiar face caught my eye.

Without hesitation, I jogged to the alleyway off to the side where Sideswipe's real holoform stood in sweatpants and a plain shirt. He pulled me into a tight hug that I relaxed into, "Are you ok?"

Sideswipe scoffed and pulled me back, "Of course. Are you? I can't believe that slagger hit you."

The words came out in a growl as he cupped my face and checked for injuries. His eyes darted over my lip and he stiffened. It was strange to see his real holoform after all this time, but the anger in his eyes was something I did recognize.

"I'm ok." I said firmly. "Calm down."

He shook his head, "Primus, I almost…" He let out a sigh as he tried to force his shoulders to relax, "I was in control. I had it handled, but when I saw him hit you…when I saw you fall back, I just-"

"Do the others know? At home?"

He shook his head, "No. Just Sunny. I came back… As soon as my holoform program restarted. I used this just in case…I didn't want anyone to recognize me." Sideswipe paused before pulling me back into a tight hug. This one startled me and I rubbed his back comfortingly. He sighed into my hair, "I can't lose you. Sunny and I, we can't… I swear to Primus, Aj. When we get to our universe we're never going to let you get hurt."

I chuckled, "You might be biting off more than you can chew with that promise. I mean, have you met me?"

Sideswipe pulled back again with a small, firm smile. He continued to stare at me with slight worry still drawn on his features. I wanted to ask when he reappeared here, to see if he had heard what Kyle said about Boss' brother, but the words were lost on me as his eyes darted to my lips. I knew the look Sideswipe had on his face, I recognized it with ease, but I didn't react as he leaned forward. He moved slowly, nervously, and he froze with his nose brushing against mine and his scarred lip hovering over my own.

He had a hand on my hip and one on my shoulder, but he didn't force me to come closer and he didn't move forward himself either. It clicked for me then. Sideswipe was giving me a chance to step back. Both his hands hung loosely where they were and it would be easy enough to turn and walk away. Should I though? It was just a kiss, and it was a kiss with a holoform no less. What would it hurt?

Without hesitating a second more, I pushed myself to my tip-toes successfully pressing my lips against his. Sideswipe's hands tightened around me while one of my own hands wrapped around his neck and the other traveled from his shoulder to the nape of his neck where his blond hair hung. His lips were unfamiliar and firm, but I could feel his scar against my own lips.

The kiss deepened, as both of us seemed to get lost in what was happening. Our noses bumped against each other, our teeth clashed, but nothing seemed to slow us down. I briefly pulled away, to gasp for air, but he closed the space between us again. This time his teeth brushed roughly against my lower lip and a startled gasp of pain slipped from me.

Sideswipe jumped back, untangling himself from me, "Slag. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, are you ok?"

"It's just the spot where Kyle got me." I replied and lifted my hand to touch the sore area. It was quiet between us for a moment as we stared at each other. I pulled my hand away from my lips and cracked a grin, "Can't say I saw this coming when I invited you out with me."

Sideswipe chuckled as well, he rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah."

"Well, come on then." I nodded behind me, "We have food in the truck getting cold."

"We…Yeah, ok. Right." Sideswipe nodded and followed after me. As we got into the truck, I prayed he wasn't going to make this weird. I wouldn't have kissed him if I knew he would. Luckily, halfway through the drive Sideswipe was joking with me again like nothing had happened and I was fine with that. The kiss was fun, good even, but at the end of the day it was just a kiss.

* * *

 

Megatron sat on the back porch in his holoform quietly. The breeze was cool against his artificial skin and his mind was peaceful. A slow smile graced his lips at the thought. He knew not to take this Primus blessed silence for granted. After all, once he went though the portal tonight who knew if it would last? Megatron hoped it would, of course. Pit, he prayed that it would. He would give anything to keep control over his mind, but he knew that the chances of that weren't overly great.

He took a deep breath, one he didn't truly need, but enjoyed the feeling it gave. The house behind him was loud with noise. If he really focused, he could hear the conversations behind held. Taylor was with Sunstreaker asking if he planned to take his filled sketchbook and painting with him in his subspace. Tyler was talking about how excited he was to be able to ride in Bluestreak's alt mode this time tomorrow. Wes was packing bags in his room, mumbling under his breath about feeling like he was forgetting something. Aj was talking to Optimus, Jazz, and Prowl about Kyle, the scum that followed her, and his warning message. Sideswipe was speaking to Aubrey about human love for some Primus forsaken reason, and Skywarp was arguing with Thundercracker about possibly going out for one last flight. There was so much noise, but at least this noise was external. It could be ignored. It was the internal noise that caused the real problem. He paused, shutting out all the outside noise, and reveled in the beloved lack of internal noise.

He leaned back in his seat and closed his optics. There were only so many more hours left until he'd go through the portal to an unknown future, he might as well enjoy them while they lasted.

* * *

 

The neighborhood was empty. Well, not really. Obviously there were a few people around the neighborhood that remained, but Wes' boss did a good job in clearing the houses that were closest to ours. Over the last few days I had seen many families packing up and heading out, but it seemed noticeable now that the sun had set. There were no house lights on as far as I could see from my spot on the porch steps. That was a good sign. It meant if Wheeljack's machine knocked out all the power in the neighborhood, not many would actually notice.

The front door opened and someone came out.

Peter sat down beside me and I smiled at him. He had come home about an hour ago. I lazily laid my arm across his shoulders, "You ready, kid?"

"I think so." Peter replied softly, "But…"

"What's wrong?"

Peter didn't answer right away. He shook his head, "I'm just a little scared."

"Hey", I said reassuringly, "That's ok. This is a scary thing, but…you're not doing it alone. You have your parents", Peter had been getting along pretty well with Wes lately, "You have your brother and sister, you have the mechs, and you have me." I grinned, "And I'd never let anything bad happen to you. Ever, kid."

He chuckled, "I'm so glad you came to live with us, Aj. You're the best aunt in the world."

"Aw, you're just saying that 'cause you got a bunch of Cybertronian friends out of this deal." I joked.

Peter shook his head, "I love them all, but if I had to choose between you or them I'd always choose you."

I tried not to let him see how touched I was at his words. Instead, I just smiled and pulled him into a one armed hug and assured him that tonight was going to go swimmingly well.

An hour later, all of us had somehow managed to fit into the garage with all the mechs in their bipedal modes. The room was filled with an excited energy as Wheeljack and Soundwave turned the machine on. It hummed to life and I was worried to see that the portal looked exactly the same as it did last time. Did that mean it hadn't worked?

"Soundwave has accounted for the additional energy and we are set to go." Wheeljack explained. His fins lit up brightly, "Now it is important that we enter in according to energy levels. Highest to lowest. This means that us Cybertronians have to go through first followed by your family." He motioned to the little pack of humans amidst the large group of metal aliens. "Now Bear, will have to go through the portal after us and before all of you. The energy signal of dogs falls somewhere between the two of us."

Optimus cleared his throat, "Are there any questions?"

Tyler shot his hand into the air but didn't wait to be called on, "When we get on the other side can we get ice cream?"

Chuckles floated through the air as Optimus nodded his head at the small boy, "Yes, Tyler. We can go get ice cream."

"Not until after I complete a full round of medical scans." Ratchet cut in, "Understood, youngling?"

"Okie dokie, Ratchet." Taylor answered for her brother.

"If that's all, then I think we can begin." Wheeljack shrugged. The air suddenly became tense as Grimlock was chosen to be the first to go through. He transformed from his dinosaur form to his bipedal one. I didn't often see him in this form and it was almost comical to see him try and make himself small enough to pass through the portal. I held my breath as he approach the swirling vortex and the breath was only released when he successfully passed through.

Grimlock was gone.

He was now waiting on the other side of the portal for all of us.

The decision had been made early on to take turns going through. One Decepticon, then one Autobot. It was no wonder why Grimlock was the first Autobot through. If anyone could handle a Decepticon on his own it was the dinobot. I only prayed it didn't come to that.

Thundercracker was the next through. Then Prowl followed by Starscream, Optimus Prime, Skywarp, and Jazz who had pulled himself away from my side with a grin before walking through. After Jazz, Barricade went through along with Bluestreak, Soundwave, and Bumblebee. Now the only Cybertronians left were the twins, Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Megatron. Ratchet went through followed by Sideswipe.

As Sideswipe passed through the portal, Sunstreaker stumbled back with his hand grasping at his chest. I stepped forward nervously as Wheeljack spoke up, "Sunstreaker?"

He shook his head, "He's fine. He's alive... He's just far away."

Sunstreaker glanced over his shoulder and his eyes landed on me. He hesitated a moment before nodding at me once and following his brother through the portal. I smiled warmly to myself. Only two more Cybertronians left.

"Your turn, Megatron." Wheeljack announced. He was going to be the last through just in case the machine malfunctioned.

Megatron hesitated before stepping toward the portal. He looked almost scared to go through. Wheeljack cheerfully reassured him, but the Decepticon just let his shoulders sink in defeat before walking through. I couldn't ponder on his reaction long though.

"I have to go through now. The machine is steady and seems to be working fine. Hurry through though. It is programmed to turn off after being left inactive for five minutes." Wheeljack explained and retracted his mask to give us a grin, "See you soon!"

He passed through and I knelt down to scoop Bear into my arms, "Ok buddy. It's your turn now." He whined unhappily as I set him down in front of the portal. He tried to climb back into my arms but I shook my head and pointed at the portal, "Go see Sunstreaker, Bear."

I pulled a treat out of the pocket of my leather jacket and offered it to him. Bear happily ate the snack and wandered into the portal on his own. The portal flashed a bright purple color, which worried me, but it went back to normal.

"Alright, our turn, huh?" Wes clapped his hands. "Just like we planned, ok? I'll go through first and the kids will follow."

He leaned over and kissed Aubrey quickly before walking over to the portal. The man hesitated for only a second before walking through. The portal flashed a bright red this time before going back to normal. I leaned toward Aubrey, "Should I worry about that?"

"I think it's ok." She replied. "Taylor, Tyler…it's your turn."

The twins walked over to the portal with me by their side. They held each others hands tightly. Both looked so small in front of the large portal with their small book bags on and fearful looks on their faces.

"Hey, Bee and Blue are waiting for y'all." I said and kissed each of them on their heads, "Now the faster you go through then the sooner Ratchet can finish his scans and we can get some ice cream."

The twins laughed and took the step through the portal. A flash of green followed. Aubrey nodded, "Alright, time for you and Peter, Aimee."

"Are you sure you're ok with going last?" I pressed nervously.

"Positive." She replied.

I gave Peter a grin and took his hand in mine. The two of us walked up to the portal and my nerves returned with a vengeance. I couldn't be blamed for that though, right? Traveling to another universe was sort of a big deal. To my surprise, Peter walked forward first pulling me after him. I got to see him cross through the portal, and I saw the flash of pink right before my hand hit a wall. Peter's hand was pulled from mine, gone through the portal, but my hand refused to pass through.

Panic hit my systems hard as I pressed both hands against the portal, but nothing happened. It was like pushing against a large piece of glass. It was just like before. Aubrey rushed over, "What happened?!"

"I don't know!" I cried in panic and hit against the portal, "It isn't working anymore!"

Aubrey reached forward with her hand and I watched as her fingertips went through the portal rather than pushing against it. She yanked her hand back with wide eyes and the two of us just stared at each other as this new knowledge dawned on us. The portal wasn't broken. It just wasn't letting me through. Me, alone.

"Aubrey…" I said slowly.

Tears immediately jumped to her eyes as she shook her head, "Wheeljack will fix it. We'll stay on this side and he'll find a way to come get us."

"Aubs-"

"We can stay and wait!"

I shook my head, "You have to go through."

"I can't leave you here, Aimee." Aubrey shook her head madly, "I can't abandon you! Not again!"

"You're not abandoning me." I said firmly and held the sides of her arms, "I'm sending you away." Aubrey shook her head, but I continued, "The kids need you, Aubrey."

"They need you, too."

I tried not to let my pain show. I tried to bite back the tears. To pretend like I wasn't close to falling to pieces. That I wasn't terrified. I pulled her into a tight hug and kept my voice as strong as I could, "They need their mom and their dad, Aubrey. You need to go. Give them the life we should've had. Ok?" Aubrey was sobbing now in my arms and she bobbed her head up and down. I pulled back and grinned at her, "Promise you'll take care of them for me?"

She said something, an acknowledgment, but I could barely understand her through the sobs. She shook her head and slowly tried to gather herself, "Don't stay here. Go to Josh or to Granny. Those men could show up tomorrow." I had told all of them the message Kyle passed on to me, but no one really worried about it. If he came tomorrow, no one was supposed to be here for him to find. She shook her head, "I love you, little sister. More than anything and-"

I nodded, "I know. I love you too. I'm sorry it took me ten years to remember that. Now go."

Aubrey gave me one last tight hug before stepping through the portal. There was a flash of bright white that made me cringe and rub at my eyes. I stepped forward and tried to walk through it again, but my hands met a solid wall. The quietness hit me then. The silence around me was deafening and anger filled my veins as I realized I was alone again.

I slammed my fist into the portal. Again and again and again. I didn't stop until my knuckles were numb and coated in slick blood. How was this fair? What the hell had I done to deserve this? I had started this journey alone and somehow I was alone again. It was one thing to suffer. After all the bad I had done, sure I could justify deserving that. But to suffer like this? To be so close to happiness only for it to be ripped away from me?

With throbbing hands and a hole in my chest, I fell to the ground in front of the portal and just watched it swirl about in a mesmerizing pattern. Slowly, I watched as the portal began to fade away. I reached forward to touch it one last time, but still the wall remained. The portal faded away to nothing leaving my hand hanging in the air. The machine let out a loud pop as sparks flew out from the side and the lights above me cut off leaving me in the dark.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how long I sat in the dark before I forced myself back into the equally dark and quiet house. In a daze, I dropped down into a chair at the kitchen table and didn't move.

I didn't want to sit in the living room because I knew Grimlock wouldn't be curled up in the corner and the kids wouldn't be bouncing on the couch.

I didn't want to go up to the office because I knew there would be no Autobot make shift meeting to listen in on.

I didn't want to go up to my room because I knew Ratchet wouldn't be there to comfort me.

Within the span of five minutes, this house had become a ghost. Every inch of it was a haunting memory of what used to be. It was a new scar for me to wear on my soul. A small piece of me tried to put on a strong face. Maybe Wheeljack would fix it from his side. Maybe someone would show up again to save me from this ghost of a house. One thing was for certain, they'd find me here at this table, alone.

* * *

 

Bright sunlight hit my eyes and there was a surge of pain across my back. I slowly sat up to find I had fallen asleep at the kitchen table. The blood on my knuckles had crusted over and the small bag of clothes was still on my back. With a brief surge of energy, I tore off the bag and threw it across the room. It was the book bag I had originally shown up to the house with. The old bag apparently couldn't take the force of being angrily thrown across the room either, because the zipper snapped open and items flew across the floor.

I stormed out of the kitchen unsure of what to do. A part of me screamed to leave, to get out of this damn house, but another part of me knew I wouldn't be able to open that front door. I was trapped. Still, anger pulsed through my body itching for something to hit. Itching to do something.

I had circled the house, throwing things around here and there, before I ended up back in the empty kitchen. My eyes drifted over my thrown belongings and landed on a small white envelope. Confusion swept over me as I picked it up, but as my eyes landed on Aubrey's perfect cursive handwriting my heart stopped.

A memory floated through my mind. Saying goodbye to her outside the house and coming back inside with a credit card and letter that she had wrote for me years ago. I had shoved it into my book bag with the intentions of never looking at it. Last night as I was packing I hadn't seen it and I totally forgot I had even shoved it in here.

Slowly, I walked into the foyer and sat down against the wall between the front door and back door. I pulled my knees up and stared at the side of the stairs for a good ten minutes before opening the letter.

"Dear little sister…" I mumbled out the first few words.

_'I am sitting on a plane right now with Wes. You probably don't want to hear that from me, but…this had to happen. I can't explain it to you now and I know you don't want to hear my excuses, so I wont offer you any. Instead, I want to express to you how much I love you. Because I do, Aimee. I know you think my leaving is evidence that I don't, but you have always been the most important person to me. Hurting you this way, is the greatest sin I have and will ever commit. I don't blame you if you never want to see or speak to me again, but…I will always love you and you will always be my little sister. No matter what. No matter how far we are from each other, I will always love you. I will think of you every day of my life and I hope, more than anything, that one day you can let me back in even though I hardly deserve it. I'm not sure how to send this letter to you. I know if I send it now, you'll just tear it to shreds. Perhaps I'll wait for a bit. Maybe…Maybe one day I can hand it to you in person along with a hug. Maybe. Goodbye for now, Aimee. I love you.'_

The letter fell from my shaky hands as tears streamed down my face. My stomach turned uncomfortably and it felt like I was going to be sick.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

My head snapped to the right. Standing a few feet in front of the back door and a couple away from me was my fake mother. Her arms were crossed and her mouth was turned in a sad frown.

I shook my head, "God, no. Not you." Briefly, hope filled my chest and I sat up, "Please, tell me this is a dream. Tell me I'm sleeping. Tell me that when I wake up they…"

She shook her head, "This is no dream. I'm sorry, but this is real."

"You're not real." I buried my head in my knees and willed her to disappear. I was seeing things. Greif and anger were causing me to hallucinate. As if this day couldn't get any worse, I was now losing my fucking mind. Peachy. "Go away."

"You're right. She isn't real, but the one who sent her is, _kestuz_. As real as I am." Another familiar voice spoke up. I lifted my gaze to see the mysterious mech leaning against the front door casually. He looked the same as he did the night I last saw him. When he put the gun into my hands. The only difference was now he wore a suit of dark gray armor with a black, torn cape around his neck and shoulders.

"No." I stood up, "You're not real. Neither of you are. Get out of my head!"

"Aimee-"

I whipped around to my fake mother, "Don't fucking call me that." I took a step toward her, "Leave. Get the fuck out of my sight. You're not my mother, you're not even real."

She let out a huff before slowly disappearing in a wisp of smoke. She was gone for only seconds before someone else appeared. It was an older woman with a bush of curly salt and pepper hair that hung around her shoulders. Despite her age, her skin was smooth and she wore a dark gray suit of armor, similar to the man's, but with a white cape around her neck and shoulders. I stumbled back a step, "Who the fuck-"

"I'm sorry the spirit's image distressed you. I sent it to warn you and to accomplish a mission, but it chose it's own form. I had no control over that." She spoke in a strong voice that was filled with power. Her eyes were a bright blue color that seemed fake and her dark skin only made them seem brighter. "Please hear me out, Aj."

"Why the fuck should I?" I glanced over my shoulder to see the man still there. He continued to lean against the door casually with a predator like smirk on his features.

She replied without pause, "Because all I want is for you to be happy. To not be alone again."

I froze in surprise at her answer, "W-What?"

"This life has been cruel to you. From the moment your mother took her own life, things out of your control have turned your heart to ruins."

My eyes narrowed, "My mom didn't kill herself. She died from an illness!"

"What illness?"

"I-" I opened my mouth, but noting came out. It was an illness the doctors hadn't heard of. It was a shock to everyone involved. "She…"

The woman stepped toward me and I couldn't bring myself to step back, "She got sick suddenly, for no known reason, and then passed away days later." She slowly stepped beside me and wrapped an arm around my back like a friend would, "Your mother poisoned herself, Aj. She made the ultimate sacrifice. She ended her life in hopes to save her children and the rest of the universes."

"What are you…What are you talking about?" I whispered. The fake mom in my nightmare had mentioned that my mother had taken the first step toward something. Was this what she meant?

"Your mother was a Defender. It was in her blood as it is in yours." She answered, "She knew the mission of the Defenders had gotten lost and wanted to end it all. She wanted to prevent her children from living the life she had to live before she met your father. We all thought she succeeded, but…alas, a detail was missed."

"What detail?"

"You." She replied, "As long as you live, the Defenders can live on and that…that can't happen."

This didn't make sense. I didn't know what the fuck a Defender was, but standing next to this woman sent a calming feeling over me. It was like my mind couldn't bring itself to panic or fight back. I breathed in a slow breath and released it, "That's why she kept saying I had to die."

"Indeed. The spirit's methods seemed…cruel, but it was just trying to complete it's mission. To save the universes. You mustn't blame it." She smiled warmly at me, "My method differs though. I want to make you happy."

I shook my head firmly, "I won't kill myself."

No matter how beaten down I felt right now, that would never be the end of me. I wasn't that person. I refused to be. She cooed at me, "Of course not. I would never ask you of that."

I let out a dry chuckle, "No, you'll do it for me won't you?"

She paused, "I will…put you to rest. There will be no pain. Your afterlife will be happy. It will be the answer to all those 'what-if' questions you forced yourself to never ask." She led me toward the back door and slowly set her hand over my eyes, "What if you never said no to Joshua Thompson? What if you stayed?"

In my mind, I could suddenly see it playing out like a movie. I saw Josh and I at prom dancing. He was in a tux and I in a long gown. We were smiling and we were happy and I didn't spend the night trying to stop my face from bleeding. I saw us graduating and moving to Auburn. I saw us at the alter, the way his face lit up while watching me walk down the aisle toward him. I saw myself in medical school, the one in Auburn while he joined the force. Granny moved to Auburn to be closer when I announce to her that I was pregnant.

She removed her hand and pointed out the back door. The backyard no longer looked the way it should. The porch was different, it was smaller, and now it was filled with people. Josh was standing at a grill cooking while talking to a man I didn't recognize. Josh looked a bit older, but as handsome as he always was. Granny was sitting at the table and in her lap was a toddler, no older than 2, bouncing and giggling with Josh's hair color and my bright eyes.

" _The burgers are done! Aj, can you bring me the tray_?" Josh called out glancing briefly in my direction before going back to his friend.

"This can be your life." She whispered in my ear and waved a hand over my own. Now there was a small tray in my hands and on my left hand was a wedding ring. "It's as easy as walking through this door." She pushed the door open and the smell of burgers hit me along with the sound of the laughing child. "Just walk into your new world."

It would be so easy. With my mind filled with these new memories, these new, happy memories, I could picture myself walking out the door and living in this moment. It seemed real to me now.

"It's not real though." I forced myself to say, "I'll be dead, won't I?"

"Yes, but you won't know that once you cross through the door. The only thing that matters is that you won't be alone." She chuckled, "I will take away all your memories of pain and suffering. You can be happy now, Aj." She pushed me forward and I let her do so, "With this act of bravery, Aj, with you and your sister's death, the universe will begin to finally heal. You'll be saving so many lives."

My feet planted into the floor as my stomach filled with lead. The sound of a deep, throaty chuckle filled the air and at this woman's words all those fake memories flew away. I dropped the tray and it disappeared into thin air, "What did you just say?"

She smiled, "With your death, the universe will-"

" _No_." I stepped away from her and the calmness cleared from my mind. The pain, the frustration, and the anger was back, but it was more focused now as I glared at this woman, "You said my sister's death. _Aubrey_. What the fuck do you mean by that?!"

She cleared her throat as the man by the door continued to chuckle, "As children of the last Defender, both of you have the possibility to pass the line down. Both of you need to move on."

"So what? You'd usher me to this fake afterlife and go after _her_?! What about her kids!?" I yelled.

She sighed and nodded once, "It would be painless, Aj. Your sister would not suffer and I would create a beautiful world for her to live in as well." She tried to smile at me, but it look strange now rather than enticing, "The kids would be fine. Wes Williams does not have the gene that allows the passing of the Defender title. He's not like your father."

"I'm not letting you anywhere near Aubrey."

"Aj, this is for the greater good. What is one life compared to billions upon billions?"

I shook my head, "Not my Aubrey. Not my sister, you _bitch_."

"Please." She pleaded and reached for me, but I backpedaled away from her.

I spun and crossed the foyer to the man whose smirk had only grown. The woman behind me spoke again, pleading for me to come back, but I ignored her. I stopped a foot away from the man. He pushed himself off the door to stare down at me in response. His dark brown eyes seemed to have more red in them than last I saw him. I forced my voice to be strong, "You didn't just come here to watch me talk to whoever the fuck she is. What do _you_ want? What do you have to offer me?"

"The opposite of what's she's offering you, I suppose." He replied in that heavy, deep tone. It was still void of most emotions. "Life."

"For Aubrey?"

"For you both." He nodded, "I can give you safety from her." He motioned toward the woman by the back door, "For a price, I swear she will not touch you or your sister."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, "What price?"

He pulled out an odd looking knife. The blade was jagged and bent in a zigzag shape. It also looked extremely aged. He handed it to me and stepped away from the door, "I need you to draw something on this door for me. In your blood."

"That sounds sketchy as fuck." I shot back to him, "What does that mean? What does that signify?"

He shook his head, "It's just an assurance. It means you know and accept the fact that with both of you living, the Defender line will continue on."

"What exactly is this Defender line?" I asked in confusion.

"They're the ones who monitor the universes. They keep things in check is all, kestuz." He shrugged. Obviously, he was leaving something out. My hands were tied though. If I didn't agree to this than Aubrey could be in danger. As much as I wanted to write this off as a weird hallucination, I could feel in my gut that this was very much real.

I nodded, "I'll do it, but you have to tell me what kestuz means."

He chuckled and leaned toward my ear. He whispered roughly, "It's an ancient language. It means, ' _my warrior'_."

That didn't sound good. My eyes shut as I realized that of course I was going to agree to this. Regardless of the consequences, I was going to make the deal. The thought of my nightmare filled me. Was that a warning to this moment? That should have been reason enough for me to go running into the afterlife, but I couldn't do it. That nightmare felt less and less real the more I stayed awake. I knew I would end myself before ever laying a hand on my family. This new situation though? If I went with the woman Aubrey would be in danger. She would go after my sister and I couldn't let that happen. Maybe if I was a better person I could choose the universe over Aubrey, but I wasn't a better person. I would choose my family time and time again. Besides, I knew the woman wasn't telling me the whole truth either. It felt like I was in 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of situation. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was somehow making a deal with the devil.

"What do you want me to draw?"

"Aj, no." The woman pressed.

"The symbol of the Defenders."

I stepped toward the door and pressed the blade against the palm of my hand. Blood pooled around the blade as I clenched my teeth in pain. I tossed the knife aside and dipped my fingers into the blood. At first I worried how I would draw the symbol without a reference, but as I began I realized the symbol truly was burned into my mind just like it haunted me. It was easy to draw it all out and took no time at all. As I drew the final line my blood began to glow and a flash of white light blinded me.

"I win this round, sister." I heard the man chuckle once more. As the light faded, I realized I was alone again. There was no symbol on the door and the sun had gone down significantly. It was nearly sundown. For a moment, I thought maybe it had been some kind of feverish dream and I had slept the day away, but my hand was still bleeding and the zigzag, jagged knife was still lying on the floor next to the door.

I rushed to the kitchen sink and began to rinse the blood off my hand. There were no bandages since Aubrey took the first aid kit so I shrugged out of my leather jacket then yanked off my dark green plaid shirt. I quickly ripped off the sleeve with the help of a kitchen knife. I tied the sleeve around my hand and moved to grab a new shirt to wear over my black tank top. Before I could pick up a clothing item off the ground, multiple headlights passed across the window making me freeze. I walked over to the window and peeked out the blinds to see two cars park in front of the house. Large men began to exit out of the cars and it occurred to me that this could be Boss' brother. Kyle did say he was going to show up today.

I leaned my head against the closed blinds and took a deep breath. I could try and escape sure, but then what? Aubrey was safe now sure, but I was still alone.

I was still alone and I was still angry.

I was angry at the world.

I was angry at the mechs for making me fall in love with all of them.

I was angry at myself for believing I had a happy ending in store.

It was irrational, I knew that, but I was slowly realizing that even though my anger could clear my mind and make me focus in a fight, it never made me a rational person.

Right now, all I wanted to do was something _very_ irrational.

The sound of the men's voices talking and laughing grew louder as they slowly made their way to the front of the house. I took a steadying breath, readjusted the laces on my boots, and moved to the foyer. I bent down to pick up the knife and stuck it in the back of my waistband underneath my tank top. Then I glanced over my shoulder to look at the house one last time. It was a ghost, yes, but I had found so much happiness between these walls. I had an adventure that made me stronger than I was before. I pictured the kids rushing down the stairs with bright grins then turned around and walked out the front door, not bothering to shut it behind me.

The men all stopped as I stepped onto the porch with a glare that had put fear in many of my enemies before.

"Well I'll be _fucking_ damned." A man spoke up. He separated himself from the others. His black hair was messy and pushed back out of his face. There were patches of gray above his ears and his scruff was peppered with shades of gray as well. His smile was bright white against his tan skin and his light brown eyes looked amused more than anything else. He wore normal clothes. Blue jeans, black boots, a plain white t-shirt, and a brown leather jacket. " _Hello_ , _gorgeous_."

I didn't offer him a reply and he laughed again. There were six men behind him, all wearing similar clothes of black. All of them, including the leader, wore black gloves on their hands. They all had weapons too. Some held guns, one man held a wooden bat over his shoulder, and the leader had a gun on his belt.

"I can't fucking believe this." He shook his head and looked at his men, "Here I thought she'd be running from us, but no. She comes out to the porch to meet us! The balls on this chick. She's got more than the whole lot of you pussies, and- and that fucking look on her face." He chuckled and turned to look at me with a smirk, "Baby doll, I'm honest to God a little turned on right now, and I did not expect that from the woman my little brother always whined about."

So it was true. This guy was Boss' brother. I stiffened my shoulders, "So Boss really did have an older brother out there somewhere. He didn't mention you much."

"Half brothers only, and that doesn't fucking surprise me at all." He walked closer to the front porch and the man with the bat followed him while the others stayed a few steps behind, "Eugene didn't like me very much. I was always mama's favorite."

"Eugene?" I couldn't help but repeat in shock, "You're telling me I spent four years being terrorized by a guy named fucking _Eugene_?"

The man let out a loud laugh, "God, I like you more and more by the second! Eugene was _so_ obsessed with you, but I thought he was just being a little prick as per usual. Man, and to think… I was just going to come here and beat the fuck out of you."

I tried not to let my emotions show. The way he talked so easily about something like that filled my blood with ice. Despite the laughing and handsome smile, I could see it in his eyes now. The rumors were all true. Not just on his existence, but the fact that he was way, way worse.

"Come here, baby doll." He motioned for me to meet him the rest of the way. I didn't take a step forward. He raised an eyebrow at me before nodding towards the guy with a bat, "Bobbie, David. Bring her here."

The one with the bat was younger than Boss' brother who was probably in his late thirties or early forties. He had slicked back blond and a twisted, ugly smile. The guy a step behind him looked just like him, but with shaggy hair. They were twins. My heart briefly ached at the two sets of twins I was missing, but I couldn't focus on that now. The two men were walking toward me with sinister grins. I watched them come and a slow smile spread across my features.

The man with the bat reached for me first and I reacted by grabbing his arm by the wrist, twisting it around, startling him in the process, and then kicking him in the back sending him into the side bushes. His brother's eyes widened then narrowed as he rushed up the porch steps to me, while the leader laughed in the background. I stepped backward, ducking under two punches he threw my way, and then quickly stepped into his space out of his arm reach. I punched him in the gut twice, but he threw his head forward head-butting me in the face. I stumbled back in pain as blood dripped down past my lips. He charged at me again, but I caught him off guard stepping forward and roundhouse kicking him in the side of the head. He fell to porch groaning and I turned to hit him one more time, making sure he'd stay down.

Movement in my peripheral made me turn my head just in time to watch the first man swing at me with the baseball bat. I tried to move out of the way, but I had noticed him way to late. The end of the bat caught me right in the middle of my knee and I heard the God-awful sound of my kneecap shattering. A scream erupted from my throat as I fell to the ground in enormous agony. My leg was filled with shooting pain and I bent my leg slightly only to feel bone grinding against bone. I bit down on my lower lip, trying to hold back another scream.

"What the fuck, Bobbie!?" The man yelled, "Did I fucking tell you to kneecap her, you fucking dumbass!?"

"S-Sorry, sir. She hit David-"

"Do I look like I give a damn?" He yelled back, "Get in the fucking car. Take your brother with you."

I was still lying on my back trying to get the pain under control. My mind struggled to try and come up with some solution, some plan. I was a sitting, broken duck right now. The sound of approaching footsteps made me cringe.

"We find out the neighborhood is fucking empty and those two idiots still think it's ok to do shit like this." He scoffed as Bobbie dragged his brother off the porch. The other man stepped onto wooden steps, I could hear the change of sound, and I forced myself to sit up. I left one hand resting on my broken, right knee and the other resting on the porch behind my back. Just in case I had to use the knife. He chuckled again and shook his head, "Well look at you. Aren't you just a fucking super trooper?"

"Get the fuck away from me." I growled.

"Oh, baby doll, don't be like that." He crouched down in front of me, half on the porch and half on the stairs. He was no longer wearing his leather jacket but I hadn't seen him take it off. My eyes darted to a dark tattoo on his right arm. It was an eagle with an American flag behind it and two criss crossing guns below it. His voice regained my focus, "I just wanna be your friend."

I scoffed and tried my hardest to ignore the excruciating pain I felt, "I- I killed your brother."

"Exactly." He replied, "He was a little shit. Deserved it, don't you agree?" I didn't reply and he laughed with a shake of his head. "I'm getting ahead of myself. I know who you are, Aj", The way he said my name, in that amused tone of his, made me flinch, "But do you know who I am?"

My nose twitched as I tried to hold back my tears. He obviously wasn't the blond Emperor that Wes spoke about. He nudged my boot making my leg scream in pain and I gritted my teeth with a groan, "The Emperor!" I leaned my head back and tried to get my focus back, "I thought- I _thought_ Boss' brother was the Emperor."

His smile fell, "Seriously? That shithead? Please. No, see, baby doll. My name is Vincent Morgan." His grin slowly came back as he grabbed my leg and dragged me closer to him. I let out another scream as the movement jarred my knee. Now I sat right in front of him. Close enough that he could lift his hand and touch my face, "They call me the _Reaper_."

"I don't give a damn what they call you." I spat at him. There were tears streaking down my face now, I could feel the warmth of their path, "What the hell do you want from me, Reaper?"

"Oh please, call me Morgan. And you?" He reached forward and I flinched again, but he just wiped away my tears, "Well I was gonna beat the shit out of you and then drag you back to Vegas with me. Eugene always said you were a pretty thing and I always need more showgirls." He chuckled, "There's a high demand in Vegas as you might have guessed."

"If you think I would ever-"

He pointed at my face, "Now, now, let me finish. See, that's what I was going to do, but you changed my mind. I had no idea you'd have such fire in you. I want you to work for me. I need a few new dealers who'll look inconspicuous, but still be able to kick ass. You'd be paid very, very well."

Morgan was letting his gloved fingers trace the outline of my face. I leaned into his touch to try and get closer to him and the gun on his belt. Despite the pain, I tried to soften my glare, "How well?"

"Better than you can imagine. I don't do things like my baby brother. You wouldn't be in debt with me. I'd give you a real fucking paycheck plus rewards. You'd be living like a queen and boy, would we have a ton of fucking fun." He grinned again.

I couldn't just grab his gun. He was stronger than me and unlike me he was still able to walk. The more I thought about that fact the more I realized I didn't have many options. Though, I would force myself to two legs if it meant escaping.

Then again…maybe I could use this injury to my advantage.

I leaned into the palm of his hand as he let his thumb trace my lower lip. Between the pain and his touch, it was a miracle I wasn't puking my guts out. I lowered my voice and tried to sound hopeful, "Do you promise?"

"Oh, I give you my word, baby doll."

"Can you- Can you help me up?" I grunted in pain.

Morgan smirked and slid his hands under my arms to try and pull me up. The moment he got me stable, with me standing on my left leg trying not to put pressure on my right, I yanked his gun out of its holster and pressed the barrel to his chest. His face darkened in annoyance. I thought his wicked grin was terrifying, but that was only because I hadn't seen the look he wore now. His glare was a million times worse.

The men behind him reacted, but they couldn't do shit while I had the gun on their boss. I smirked at him, "Looks like I'm in charge now."

"I was being fucking nice, Aj." He spat, "Don't turn me into the villain here. You don't want me as an enemy."

"You became my enemy the moment you stepped out of your fucking car." I replied with a growl.

Morgan chuckled, but this time it wasn't in amusement, "Well, now what? What's the next step in your plan? Get to a car and escape?" He let out a sharp, cruel laugh, "There is no where you can go where I won't follow. You got my attention now, baby doll. That can either be a very good thing or a very bad. Trust me when I say you do not want to start our new fucking relationship like this."

He was right. Where would I go? If I tried to go back to Granny or Josh, he'd follow me. I'd be putting them at risk again and I knew I couldn't do that. I'd die first. That didn't leave me with many more options though. Right now I was backed into a corner and things weren't looking super great for me.

"I could always take us all out with a bang." I replied. He raised an eyebrow at me, "That giant white shed off to the side over there. It's filled to the brim with nasty, super bad chemicals. The explosive kind." Honestly I wasn't sure if that was actually true. I knew it had chemicals, but that was it. I had no idea if I could actually make it explode. "I fire a couple bullets at it and all of us go up in smoke."

He scoffed, "You wouldn't."

"Oh, you have no idea what I would or wouldn't do at this point." I shot back. He gave me a skeptical look and that put me over the edge. Maybe I was far enough that I'd be ok if it did explode. Maybe, it wouldn't explode at all, but it would give me the head start I need to escape. Regardless, I had more to gain than lose so I shoved Morgan back making him stumble down the stairs and I pulled the trigger four times hoping that at least one would hit my target. The men in the yard scattered away yelling in fear and Morgan jumped back up onto the porch. I fired one more time and this time I hit the shed. The last thing I saw was a familiar symbol flash red against the side where my bullet hole was.

Morgan tackled me to the ground just as the sound of creaking metal filled my ears. His body covered most of mine as he held onto me with one arm and covered the back of his head with the other, "Keep your head down!"

A thundering explosion filled the air along with a wave of heat as Morgan stiffened on top of me, but all I saw was a bright flash of white. Everything was white and there was no heat. I expected heat on account of the giant fireball I had created, but the air around me felt cool as I continued to lie on my back. A face formed above mine. Long dirty blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, and a sweet smile.

"Mom." I breathed. This was her. This was the real her and not the spirit that haunted me. " _Mom_."

She gave me one last smile before disappearing and suddenly I was falling. Morgan's arm was still around me, but after a few seconds it disappeared as well. Now it was just me falling, falling, falling.

The weightless feeling didn't scare me though and here I felt no pain. I didn't know where I was or what was happening, but I could handle this.

I closed my eyes and drifted away.


	38. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a sequel titled 'Lil'Bit'. Stay tuned.

* * *

_"To make an end is to make a beginning." –T.S. Eliot_

* * *

 

Rosie sat at the kitchen table with a warm cup of coffee by her left hand and a laptop opened up in front of her. To be honest, she was God-awful at using technology, but Kaylee had been trying her best to get her used to it. Rosie was convinced it was a lost cause, but Kaylee was still hopeful. She let her eyes drift over the random news articles, looking for anything that seemed familiar. She had done so every day since she arrived in Florida, waiting for the article that would catch her eye. It just so happened that this morning it had finally happened.

The city of Summerbrooke, Alabama was the focus of one specific article.

She clicked the link nervously and read through the news story. It was all about a ransacked, empty house in a friendly, quiet neighborhood. Most of the neighborhood was gone on vacation, it being spring break at the time, but a few families that had remained behind called authorities when a large explosion shook the Earth. Police arrived to the site of the explosion, which was outside a very familiar home. Rosie recognized the picture of the house she frequented so many times. Police reported that all they found were a group of men unconscious in the front yard and a used firearm on the porch. The house looked messy and torn up, but no one was inside it. An odd machine was also found in the garage, possibly a bomb, but it was seemed broken and no attempts to fix it had been made.

It was reported that the family who owned the home were nowhere to be found.

A small smile filled Rosie's features and she rushed to wipe away the stray tear that leaked from her eyes.

"Granny?" Kaylee poked her head into the kitchen, her hair was up in a messy bun, "Have you seen my blue sweater? The one with the white stripes?"

Rosie shut the computer and stood up, "I think I saw it in the living room."

She sent a quick text message to a detective in Georgia and moved to help Kaylee find her missing sweater.

* * *

 

Josh sat at his desk staring at the news article on his computer screen. Rosie had sent him a text that morning to take a look at it and it had occupied his mind all day long. In fact, the workday was officially over for him, yet here he sat still staring at the screen. He was relieved. The police didn't find them so they all made it through the portal, right? A part of him still couldn't help but be worried. There had been an explosion, a gun fired at the scene, and a group of thugs, all who were known employees of a criminal who lurked around Vegas called 'the Reaper', passed out on the front lawn. Things never did go easy when Aj was involved. He shook his head and turned the computer off.

"Hey Thompson, you coming with us for a drink tonight?"

He spun in his chair to see Beth stroll over. Her black hair was cut short in a pixie like style and her bright red lips stood out from her pale skin. He paused, then nodded, "Yeah, I think I will."

Beth's eyes lit up, "Wait, really?"

"You didn't think I'd say yes?" He replied, rising from his seat and sliding on his jacket.

Beth chuckled, "Well, you've said no every other time I asked this week and the last. I was thinking you thought you were too good for us."

Josh shook his head and stuck his badge into his leather jacket's pocket. He knew Beth had one just like it in her purse. "It's not like that. I just had some…unfinished business back home that I was worried about."

"You aren't worried about it anymore?"

"No." He smiled, "It's all settled now."

Beth gave him a bright smile and motioned for him to follow her out of the station. Josh walked beside her, laughing at a funny story she told about a co-worker. It felt like a weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

 

 _End_.


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